Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks! If the fishing would have heated up as much as the weather has, we would all be in our glory. I’m not sure if the fish shut down as much as the anglers did. There is still a fair amount of fish being caught, but as mid-summer always is, most fish are short of the legal size. I think our fisheries council and the chief flattie are conspirators in the setting of size limits each year. It just always seems to be that most fish are ¼ to ½ inch short. Somethin’s up! That is why I always say you need to be fishing for the enjoyment and not for the meat.
Back bay fishing has been providing plenty of flounder with just a few keeper-sized fish mixed in. Croaker action has been spotty, but should improve very soon. Lots of spot are to be had by both hook and line or the use of a spot trap. Blowfish are being caught in Rehoboth Bay and small bluefish are everywhere. Crabbing continues to be very good. Larger blues are being taken in the Indian River Inlet on the incoming tide. Some keeper stripers are also showing up at the end of a late night or early morning incoming tide.
Capt. Aaron Hurd of “Gale Force Charters” hosted the annual Bullinger family fishing competition, where a guys vs. gals tournament was held with each team fishing a half-day in the Indian River Inlet area. This year, the guys won after a one-hour storm delay chased all the boat traffic away from their spot, allowing them to make a strong finish in their last 50 minutes of fishing. Spot and shiners were the bait of the day.
Inshore fishermen are finding some bigger flounder at Site #10 and the DB Buoy areas. Jacob Klinger of Millsboro, DE fished Site #10 using a minnow/squid combo to score a 23-½”, 4.6 lb. flattie. Capt. Chuck Cook of “First Light Charters” fished Site #10 with Gil Waddington and caught flounder up to 5.8 lbs. Darrel Hawk and his wife Sandy fished the DB Buoy to trick flatties of 6.4 lbs. and 5.0 lbs.
Offshore action has slowed a bit, with chunkers scoring at first light and then switching to the troll mid-morning. Cary Aughbaugh on the “Empty Hook” trolled the Hambone with angler Tom Little, scoring a 50 lb. wahoo. Capt. Bill Burkhardt of “Toss Em Back” Charters took his crew on an overnighter to score 8 tuna.
Pat of Rattle & Reel Sporting Center said the heat kept many people from fishing. Those who could venture to the ocean did so mainly to cool off. Anglers fishing the back bays found croakers and short flounder.
Capt. Bill Baker at Bill’s Sport Shop said that at least 3 schools of blues have been seen just out of casting distance from the beach. There are reports of some blues being taken in the 19" range from the beach.
Steven Warren and Jonathan Davis of Georgetown, DE limited out on flounder to 20" at Roosevelt Inlet, caught on nuclear chicken and white Gulp!. Dylan Barbour, age 11, of Rehoboth Beach caught his first three mahi mahi to 44" at Massey's Canyon on trolled ballyhoo aboard the "This Is It" with Capt. Skip Mojie and Rick Mahala. Austin Smith of Virginia landed a 4.10 lb., 22 ½” flounder taken with a black salty from the Indian River Inlet. Dan and Matt Langdon on the "Ofishal" went to the Poor Man’s this past weekend and went 1 for 2 on white marlin along with a gaffer dolphin using ballyhoo and artificials.
Kevin and Joseph Schultze of Milton, DE, caught an estimated 8 foot, 260 lb. sand tiger shark off the surf near Herring Point at Cape Henlopen State Park. They kayaked whole spot for bait 200 yards offshore using a 14/0 hook and braided 50# line. We received an email from Capt. Oak Thompson: "Hey Capt. Bill, we had another great day of fishing in the Indian River Bay, caught 25 flounder with 3 keepers, 20-inches, 4.5 lbs. for Mike Lynch, 18.5-inches, 2.75 lbs. for Mike Thompson and a 18.5-inch, 2.6 lb. fish on live spot and minnows. They also caught and released two 25-inch rockfish and lots of spot and blowfish on fish bite bloodworms. Lots of rod bending action.”
Deanna at Hook’em & Cook’em Bait & Tackle hopes you all are trying to keep cool during these sweltering temperatures. One way to stay cooler is to go out on the water and get fishing! The offshore bite continues to be the best we have seen in years. Charter boats, as well as private boats, continue to go out to the Poor Man's Canyon, Hot Dog and Hambone to get either bluefin or yellowfin tuna. The numbers may not be as many as when the season first started, but they are still impressive. The biggest bluefin tuna of the year was brought in by the "Boy's Toy". This fish weighed in at 108 lbs. and was caught out at the Poor Man's Canyon.
