Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks! I know I must sound like a broken record, but the weather just will not
get right. On days when the water clears a bit, the fishing seems to improve.
The back bays are still producing flounder and blues, and a few stripers are scattered throughout. Spot have started to show in the Indian River and in Massey’s Ditch. The Indian River Inlet is giving up stripers to those using live spot, live eel, or bucktail and white worms. The bluefish in the Inlet have been very thick on the incoming tide and will hit just about anything you throw at them.
The weather is also hampering the offshore fishing. The Hambone seems to be giving up a few bluefin tuna to those who are trolling. Jeff and Will Courtney had a 41-inch bluefin eat a ballyhoo capped with a Zuker. They also had one bluefin break off.
Bob Smallwood on the “Dana Lynn” took Erin Hurd, Scott Rinicker, Doug Rinicker, Jay Little, Jon Bixler and Rob Haas to the Poor Man’s Canyon. They scored on tuna and dolphin, with Doug Rinicker tying into a 102 lb. bigeye, while Rob Haas battled an 84 pounder.
Captain Mike Rivera on the “On Delivery” had a trip to the Lightship to tangle with a 350 lb. thresher, and he also went to the Fingers for an 89 lb. mako.
Back bay fishing was good for Bill Logan, who weighed in a 4 lb. 7 oz. flattie, which put him in 3rd place in the Pot-Nets Tournament. Ron Soltes weighed in a 6 lb. 2 oz. flattie that put him in the lead in the same tournament. Don’t forget to sign up for the Annual Pot-Nets Flounder Tournament. There is no charge to enter, but you must sign up by 7 a.m. on Saturday, June 27th. The final weigh-in is Sunday, June 28th at 3 p.m.
The Annual Rick’s Bait & Tackle/SeaSide Gas & Grill Fishing Tournament runs from July 2 - 4. The fee is $25.00 and includes a t-shirt to all entrants. The payout categories are for flounder, bluefish, sea bass and tautog. Don’t miss out on the fun!
Bill’s Sport Shop on Rte. 1 in Lewes tells us they had a great flounder tournament. Randy Jensen took 1st place with a 7.87-pounder, Tom Bailor took 2nd with a 7.34-pounder and Dillon Mitchell finished 3rd with a 6.1-pounder.
In other action from Bill’s, we received reports of the following successes. Price Lindsay boated a keeper flounder weighing 5 lbs. on a Finesse rig while drifting out of Lewes. Lanson Cochran was fishing the surf and beached a keeper trout and some nice kingfish. Barry Keller caught two stripers at the Indian River Inlet weighing in at 13.75 lbs. and 13 lbs. on live spot. John Kitchen went to the Hambone with Jason and Jen Raup and boated a 42.12 lb. bluefin tuna and released another around the same size. Vahn Moua caught a 12.21 lb., 32-inch striper off the rocks at the Indian River Inlet on an eel. Heather Rice, age 8, from Lincoln, DE, caught her first keeper flounder on a minnow that measured 18.5-inches while fishing aboard the charter boat “Blue Collar Man” at B Buoy. “Blue Collar Man” charters has had some very successful sea bass trips with keeper flounder also hitting the deck around B Buoy.
Captain Les Clemmer of the “Martha Marie” charter boat called to say he has been scoring flounder out of Lewes with about a 30% keeper rate. The charter boat “Reliable II” out of Bowers Beach has been having great luck catching very nice flatties. Captain Ed Meeds reported his anglers have even boated some keeper size tautog that had to be released.
At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road, Ron tells us that there are plenty of flounder being caught in the back bays. The problem is you have a tough time finding keepers. A few trout have been taken in the Indian River Inlet using live spot. Thresher sharks are being chummed to the boats from DB Buoy to the Delaware Light.
John at Henlopen Bait & Tackle on Savannah Rd. in Lewes reported flounder in the Lewes Canal and the Broadkill River. John says the weather has been a major factor in keeping folks from fishing the Delaware Bay.
At Hook’em & Cook’em Bait & Tackle at North Shore Marina in the Delaware State Park, Bert reported plenty of small flounder in the back bays with a few keepers taken now and then. This past week has provided good flounder action in the Indian River Inlet. Butch Brooks Sr. used a bucktail to trick a 10 lb. 13 oz. doormat. Live spot and GULP! have been the hot baits. Incoming tides have been bringing in the bluefish, and stripers have also been plentiful but again most are shorts.
Ocean bottom fishing is consistently providing small sea bass. The flounder fishing is slowly improving and hopefully will continue to improve as the water warms. Offshore action has yellowfin tuna and dolphin in the Washington and Poor Man’s Canyons. At the Hambone, the “Stress Relief” boated their limit of bluefins with the big one weighing in at 128 lbs. Threshers and makos are also being caught.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said that Delaware Bay structure has been yielding some decent flounder. Gary Welsh was drifting the Star Reef Site on the “Forever Young III” when he connected with a 7.65 lb. doormat. Dr. Mike Junck decked a 6.01 pounder at the Brown Shoal Reef Sites. The big flattie was part of a catch of 8 quality keepers taken by Dr. Mike, Bob Witte and Allen Quillen aboard “Top Fin”.
Other reports of flatfish action came from the channel edges between #14 and #19 Buoys. Fluke also continued to come from the Lewes Canal, the Broadkill River and the Roosevelt Inlet.
Shallow water along Broadkill Beach and the Cape Henlopen, Cape Shores and Port Lewes piers produced fish as well. John Northeimer checked in a 5.42 lb. flounder that ate a chartreuse Gulp! in the Lewes Canal. Bill Rybinski used a chunk of soft crab to tempt a 4.9 pounder from the Roosevelt Inlet.
Stripers and a few trout were taken from the Roosevelt Inlet as well. “Barracuda Bob“ McNamee and Frank Gaworski had a pair of 3 lb. trout and several stripers in the 20 to 26- inch range while casting Bass Assassin Sea Shads to the inlet jetty during flood tide.
Boats working the Reef Site #11 and the Old Grounds surrounding DB Buoy in the ocean found sea bass and flounder. The majority of bass were below the 12.5-inch minimum, but some nice knotheads ended up in the coolers. Dave Gallen got a 3.07 pounder on the “Skipjack”, and Lucas May boated a 3.63 pounder aboard “Jam-Man”.
Sharkers tangled with threshers and makos on structure between twenty and thirty fathoms. The Fingers, Sausages and the Hambone gave up nice sized sharks. Michael Fritz bested a 168 lb. thresher while drifting near the Triple Wrecks aboard the “Snow Goose” with Ed Sigda and Bill Fintel. The crew also released a mako that grabbed a trolled tuna lure.
Bluefin tuna action was good at the Hambone early in the week, but slowed down towards the weekend. Trollers had success pulling Green Machines, cedar plugs and spreader bars. The largest tuna seemed to have responded to ballyhoo/Ilander lure combinations that were towed way, way back.
Yellowfins came from the deep of Poor Man’s, the 461 Lump and the 800 Square of Washington Canyon.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
