Article by Larry Jock
Well, the weekend turned out to be better than forecasted with Friday and Saturday thankfully turning into fishable days. Sunday was a complete washout with periodic high winds.
The increase in the minimum size requirement for mako sharks from 54-inches to 83-inches, along with the availability of bluefin and yellowfin tuna, seems to have put a damper on the number of sharkers this spring, but we did see a few come in during the Bahia Marina Mako Mania Tournament. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place threshers, including the first place fish that weighed 644.9 lbs., all were caught near the Cigar. The winning mako, measuring exactly 83-inches and weighing 200.9 lbs. came in from the east wall of the Baltimore Canyon where the anglers reported releasing several blue sharks there as well.
Offshore, bluefins moved into 30 fathoms with several arriving at the dock on boats that were trolling ballyhoo and spreader bars around the Hot Dog and the Tea Cup. The bite was good with several boats returning with their “under” fish and even an “over” as well. I did receive a couple of emails and phone calls last week from readers asking what we mean when we refer to bluefins as “unders” and “overs”. Bluefin regulations stipulate that recreational anglers can only keep 2 bluefins that are 27-inches to UNDER 47-inches and 1 bluefin equal to or OVER 47-inches. Those on charters can keep 3 “unders” and an “over”. Hopefully, this clears it up.
Just a few yellowfin tuna were found in the Baltimore, Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons, mostly in the 500 fathom range, but some were caught closer to shore, in around the Rockpile and Triple 0’s.
In the surf before Sunday’s blow, we continued to see action in the suds dominated by sharks, kingfish, puffers and the occasional striped bass and bluefish. Most surfcasters are baiting up with fresh bunker or finger mullet, but we saw a few stripers caught on sand fleas last week, including Troy Travatello’s 45-incher that weighed an even 30 lbs. and was caught in the Fenwick surf on a sand flea and Fishbite combination. Troy had 20 minutes to kill before the lifeguards came on duty and used a spec rig to hook the big linesider.
At Hook’em &?Cook’em Tackle Shop in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams said that water temperature in the Indian River Inlet is still a cooler than normal 67-degrees. They did see their first weakfish of the season on Friday morning when an angler caught a 27-incher while tossing a swim shad from the rocks on the south side. Those fishing from the rocks also had a better week for catching striped bass. Most of the action came on swim shads at the end of the incoming and beginning of the outgoing tide.
Flounder fishing in the Inlet and back bays was not good last week, with dirty water conditions hampering the bite.
Matt Shoup at Fenwick Bait & Tackle reported a lot of small fish in the Fenwick surf. Matt said that it seems like the time of day has mattered more than the tide for his surf fishing customers with most reporting their best action around 9:30 in the morning. John Douds was fishing with a whole mullet off the beach in Fenwick and caught a 35-inch, 12 lb. 3 oz. chopper.
The Ditch in Fenwick is producing catches of striped bass with most of the fish in the 18 to 24-inch range, but a few keepers have been landed there as well.
Matt’s customers drifting in shallow water, north of the Rt. 90 Bridge have had good luck catching flounder while using minnows for bait.
At Lewes Harbour Marina, Tommy said that the flounder bite in the Lewes Canal has heated up for anglers drifting squid, minnows and various colors of Gulp Swimming Mullets. They are also hooking into some small striped bass and bluefish.
A few small stripers are being caught around the Walls but no news has come in from guys fishing for weakfish.
Those looking for black drum are still finding good numbers interested in offerings of clams around the Coral Beds, but Tommy said that the best action is still coming in from the Jersey side.
Anglers fishing at the Cape Henlopen Pier are hooking into keeper flounder and finding bluefish snapping during the afternoon and evening hours.
Until next week, have fun and tight lines!
