Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks. It’s the final issue of the Coastal Fisherman for 2011 and I hope you have enjoyed reading the Delaware Fishing Report and found it informative. Even though the paper is finished for the season, fishing certainly is not. There are still plenty of doormat flounder, big sea bass, bluefish and incoming stripers looking for a plate to be served on. If you are a catch-and-release kind of angler, these fish will be happy to see the topside of your boat for a few seconds.
Don’t forget to get involved in one or all of the local striper tournaments going on this fall. The Rick’s Bait and Tackle/Sea Side Gas and Grill Tournament and the Bill’s Sport Shop Tournament will fill your fall with plenty of excitement.
Fishing lately has been hit or miss. Dirty water and bad weather have been the main culprits. In the back bays, fishermen have found flounder, croaker and bluefish biting in areas where the water is a bit cleaner. A few stripers are being caught in the Indian River Inlet and short linesiders are being found in Massey’s Ditch. The north end of Massey’s has produced some nice flounder lately.
Denny Stetz and Jim Pyle fished Massey’s Ditch and caught 4 flounder to over 7 pounds. Denny hooked a 7-pound 2 oz flattie using Gulp! artificial bait to earn his citation. Tiny and Kathy Heimbach of Bechtelsville, PA fished Massey’s, where Kathy scored a really nice 15-inch croaker and an 18 ½-inch flounder while using salted clam for bait. For the folks fishing Massey’s who are looking for black puppy drum, I will remind you the regulations are 3 fish at 16 inches in the Delaware Bay. The waters in the back bays have no size and no creel limits for the black puppy drum. If you find yourself in the middle of one of those unbelievable days when you can’t keep them off the hook, use common sense and only keep a sensible amount. Everyone wants to fish another day.
Inshore fishing has been kind of slow due to weather conditions. On the days you can fish, there are sea bass, flounder and croaker being captured between “DB” Buoy and “DA” Buoy as well as the Old Grounds. Sites #10 and #11 are also producing fish.
Capt. Bill Baker at Bill’s Sport Shop said that Arthur Lodge of Lewes, DE caught a citation sea bass at Site #11 weighing in at 3.81 pounds and measuring 21 ¼-inches on a Gulp! and squid combination. Skip Mosiej, Luther Marks and John Janewsio on the "This Is It" went to the Old Grounds and came away with 5 keeper flounder up to 9.25 pounds and 28-inches. They also caught 9 knothead sea bass on squid and minnows. Mike Perry of Dover, DE, called to report that he caught a 29-inch striper on the beach at 3 R's Road. He caught it on a 3-inch Berkley shad and also landed several bluefish up to 17-inches.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said that bottom fishermen have had to deal with their share of adversity over the past couple weeks. Dirty water and debris from rain runoff, ground swells from offshore storms and strong currents surrounding the full moon all caused problems. However, on days with decent conditions, anglers still picked at flounder on the Old Grounds. There haven’t been many flatties, but it seems that most caught were keepers. Some were real quality specimens, like the impressive 11.39-pound doormat landed by Gary Ebling, south of “DB” Buoy on Saturday. There may still be a considerable number of fluke around, but it’s probable that they’re on the move and recent weather events have kept them from grouping up in certain areas like they normally do at this time of year.
There has been some pretty good sea bass action between “DB” and “DA” Buoys, and that should hold up until the season closure from October 12th to 31st. After that, bassers will start checking out wrecks and reefs in deeper water as fish stage during their movement offshore.
Croakers were hard to come by this past week, but snapper blues have been plentiful. Snappers were also abundant in the surf, and casters at Cape Henlopen caught blues using fresh mullet. Small blues were taken around the Outer Wall and on Delaware Bay reef sites as well. Bay reefs also gave up a few flounder, kingfish, blowfish and triggerfish. One encouraging sign is the increased number of weakfish. Several anglers reported catching spike trout in the Bay, and maybe they’re on the verge of a comeback. Spot continue to be decked from the Cape Henlopen Pier by folks using bloodworms and FishBites.
Tautog season reopens September 29th, and anglers expect to find tog and some lingering triggerfish and sheepshead around the rocks of the Inner and Outer Walls and Ice Breakers.
Keeper stripers were pulled from the Lewes Canal. A couple of fishermen used eels to capture two 30-inch rockfish near the Drawbridge. They released 15 other bass as well, and had a bonus keeper trout they caught near the boat ramp on the Broadkill River, just before they hauled out for the day.
Getting back to fall fishing, there really is a lot of good fishing yet to come. The Indian River Inlet is always a hot spot for targeting stripers and is also a spot where big flounder stack up before heading to the depths of the ocean. When the water temp starts to make a fast drop, the fishing activity will surely increase. Big stripers, big flounder and big bluefish are all getting ready for a big move. These fish will be ready to eat and you just need to be the one serving them a platter. Live eels, live spot and black salties all work well to entice stripers along with trolling along the coastline.
No matter how you fish this fall just be sure to have fun, be safe and only keep what you need. I hope everyone has a great fall and winter with very happy holidays, and be sure to check back with the Coastal Fisherman in January for their big Winter Issue.
See you next year!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
