Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks! Fishing has slowed down considerably with the kids back in school and Mother Nature wielding her nasty weather stick. Dirty water and unfavorable sea conditions have kept most boats in their slips. Those venturing out are finding a few fish in the normal spots.
Inshore fishermen are finding a few sea bass, flounder, and croaker at the “DB” and “DA” Buoy areas. The Old Grounds is also giving up a few fish. Most of the offshore activity seems to be south near the Poor Man’s Canyon. Back bay fishermen are finding dirty water to be a big thorn in the side. Crabbing also continues to be good.
Ten-year-old Josh Dabbs of Millsboro used squid to fool a 6.2 lb. flattie in the Indian River Inlet.
Striper season is just around the corner and now is the time to gear up. Be sure that your rod and reel are ready for a fight. Check your line to see if it should be changed to ensure you come out on the winning end of the battle. Live eels, live spot, Black Salties and bucktails will probably be your weapons of choice. When fishing the inlet, try your best to be a good sport. The Indian River Inlet is able to fish a good number of boats, but it can get a bit crowded at times. When we had the striper blitz in the spring, many people just got out of control and made it a bad situation. Hopefully we will have a great fall run and let’s try to make it safer and more enjoyable. Striper chasers fishing the ocean and the mouth of the Delaware Bay will be using Stretch 25’s, umbrella rigs, big bucktails and live bait.
To make the striper season even more exciting, get involved in a tournament or two. There will be various contests going on in the area and this is a great way to make every trip a bit thrilling. Here at Rick’s Bait and Tackle, we are running a tournament in conjunction with Sea Side Gas and Grill. The contest starts October 1st and runs through November 30th. Stop in and get signed up.
Bill’s Sport Shop is also running his yearly striper tournament. There is plenty of added fun and you may walk away with some extra cash in your pocket.
At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center, Pat tells us that the larger flounder are beginning to stack up near the Inlet. He also reported some better sea bass activity at Site #10.
Capt. Bill at Bill’s Sport Shop reported that Chuck Nagle was fishing Massey's and came away with a lot of blues in the 20 to 22-inch size. He also pulled some sea bass and short flounder over the rail. A rare catch at Massey's! The effects of Irene must have caused this. A 5 lb. sheepshead was tricked to the boards with clam as bait last week. Anglers on the “Playin Hookey” ventured to the Baltimore Canyon on Wednesday and came back with 2 yellowfin. Paul Powalski called from the Cape Henlopen Pier after stopping at Bill’s for fresh mullet to report catching blues over 16-inches while chunking. He also reported that a lot of fishermen were catching sand sharks. Bill also received the following email from a customer: “We went out to “DB” Buoy on Wednesday and did pretty good. We had a mix of fish like croaker, sea bass, and blues, lots of small flounder and two that were 22-inches. Not bad for a trip after the hurricane. We will be going again soon and if we do well I'll let you know. Thanks again, Frank.”
Dom and Russell fishing on the “Mr. Dom” caught 41 croaker all between 12 and 16-inches as well as two 16-inch throwback flounder. They fished west of “B” buoy using squid and silversides for bait. Chad Bayles fished at 3R's Rd. with whole mullet rigs and caught blues up to 15-inches and small stripers on mullet chunks. He then went to the swirls at the Indian River Inlet and caught 18-inch blues on finger mullet and 6 kingfish up to 12-inches on FishBites. Mike Perry fished the Naval Crossing and had blues up to 15-inches on whole mullet rigs. Large spot measuring up to 9-inches were being hauled over the boards at the fishing pier at Cape Henelopen. Massey's Ditch was also producing bluefish on fresh mullet. Eddie Kim of Rockville, MD caught a citation flounder in the Indian River Inlet using a white bucktail and chartreuse Gulp!. The flounder weighed in at 8.45 lbs. and was 27-inches long.
Capt. Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said ocean bottom bouncers caught croakers, but not in big numbers like the previous weekend. Rough structure northwest of the “DB” Buoy continued to be productive; however, hardheads were scattered across the Old Grounds and from “DC” to “DA” Buoys. More keeper sea bass showed among catches of anglers drifting those same areas. Snapper blues were plentiful, and ling were mingled among the catches as well. Boaters also hooked flounder, but legal size flatties have been scarce since the passage of Irene. Flatfish do like fresh meat, so strips of mullet, spot or bluefish are good choices for trying to tempt one into eating this time of year.
Fishermen on the “Martha Marie” kept two nice fluke and a bucket full of sea bass and croakers while working south of “DB” Saturday. Captain Carey’s crew on the “Grizzly” iced 2 fluke out of 10 they caught, and also put a mix of about 3 dozen croakers and bass in the box near “DB”. The “Miss Kirstin” returned with a nice batch of croakers and bass from northwest of “DB” Saturday. Delaware Bay water conditions remained murky, but an assortment of panfish was still available around the artificial reefs. Captain Chet on the “Lil’ Angler II” set up at the Brown Shoal on Saturday, where his group enjoyed a blowfish blitz. They kept 28 of the tasty puffers, and also had 75 snapper bluefish plus a pair of nice flatfish. Peter Luketic landed a 4.07 lb. flounder during a trip on the “Angler”. Mullet have moved into the shallows inside Cape Henlopen and along Lewes Beach, and snapper blues have been working the baitfish over pretty well. Surfcasters on the bay side of the Cape got into mini choppers using cut fresh mullet. Spot were still hanging around the Cape Henlopen Pier. Folks lining the rails did well with bloodworms and FishBites. At Roosevelt Inlet, anglers had throwback flounder, and a few nice keepers, like the 4.42 lb. flattie that Angela Wallace captured while casting a Gulp!.
On the offshore scene, boats trolling 40 fathoms between the Rockpile and the Washington found white marlin. The “Skipjack” overnighted in the Baltimore Canyon on Friday for a yellowfin and some dolphin, plus a swordfish release. It’s the time of year for wahoo inshore, and ‘hoos have been reported on twenty fathom structures like the Hot Dog, Hambone and Chicken Bone. Wahoo often orient themselves to free floating objects, so it’s worth checking out any weeds or wood you come across.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!!!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
