Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks! The weather has finally changed in our favor and the fish are really liking it.
Flounder fishing in the back bays has been pretty steady with a fair amount of keepers being caught. Reports from the “DB” Buoy area have finally gotten better. Keeper sea bass and flounder are now being caught.
Offshore fisherman are still having to travel south to the Poorman’s Canyon area to score on yellowfin tuna and dolphin.
In the Pot-Nets Flounder Tournament, Ron Soltes leads the pack with a 6 lb. 2 oz. flattie.
Elsewhere, John Freese weighed in a 5 lb. 11 oz. flattie. Joe Vascuglia, Jeff Mock and Mike Moch caught stripers weighing up to 14 lbs. 10 oz. using live spot in the inlet. Capt. Bob Smallwood of “Dana Lynn Charters” called and reported a super day of sea bass fishing on the Old Grounds.
Don’t forget to get signed up for the Rick’s Bait and Tackle/Sea Side Gas and Grill Inshore Tournament held July 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The fee is $25.00 and includes a T-shirt. Prize money will be paid out for heaviest flounder, bluefish, sea bass and tog. Don’t miss out on the fun! For those of you stopping in with a hungry belly, we now have a hot dog vendor in the lot serving fine hot dogs, cold sodas, water and chips, and soon will be expanding the menu.
At Bill’s Sport Shop on Rt. 1 in Lewes, we received the following report. Jason Young fished from the South Jetty of the Indian River Inlet and nailed a 35-inch striper that hit the scales at 17 lbs. 13 oz.
Captain Mike Rivera on the “On Delivery” reported, “this week has been great for fishing! We returned to the dock with a 350 lb. thresher! A couple of days later, the crew landed 2 nice makos and 2 dusky sharks on an 8 hour trip. Last Tuesday, there was a good flounder bite at “A” Buoy where we caught 6 big flatties.”
The “Blue Collar Man” has had nice catches of sea bass and flounder at the Old Grounds. The keeper ratio is improving daily as the doormat flounder continue hitting the box.
At Henlopen Bait and Tackle, Dan told us that flounder fishing continues to be steady. The Lewes Canal, Cape Henlopen Pier and the Delaware Bay have been producing flounder. The Anchorage has given up some real nice fish but rough water has been a problem. Along the beaches, bluefish have been plentiful along with sharks.
Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em Bait and Tackle at the Indian River Marina told us that stripers have been plentiful in the Indian River Inlet. Live spot, live eels and storm lures were very productive. A few flounder are being caught in the Inlet on GULP!
Len and Dawn Tettle captured 3 stripers weighing 17.5 lbs., 15.5 lbs. and 14.5 lbs. using Storm lures. Sam Bozothovic caught 2 stripers weighing 17.5 and 19.5 lbs. using live eels for bait. Charlie Horning reeled in a 6.8 lb. flattie in the Inlet.
Keeper flounder are being caught on ocean reefs and wrecks. Sea bass are plentiful and the keeper ratio is slowly improving. Anglers are still throwing back most of the sea bass being caught, but hopefully there will be a lot more keepers shortly.
Bluefish are still in the surf and in the Indian River Inlet. Shark fishing remains good for both threshers and makos. While fishing aboard “Sorry Charlie”, Jonathan Kazem boated a 376 lb. thresher. Rick Sank captured a 170 lb. mako in the Poor Man’s Canyon while fishing on the “Predator”. Yellowfin tuna are also being caught in the Poor Man’s Canyon.
Ron at Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road told us that blues and stripers are in the Indian River Inlet. Ron also said that there is a large amount of flounder being caught but most are short.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said yellowfin action was hot during the week. Large numbers of small tuna were reported in the southern end of the Poor Man’s Canyon, with catches generally taking place from the Triple 0’s to the 960 line between one hundred and two hundred fathoms. Double-digit days were common among crews pulling Green Machines, cedar plugs and spreader bars. Skirted ballyhoo were effective as well, but crews found it was easier to feed fish plastics when the bite was fast and furious. The majority of tuna were short of the 27-inch curved fork length minimum, but enough keepers weighing up to 40 lbs. were mixed in to make culling through the little ones worthwhile.
Trollers even encountered an occasional bigeye. Some guys made the most of abundant tuna by utilizing light tackle. The yellowfins responded eagerly to surface plugs and were a blast to battle on spinning gear. Jon Kitchen and family had fun trolling in the Poor Man’s Canyon.
Carol Kitchen captured a 38.8 lb. yellowfin that grabbed a green spreader bar. Maddie Kitchen reeled in her first yellowfin, a 20 pounder. The guys aboard the “Skipjack” got into tuna during an afternoon bite in the Poor Man’s, putting 14 yellowfins on ice, and releasing 17 others. They spent the night and returned with a nice mako caught by Randy Doyle.
Good-sized makos were reported offshore feeding on plentiful small tuna. Makos also continued to be prevalent on structure between twenty and thirty fathoms. Several blackeyes came from the Sausages and across the Fingers. Ed Sigda, Bill Fintel and Michael Fritz tangled with a pair of makos to 200 lbs. in Massey’s Canyon on Saturday.
Offshore bottom bouncers had success with tilefish. Bill Swords and friends deep dropped in the Washington Canyon for six goldens weighing up to 35 lbs. and a mess of big sea bass.
Inshore bottom fishermen found flounder on Reef Sites #10 and #11, and the Old Grounds. Spro jigs tipped with cut bait or Gulp! artificial baits were effective. Casey Taylor caught a 7.62 lb. doormat and Bob Stauffer got a 6.53 pounder at Site #10 on the “Lil’ Angler”. Sea bass were mixed with fluke on ocean structure, but 12 ½ inch keepers were hard to come by.
In the Delaware Bay, croakers made their arrival this past week. Plenty of small hardheads were taken between the Star Site and the Shears using clams, squid, bloodworms and Fishbites. Bigger fish have been filtering in each day. The artificial reefs have yielded some good flounder. Charles Bruckner boated a 7.19 lb. fluke at Site #8 on the “Indian”. Dion Bryan bested a 7.25 lb. flattie on Site #8 aboard the “Martha Marie”. Bert Long landed a 6.93 pounder, also at the Star Reef Site #8. Joe Walker, Tom Coyle and Joe Walker, Jr had their limit of 12 fine keepers at the Star Site on Saturday. Flounder also hung out on Reefs #6 and 7 at Brown Shoal, in the crossover at the top of the Anchorage, and along the channel edges between #14 and #19 Buoys. Flounder continued to come from the Lewes Canal, Broadkill River and Roosevelt Inlet as well. The Cape Henlopen, Cape Shores and Port Lewes Piers also produced fluke, as did shallow water near the Ferry Jetty and along Broadkill Beach. Small jigs tipped with shiners or Gulp! were deadly in skinny water. Joey Fiorentino used a Gulp! grub to fool a 5.45 lb. flatfish in the shallows near Broadkill.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!!!!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.