Article by Larry Jock
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said offshore action was pretty good. The Poor Man’s Canyon yielded tuna early in the week, but it seemed like the Baltimore Canyon was more productive later on. Trevor Paradyscz, Rich Owen and John Kenyon trolled in the Poor Man’s on Tuesday for a pair of yellowfins weighing up to 48.4 pounds, then bailed 20 gaffer dolphin around floating gear. Keith Orendorf, Shawn Gallagher, Donnie Weitzel and John Goodwin trolled spreader bars at the tip of the Baltimore Canyon on Monday afternoon and got covered up with five yellowfins at once. Despite a tangled spiderweb of lures,, they landed them all. Geoff Klopp and Frank Stiles fished with Captain Chris Irelan aboard the “April First” on Friday. They pulled green spreader bars at the west wall of the Baltimore Canyon for 7 hefty yellowfins from 50 to 64.6 pounds. Geoff noted there were hammerheads in the area, and whenever the boat was near a shark on the surface, they got a tuna bite. Captain Ed Sigda, Mike Fritz and Bill Fintel overnighted at the east wall of Baltimore Canyon on Friday aboard the “Snow Goose”, where they trolled up 3 yellowfins at dusk and into the darkness. At night, tinker mackerel were incredibly thick around the boat, and the guys tangled with hammerheads which they released, and a 108 pound mako subdued by senior member Bill. Bill also boated a 50 pound yellowfin that grabbed a live tinker on a spinning rod. Matt Baker released his first white marlin in the Baltimore on Saturday. Captain Bill Swords and his buddies on “Swords Fish” trolled in the Baltimore’s Bight on Sunday afternoon, where a pack of yellowfins pounced on green machine spreader bars in the boat’s wake. Bill, Chris Gastwirt, Tommy Fitzgerald and Douglas Miles ended up with 4 tuna in the 50 to 60 pound range and a pair of white marlin releases.
Canyon bottom bouncing was consistent this past week. Ronnie Baker, Brad Clark and Jim Clark drifted the edge of the Baltimore and put 18 golden tiles weighing up to 25 pounds in the box. Geoff McCloskey, Joey DelAversano, Bill Coates and Steve Matthews dropped in the Baltimore on Saturday for a nice catch of goldens up to 27 pounds. Captain Brent’s Saturday group on “Katydid” bounced bottom in the Baltimore for a big load of blueline tiles, along with some of the Golden variety. Tom Birago boated an impressive pair of grey tile weighing 15.1 and 16 pounds on that trip.
Back inshore, flounder fishermen had mixed results on the Old Grounds. Days with good conditions served up some decent catches. Flukers aboard the “Katydid” got into flatties on Wednesday, returning with 17 keepers, including a brace of 5 pounders for Ron Mistretta. Wes Grove and John Santana worked jigs tipped with cut bait over the Old Grounds on Saturday for their limit of chunky flatfish. The “Katydid” returned to the ocean on Sunday, where Captain Brent’s anglers put together a fine catch of 23 keepers. Michael Walker carried on in the tradition of his Dad, consummate flounder sharpie Joe Walker, limiting out and landing heaviest fish of the day, a 4.47 pounder. Ricky Mills and friends fished the Old Grounds on Sunday and put 14 flat ones in the box. Ricky also reeled in a monkfish, for a little bonus “poor man’s lobster” to go with his flounder dinner.
Shallow water fluking seems better now than it’s been in past weeks. Chris and Jim Donaldson tossed Jim’s custom bucktails sweetened with Gulp! around the Inner Wall for their limit of nice flounder weighing up to 4.92 pounds. Pam Kuhn pulled a pretty 5.16 pounder from the Lewes Canal and Jeff Becker bested a beautiful 6.55 pound doormat in the Broadkill River. Dylan and Steve Sheffy used Gulp! from the Cape Shores Pier for their catch of 4 keepers, including Dylan’s 3.3 pound specimen. Hunter Lied put minnows to work in the Roosevelt Inlet for a 1.67 pound flounder plus 5 others he released. He had another whopper hooked and said “You should have seen the one that got away!” Flounder pounders Mike Hoffman and Nick and Paige Psaroudakis drifted minnows in the Lewes Canal on Saturday for a limit of 12 quality flatties. Barb Sweikert celebrated her birthday on Sunday by catching 3 keeper flounder to 4.24 pounds in Baker’s Channel.
Small stripers have been plentiful in the Lewes Canal. Casting Storm Shads, Chug Bugs, Zara Spooks and RatLTraps along the marsh banks was an effective method that got the attention of rockfish feeding on shrimp and shiners. Eels drifted around the Drawbridge, or clams fished on the bottom there were responsible for some legal bass as well. Striper Slot Season goes into effect July 1st, allowing anglers to keep 2 striped bass between 20 and 26-inches per day from the Delaware Bay and it’s tributaries.
Striper aficionados found a few keepers in Indian River Inlet. Carl Swinn scored a 36 incher while tossing a live eel from the jetty at night. Brandon Keller drifted live bait in front of the Coast Guard Station for a plump keeper linesider.
Further south at the Hook’em & Cook’em Tackle Shop in the Indian River Marine, Capt. Bert Adams reported mixed activity in the Indian River Inlet. Anglers looking for keeper striped bass are having to weed through A?LOT of shorts. Bert said that if you drift spot all day, you may come up with a keeper or two, but you will stay very busy with a lot of throwbacks.
There were some flounder caught in the Inlet, led by the 7 lb. 5 oz. flattie caught by Mike Baumgartner that tied for the heaviest flounder caught in Delaware this year. Mike hooked the big flounder along Bubble Gum Beach on a jig head tipped with a 6-inch Nuclear Chicken Gulp! artificial bait. Capt. Bert himself landed a 4 lb. 8 oz. flounder while fishing on the south side of the Inlet, also with a jig head tipped with a Nuclear Chicken Gulp! artificial bait.
Those choosing to leave the Inlet and flounder fish at the Old Grounds are finding it to be hit-or-miss. Some boats are coming back with double-digit catches after powerdrifting natural baits, and others are finding it tough to catch a couple of flatties.
A few weakfish were caught at night last week by anglers tossing artificial lures in the Inlet, primarily Bass Assassins and jig heads tipped with rubber worms.
Larger croaker, in the 12 to 14-inch range, are exciting anglers drifting clams, squid, Fishbites and even minnows in the Inlet. Bert said the bite is good as long as the tide isn’t running hard or slack.
Headboats have been returning from ocean structure with a mix of sea bass, flounder, croaker and snapper bluefish.
Offshore, leading into the weekend, the yellowfin bite was fantastic in the Wilmington and the Baltimore Canyons, but tapered off on Saturday, and really died off on Sunday. On Saturday, the Baltimore Canyon was flooded with boats, so some found better luck getting away from the fleet and headed a little further south.
Those looking for dolphin were able to find them in the Baltimore, Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons in addition to the area around the Tea Cup.
Upcoming Tournament
Don’t forget to register for the 1st Kids Catch-All Tournament held at the Indian River Marina on June 28th and 29th. In addition to the fishing, a cook-out and awards banquet will be held for all who register. For details, call the Indian River Marina at 302-227-3071.
Until next week, tight lines!
