Article by Larry Jock
What a great week of fishing! Offshore anglers saw an epic bigeye tuna bite on Friday and flounder fishermen are starting to see improved action on ocean structure. If we can keep this nice, warm weather coming, we could really see some fish hitting the docks in Delaware.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said that with summer in full swing, warm water species like triggerfish and spadefish have become more prevalent. Andrea Monetti and Mike Surowiec anchored near the Outer Wall on Tuesday for a great catch. They put 31 triggers, weighing up to nearly 3 lbs. in the box while baiting with sand fleas. Aaron Brommer checked in a 2.97 lb. triggerfish he pulled from the Ice Breakers aboard “Martha Marie”. Todd Manning hooked a 4.77 lb. spadefish at the Inner Wall. Captain Brent took the “Katydid” to some inshore wrecks on Tuesday for 37 triggers, 3 spadefish and 80 kingfish.
Bottom bouncers continue to enjoy action with kingfish and other panfish in the Delaware Bay. Patrons on the “Angler” head boat had loads of kingfish on Sunday.
Croakers have been plentiful, but small on average. Spot, blowfish and spike trout have been around in good numbers too. Reefs 5 and 8 and The Shears were popular places to wet a line. Clams, bloodworms and Fishbites were the best baits.
Flounder came from the Bay artificial reefs, but the window when they bit was limited to the last hours of the flood tide, and first hour of the ebb. Captain Brent’s flukers on the “Katydid” captured 14 flatties on Thursday and another 20 keepers on Friday, including a 6.3 pounder for Charlie Zukowski. Capt. Brent went back up the Bay on Saturday, where his guys iced 16 keeper flounder. Joe Walker weighed in a 6.2 lb. fluke he pulled from a Bay reef.
Flounder keep coming from the Lewes Canal. Small boaters drifting minnows and Gulp! Swimming Mullets had decent numbers of legal sized flatfish.
The Canal gave up stripers too. Slot sized bass were concentrated around the drawbridge and train bridge, and along the marsh bank in between. Live eels, clams, swimming plugs and soft plastics all drew strikes from feeding rockfish.
Ocean fluking was also pretty good. The Old Grounds area between “DB” and “DA” Buoys was productive. Kevin Maskell managed a pair of chunky flounder there Saturday. The fished weighed 4.9 and 3.4 lbs. Reef Sites 9 and 10 held flatfish too. Ricky Mills managed a 4.93 pounder from Reef Site 9. Matt Baker caught an 8.75 lb. trophy flounder on Sunday that ate a live spot at Reef 9. Peter Geng got a 5.31 pounder, and Kyle Peterson decked a 7.35 pound citation doormat at Site 10 on Saturday.
Boaters running offshore reported bites from bluefins while trolling spreader bars and ballyhoo at Massey’s Canyon, 19 Fathom Lump and the Hot Dog. Some yellowfins and dolphin were mixed in over that same inshore structure. Bill Swords, Jon Bixler and friends trolled Massey’s Saturday morning. They landed a 50-inch bluefin that pounced on a Crystal Ilander and ballyhoo combo. They also had a pair of gaffer dolphin there before heading to the Baltimore Canyon where they bailed another dozen mahi off floating stuff. The group finished their day by deep dropping for 8 golden tiles. Jason Burris, Lloyd Keys, Kevin Ruppert and J.D. Miller trolled Massey’s for an 85.2 lb. bluefin on Sunday morning, then moved off to the Baltimore for some nice golden tilefish. Mike and Mason Newsham, Geoff Klopp and Coy Johnston had a 60.5 lb. bluefin while trolling Massey’s on Sunday morning, and also deep dropped in the Baltimore to catch some beautiful goldens up to 31.4 lbs. Anglers aboard the “Katydid” put a 72 lb. bluefin in the boat at the Hot Dog early Sunday. After that, they headed to the Baltimore and dropped for a boxful of blueline tilefish weighing up to 17 lbs., and several golden tilefish weighing up to 21 lbs.. They also had an unusual looking bright orange Deep Body Boarfish while jigging 400 foot depths.
Further south, Capt. Bruce McGuigan at Capt. Mac’s High Performance Tackle reported an excellent red drum bite in the bay behind Fenwick. He said it is the best he has ever seen with fish coming in up to 25-inches. Black drum continue to come from anglers fishing in the Ditch while using clams or cut bait.
Capt. Bruce also reported that flounder fishing improved on Saturday and Sunday in the bay, although a lot of the fish being caught are too short to keep.
In the surf, Bruce said that panfish are dominating the action, particularly with large spot (8”- 12”), kingfish, small trout and croakers. At night, surfcasters are still finding sharks (sand tigers, sand bars & browns) and rays in the suds.
At Hook’em & Cook’em in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams told me that flounder fishing in the Indian River Inlet has definitely improved, although those drifting for flatties in the back bays also reported a subpar bite. In addition to flounder in the Inlet, anglers have also been surprised by a good triggerfish bite. Water temps are still on the cold side, so it is perplexing as to the number of triggers being caught. Inlet anglers also hooked into mainly small stripers, with a few keepers mixed in, a few bluefish and some croakers back by the Indian River Marina entrance. Anglers fishing off the jetty are also seeing some sheepshead.
Indian River head boats saw better action on flounder last week, both in numbers and size. The “Capt. Bob II” had a few flounder in the 4 to 5 lb. range on Sunday. Sea bass fishing was a little disappointing inshore, with better catches coming in from 20 miles off the beach.
If you are a flounder fisherman and interested in getting in a fun flounder tournament, Pier Point Marina in Dewey Beach is running their 5th Annual Flounder Tournament until August 10th. You can sign up anytime until August 10th. Right now, over 20 anglers are registered and a flattie slightly over 3 lbs. is in the lead. If you would like more information, you can call the marina at 302-227-2808.
Until next week... tight lines!