The “American Ambition” and “Capt. Ike II” continue to be top charter tuna boats to date with numbers ranging from 5-7 fish per trip. They weigh anywhere from 30-40 lbs. They were being caught on the troll, but now we are starting to hear more reports that they are being caught on the chunk with butterfish and sardines overnight and trolling during the day.
Along with the tuna, we are seeing some wahoo hit the docks as well. Again, “American Ambition” brings in a top weight of 41 lbs. Mahi are still coming in; some are nice large ones, as well as a few peanuts here and there. We have had one swordfish brought in by Sandy Panik of Frederick, MD. This 49.8 lb. sword was caught out at the Poor Man's on an overnight trip.
The rockfish are still showing up in the Inlet with live spot and mostly in the evening to nighttime hours. However, there are the occasional stripers still brought in during the day. The weights range from 9 to 15 lbs. Not huge, but nice keeper and eating size. The flounder are still coming to the dock, and most are being brought in with live spot, but minnows work also. A nice size 12 lb. flounder was brought in by Randy Colona, of Rehoboth, DE. He caught it using a fly in the Inlet.
Some inshore fishing has picked up with more keeper sea bass coming from the head boat “Judy V.” and other charter boats in the marina. The “#1 Hooker” has brought in trigger fish, the “Capt. Ike II” has brought in nice catches of spadefish, triggerfish, tautog and flounder.
The “Miss Ene II” has had a couple of nice trips with, believe it or not, Atlantic cod in the mix.
The beach fishing remains ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. We have heard that there are small spot and kingfish to be had. The best fishing on the beach is at night when the sharks come out. Anglers are hooking up sharks with some fresh tuna belly on an 8/0 hook and bringing in some nice size toothy critters measuring 6-8 feet. Be careful, and remember you are no longer allowed to beach and release a shark. This is supposed to be done in the water. Good way to lose a foot, don't ya think?!
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said catching over the weekend wasn’t quite as hot as the weather, but earlier in the week, bottom bouncers enjoyed decent action. Patrons on the “Angler” and the “Pirate King” had a good mix of flounder and ling northwest of the DB Buoy in the ocean. In the Delaware Bay, working the artificial reefs was productive for flounder. On Thursday, flukers aboard the “Katy Did” connected with 12 keepers while pile hopping at Sites 5, 6, 7 and 8. Dave Walker used a bucktail to fool his 5.5 lb. flatfish on that trip. In addition to flounder, blowfish, kingfish, snapper blues and a few croakers were found on bay reefs. Despite rising water temperatures, fluke still hung out in the Lewes Canal. Nick Psaroudakis and his buddies put 7 keepers in the box on an excursion to the Canal this past week. Slot size stripers were also pulled from the Canal, primarily at night, when heat and light levels dropped. Drifting eels around the drawbridge yielded linesiders, as did casting small artificials to the shadow line of the Roosevelt Coast Guard Station lights. Rockfish also responded to topwater plugs tossed at the Outer Wall in the evenings. At the Roosevelt Inlet, increasing numbers of croakers and spot were hooked by casters using pieces of bloodworms, clam and FishBites on rigs with small hooks. Tautog catches cooled off some with the hot weather, but crews that put in their time managed a few keepers for the table. Captain Pete’s toggers on the “Top Fin” took home 17 blackfish and a big trigger on Thursday.
The offshore bite was slower, but the Hambone produced bluefins, yellowfins, wahoo, dolphin and white marlin for trollers working that area Friday. Chunking with butters and bunker resulted in tuna for boats at the Hot Dog on Friday. Lex Robertson reported that he fished 77-degree water at the Dog aboard the “Spectacle” with Captain Doc Peoples, and his group boated six nice yellowfins weighing up to 53 lbs. Boats that beat up the bight of the Washington Canyon found a few yellowfins, the occasional bigeye and a fair number of billfish.
Closer to the beach, Captain Jeff Hoepfl on the “Joint Venture” trolled the 12 Fathom Lump southeast of Delaware Light for 3 gaffer dolphin, including an 18.6 pounder landed by Lewis Means, plus a 51.6 lb. bluefin decked by Donna Means. John Woodson weighed in a 19.3 lb. mahi that he caught on the “Skipjack”.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
