Article by Larry Jock
Mother Nature wasn’t too kind to us this past week, creating rough conditions in the ocean and causing frustration for anglers searching for billfish, tuna and especially flounder.
Capt. Bert Adams at Hook’em & Cook’em reported that the bite in the Indian River Inlet doesn’t seem as good right now as it has been. Each day is completely different. One day, drum will be dominating the action and the next day it might be flounder, followed by a good bluefish bite. Anglers just can’t seem to get a good bead on what to go for.
Red and black drum are hitting on sand fleas, if you can get them. When the bite is good, it can be really good. One angler on Thursday night caught 8 black drum and 2 reds. Flounder, stripers and bluefish are being pecked away at by anglers fishing on the south side of the Indian River Inlet with Gulp! artificial baits, minnows, live mullet and live spot being the top producers. Fishing the inlet at night has resulted in a few stripers, red drum and black drum being caught, in addition to bluefish being hooked under the lights.
Jetty jockies are mostly dealing with red and black drum from off the rocks, but most are excited about the possibility of landing a cobia, after hearing about a 40 pounder caught last week. Several others were seen cruising by during the week.
In the back bays, Bert is mostly seeing croakers and black drum being caught in Massey’s Ditch.
Surfcasters are finding a few croaker and spot in the suds along with an occasional bluefish and striper. Unfortunately, fishing has been pretty slow off the beach.
Head boats running out of the Indian River Marina were hampered by the weather last week and had to remain closer to land than desired, so instead of getting in on the excellent flounder bite, they resorted to targeting croaker. The good news is that the average size of croakers has increased recently, with 10 to 16-inch fish becoming more common.
Offshore, anglers headed to the Wilmington and Baltimore Canyons for billfish and the Washington Canyon for tuna.
There was a good bigeye bite in the Wilmington Canyon over the weekend but everyone was excited about the 18 yellowfins caught on the “Not Right” while chunking in the Washington Canyon during an overnight trip on Friday/Saturday. All of their fish were caught within 90 minutes.
The “Boy’s Toy” also had a memorable day, returning with 6 bigeye tuna from the Wilmington Canyon on Friday. Their heaviest weighed in at 210 lbs.
On Saturday, the “Cindy Sue II” went to the Baltimore Canyon on an overnight trip and went 3 for 4 on white marlin, caught a few dolphin and broke off a bigeye after an hour-long fight.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said there are still loads of small croakers in most places in the Delaware Bay. However, boaters that anchored on defined structure of Reef Sites 5, 6, 7 and 8 caught bigger hardheads up to 15 inches.
Plenty of other panfish also made for good bottom action. Spot, puffers, sea bass, snapper blues, porgies, pigfish, trout and kingfish rounded out the mix. Citation kings continue to be checked in. Corky Falgowski captured a 1.04 lb. certificate worthy kingfish. Jackie Shafer got a 1 lb. king aboard the “Angler”. Most of the spot around now are good sized. They’ve been caught on the Star Site and Shears, from the Cape Henlopen Pier, and in the Broadkill River and Lewes Canal. Anglers fishing the Canal with bits of bloodworm or Fishbites on small hooks or Sabiki rigs caught some of the largest spot.
Tautog season closed August 31, but boaters fishing the Outer Wall and Ice Breakers with sand fleas and shrimp found triggerfish, plus an occasional sheepshead and puppy drum.
Bay flounder catches were sparse, but a few flatties were pulled from Reefs 6, 7 and 8 during subsiding currents. Jack Henriksen used a squid and smelt sandwich to tempt his 5.28 pound fluke from the Star Site on Thursday. The ocean flounder bite remained good. Bill and Charlotte Hughes joined Captain Vince Keagy and mate Bert Long on the “Miss Kirstin” and put together a nice catch of 11 keeper flatfish at Site 11 on Tuesday afternoon. Wes Olson and Barney Gallagher drifted a proven spot, southeast of “DB” Buoy on Wednesday and landed 6 keeper fluke. Despite windy conditions, Captain Brent’s Thursday group on the “Katydid” worked ocean structure for 10 keepers. Brent showed them how it’s done by putting a 7.4 pounder in the box himself. Wayne Demarco, Daryl Merganthaler, Joe Pergeorelis and Doug Mikowski went back to their favorite flounder haunt, east of “DB” Buoy on Friday, where they iced a limit of 16 fish weighing up to 5 pounds.
It’s wahoo time, and trollers concentrating efforts between 20 and 30 fathoms connected with some nice speedsters. Kevin Fink fought a 40.8 pound wahoo at the Elephant Trunk aboard the “Bottom Line”. Captain Dave Fortner checked in with a 41.9 pound ‘hoo that Steve Rogers caught on the “Kingfish” while trolling the Hot Dog.
The Wilmington Canyon yielded some tuna and billfish. Captain Charlie Helmer’s crew on the “Tranquila” overnighted there on Sunday into Monday. They went 2 for 4 on bigeyes while trolling pink and white skirted ballyhoos in the evening before dark. Nicholas Hawrylchak handled a 146.8 pounder, and Chris Stoner subdued an eyeball weighing 140.9 pounds.
Shawn Gallagher and the guys on the “Free Spool” released a white marlin in the Wilmington Canyon on Friday. Robert Jarboe and the gang on the “Ella Belle” decked a 110 pound bigeye out of 4 tuna bites they had among whales in the Wilmington Canyon on Friday. They also released a 64-inch white and a mako that struck ballyhoos behind blue and white chuggers. In addition, they put a gaffer mahi in the box while crossing 30 fathoms near the Tea Cup.
Upcoming Tournaments
The next tournament on the schedule is the Lewes Harbour Marina Tautog Tournament that runs for the month of October. For details, you can give them a call at 302-645-6227.
The “Bill’s Sport Shop/Irish Eyes Striper Tournament will be held October 18th to December 6th. For more details, you can call 302-645-7654.
Until next week, tight lines!
