Article by Larry Jock
With slightly warmer air and increasing water temperatures hitting Delmarva last week it actually looks like we have a fishing season going on although most will tell you that it looks like it is lagging 2-3 weeks behind for some species.
Bert Adams at Hook’em & Cook’em was much happier this week giving his fishing report with increased activity in the Indian River Inlet and surrounding waters.
Bert was excited about a striper blitz that occurred on Saturday morning from 10 AM to around noon. Bert said it was all the stripers you wanted for the lucky anglers on the water and the fish were nice, measuring in the 30 to 41-inch range. The area on the north side of the inlet, in 60-degree water, from the handicap pier to the pilings of the old Indian River Inlet Bridge was the hot spot for anglers tossing Storm shads, bucktails and purple/silver Bass Assassins.
Anglers in the inlet also found good numbers of 1 to 3 lb. bluefish, especially on Sunday morning. Snappers also showed up on the south bar outside the inlet on Sunday night.
A few weakfish were caught in the inlet by anglers targeting stripers with Storm shads, including one on Sunday that weighed 4 lbs.
Flounder fishing continues to be on the slow side with only a few caught, primarily around the VFW?Slough.
The first mako arrived at the Indian River Marina on Sunday when angler Jake Blair returned with an 88.2 pounder caught on a whole mackerel at the Marine Electric.
The marina also saw its first thresher on Saturday, caught by Joseph Foley of Warwick, MD. Joseph caught the 268.8 lb. thresher on a whole mackerel between Site 10 and DB Buoy. It took Joseph and his fellow anglers on the “Just Right V” over 5 hours to get the fish to the boat and they had to remove the sharks fin to get it into the boat.
From the beach, surfcasters saw black drum, stripers, bluefish, blowfish and even a few croakers last week, which is early for hardheads.
Further north, Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said, after being rescheduled due to Friday’s nasty weather, the 2014 Canal Flounder Tournament took place on Saturday. Joe and Amanda extended appreciation to all who participated to make the annual event a success. Special thanks went to those who juggled schedules to fish the later date along with sponsors the Dewey Beach Lions Club, and Martek Marine Electronics Specialists.
Conditions were much nicer on Saturday, and over 290 anglers drifted in the Lewes Canal and Broadkill River with their own favored flounder offerings that included minnows, shiners, smelts, strip baits, Gulp! and even some secret rigs. A decent number of keepers were captured, most during the end of incoming tide and beginning of outgoing tide in the middle of the day. Chad Mitchell earned big bucks and bragging rights for his 4.33 lb. first place flounder. Tim West took second place with a 3.98 pounder. Shane Townsend secured third with a 3.76 lb. flattie. A $1,450 donation to Camp Awareness will be made from tournament entry fees.
Chuck Hazel didn’t have any contenders to weigh in during Saturday’s tourney, but it was such a nice afternoon, he decided to fish a little longer after the contest was over. As luck would have it, Chuck caught a 4.77 lb. flounder that would have taken top money just a couple hours earlier!
Surfcasters noticed improving action this past week. Chris Vann had a big batch of blowfish on clams and bloodworms from the sand in South Bethany early in the week. Chris and Jack Austin had 14 bluefish from the same spot on Tuesday. Chris worked the beach at 3R’s Road on Wednesday for more bluefish measuring up to 31-inches. Jonathan Masten had an 18 lb. striper along with a kingfish, a croaker and a puffer from the surf on Thursday. Andy Lano landed a 17 lb. striper while soaking bunker at Herring Point during Friday’s crappy weather. Richard Lantz hooked his first ever surf striper on Saturday, a keeper caught on bunker off Dewey Beach. Jeff Sherwood and Mike Thompson had a great Saturday on the sand in Bethany. They beached a pair of black drum, 15 bluefish, a blowfish and a 13.1 lb. striped bass. Andy Lano fished the beach north of Indian River on Sunday morning for an 18.2 lb. bass and some short stripers too. Dave Furio had a 15.2 lb. rockfish there as well. Dustin Schell scored stripers of 37 and 39-inches while fishing bunker from Broadkill Beach during the week.
Croakers also moved into the wash of Broadkill Beach, and casters caught plenty of hardheads from 10 to 14-inches using clams and bloodworms.
Anglers at Roosevelt Inlet hooked croakers and even the first few spot, along with blues and the occasional legal flounder. Ryan Kroh was tossing a Storm Shad from the Roosevelt rocks and connected with a 4.5 lb. weakfish.
Bay boaters targeting black drum found boomers around the submerged piles off Fowler Beach. Norman Martzell decked a 34.2 pounder there on Saturday evening aboard the “Pirate King II”. John Strong released a 65 lb. drum near the piles aboard “Miss Kirstin”. Clint Clauser checked in a 30.1 pounder from the Coral Beds, and Patrick Karpin brought in his first black drum, weighing 30.1 lbs.
Crews anchoring in shallow water off Broadkill Beach got into drum too. Captain Carey’s drummers on the “Grizzly” had a dozen fish measuring up to 48 ½ inches there on Saturday night. They harvested 4 small ones for the table, and released the rest.
Dustin Schell said he was anchored on the Coral Beds using bunker and hooked a good sized sand tiger. Seems early for those sharks, but not much in the Delaware Bay has been on a normal schedule this spring.
The much anticipated reopening of sea bass season on May 19th will have many anglers working mid-range structure this week in hopes of putting some tasty knotheads in the box. The minimum size for sea bass in Delaware is 12 ½-inches, and the creel limit has been lowered from 20 to 15 per person, per day.
Until next week, tight lines!
