Article by Larry Jock
We finally had a few days of decent weather last week, but by far, this is the worst and slowest spring start to the fishing season that most people can remember. It’s tough to get a bead on the fish when the number of anglers involved in the chase are lower than what we typically see this time of year. It also didn’t help last weekend that both sea bass and tautog seasons were closed. Sea bass opened up on May 15th, but tog remains closed until July 17th.
At Fenwick Tackle, Matt Shoup reported that surfcasters have found small schools of bluefish wandering close to the coastline. One angler told Matt that he fished from 6:00 in the morning until 6:00 at night and the only bite he had was a flurry of bluefish from 4:00 to 4:30. This type of sporadic action was reported by several other surf fishermen up and down the coast. Others fishing from the beach have found decent catches of kingfish and some small stripers in the wash. Unfortunately, Matt said that he hasn’t heard of anything being caught in the bay near Fenwick with no reports coming in from anglers fishing in The Ditch.
Capt. Mike Behney at Rick’s Bait & Tackle said that his customers reported a lot of short stripers being caught from the beach while using bloodworms for bait. Junior angler, Matt Ennis landed a 29-incher on fresh bunker at Cape Henlopen State Park. Mike also reported that the flounder bite in the Lewes Canal seems to be picking up with a few reports of limits coming into the shop. Flounder were also picked at by his customers while fishing in the Indian River Bay where water temperatures were hovering around 62-degrees.
The big news last week for flounder fishing was the 9 lb. 13 oz. flattie caught by Sheila Stohler while fishing on Delaware Bay structure.
Black drum action is definitely picking up. The past few weeks had anglers catching them in the surf, but it looks like the Coral Beds are heating up.
At Hook’em and Cook’em Tackle Shop in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams reported that the bright spot in the Indian River Inlet was striper fishing at night off the rocks.
Linesiders in the 28 to 37-inch range were caught by anglers using various baits and lures, but Bert said that the Daiwa Salt Pro Minnow was a good one to have in your arsenal.
Others who were fishing in the Indian River Inlet found a lot of shad mixed in with a few bluefish and short stripers. Water temperature in the Inlet ranged from 60 to 64-degrees.
With Friday being the last day of the early tog season, the headboat “Capt. Bob II” headed 10 miles offshore and returned with a boat limit for their anglers. Doc Peoples also took his buddies out to Site 10 where they captured their limit of blackfish while fishing with sand fleas. Site 11 was also decent for anglers looking for tog last week.
In the surf off lower Delaware, Bert said that from what they saw in the shop, action was slow with some kingfish and black drum being hooked by anglers fishing with bunker and clams.
At the Old Inlet Surf Fishing Tournament on Saturday, 280 registered anglers caught 48 scoring fish that included weakfish, blowfish, bluefish, black drum and kingfish.
Upcoming Tournament
This Friday, May 18th is the Joe Morris Memorial Canal Flounder Tournament. For those who didn’t know Joe, he was the co-owner of Lewes Harbour Marina, along with his wife Amanda, and one of the greatest guys you could ever meet. Unfortunately, Joe was taken from us way too soon and Amanda has kept his memory alive through this flounder tournament that is held each year to benefit the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
Anglers can fish only from a boat on Friday from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM with all fish weighed at Lewes Harbour Marina until 4:00 PM. In the event of a tie, the fish weighed earliest in the day wins the higher prize so it pays to get out early. Fishing is allowed from the Rehoboth Bay Canal entrance to the Roosevelt Inlet entrance and from Broadkill River to the Oyster Rocks Road.
This is a great tournament that usually draws a lot of anglers. If you have any questions, you can call 302-645-6227. If you would like to make a donation, go to http://support.pancan.org/ goto/joemorris.
Until next week, have fun and tight lines!
