Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks! Fishing in the Indian River and Rehoboth Bays continues to be fairly productive. Some real nice flounder are being caught along with some stripers and bluefish. Flounder are still chasing minnows and squid, along with cut herring, bunker, or mullet. Berkley GULP! artificial baits continue to produce its fair share of really nice size flatties. Bluefish are taking just about anything you throw at them and as always, anything with a shine will work.
Stripers in the back bays are falling for various artificials or cut bunker or herring. Bill Nace of New Oxford, PA landed an 8 lb. 7 oz. flattie while fishing off of Pot Nets Bayside.
Bruce Hudson of Bayside fooled an 8 lb. 1 oz. flounder while fishing in the Indian River aboard the “Leslie Kay” with John McBride at the helm. Donald Simon of Temple, PA tricked an 8 lb.
7 oz. flattie while fishing in the Indian River.
Elsewhere, Bill at Henlopen Bait & Tackle reported good flounder action at the Henlopen State Park Pier.
At Rattle & Reel Sports Center on Long Neck Rd., Ron said that the flounder action in the VFW Slough is still good and bluefish and shad are in the Indian River Inlet. Stripers are being caught as well at night in the Inlet on live eels.
In the Bill’s Sport Shop Flounder Tournament, the current standings are:
1st-William Rawlings 9.4 lbs.
2nd-Don Ruth 9.12 lbs.
3rd-Kwan Chon 6.20 lbs.
4th- Eddie Kim 2.74 lbs.
Bill also reported that the striper bite has been red hot from the beach as well as the inlet. Mickey Bremer beached a 38", 19.55 lb. striper while fishing the North Pocket on a bunker head. Black drum have shown up in the DE. Bay. The bite should only get better over the next few weeks.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said the Canal Flounder Tournament was a total success. Weather was perfect for the 300 anglers that fished Friday’s event. That was the largest turnout so far. Many flatties were caught, but most fell short of the 18½ inch minimum. However, some impressive specimens hit the scales, and the winning lineup looked good (see picture on page 37). Matt Sanderson was the big winner with a 7.15 lb. doormat. D.J. Churchill captured second with his 5.39 pounder. Alan Herr had a 4.69 lb. fluke, good enough for third place. A 4.52 pounder caught by Jeff Purdy put him in fourth place. Mike Newcomb nailed a 4.19-pound flounder for fifth place and Rich Owen’s 3.95-pound flatfish held on to take sixth place. Lance Wheatley took seventh place with his 3.77 pounder. The Dewey Beach Lions Club sponsored the tournament, and 20% of entry monies were donated to the Camp Awareness youth fishing programs. Joe and Amanda extend thanks to all who participated.
The Lewes Canal also yielded nice flounder other days during the week. Aaron Strausbaugh stuck a 6.83 pounder on Thursday. Six-year-old Rylee Caras showed up her dad by catching a
2.72 lb. flattie in the Canal.
Joe said Saturday was a bad day to be a sea bass. The long awaited season opening lived up to expectations. Fishermen found big numbers of hungry bass at Reef Site 11. Other artificial and natural structure between 60 and 90 feet depths also gave up sea bass. Crews reported fish feeding eagerly, spitting out gobs of sand eels and crabs when they came aboard. Boats that drifted Site 11 seemed to have even better catches than those that anchored. Surface temps were in the upper 50’s, but water temperatures on the bottom remain cool, and several cod were caught by the bass fleet.
Decent numbers of keeper flounder were also landed in the ocean, offering encouragement for a good fluke season.
Guys on the “Grizzly” had a big opening day with sea bass. Harry and Michael Weaver, John Brandt, John Cope, Matt Klohr and Corey Gassert had their limit of 150 nice knotheads, plus 6 codfish. The crew of “Skipjack” hosted the “Fishin’ Bitches” from Lewes, and the ladies returned with 130 sea bass and a cod.
Thresher sharks have made an appearance, along with the sea bass. Captain Brent Wiest and his dad Bill Wiest brought back the first thresher of the season at Lewes Harbour Marina. The big longtail ate a mackerel, east of Delaware Light, and weighed 166 pounds.
Black drum fishing was in full swing on the Coral Beds off Fowler Beach, and should be really hot around the full moon on May 27th. The best bites occurred during the late afternoon ebb tides and evening flood. Surf clams and peeler crab were favored offerings. Joe reminded drummers to reserve clams early in the week to insure bait for the holiday weekend. The “Indian” had some big boomers Friday night with the largest weighing 82 pounds. Andy Grudza got a 76 pounder while fishing aboard the “Indian” on Saturday. Also on Saturday night, Larry Gardner caught 3 drum weighing up to 76 lbs. while fishing on the “Grizzly”. Anglers fishing on the “Jam-Man” scored 8 drum on Saturday evening, including an 84.6 pounder for Jedidiah Fices and a 65.6 pounder for Raymond Eichelberger. Kathy Rodgers reeled in a drum that tipped the scales to 69.3 pounds. Larry Wilson wound in a 76.5 pounder and Dave Horan had a 66.3 lb. black drum.
Boaters drifting along the rocks of the Outer Wall and Ice Breakers landed stripers while casting artificials at sunset. Bomber and Stretch 12 plugs, along with bucktails and Storm Shads, were effective lures.
Mark your calendar now for the Rick’s Bait & Tackle/Sea Side Gas & Grill Inshore Fishing Tournament. It will take place From July 18th to July 24th and the awards presentation will
take place @ 6 pm on the 24th followed by a live performance by renowned blues band “Pork Roll Project”. This is an event you will want to be part of. More details will be listed in the upcoming weeks.
Until next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.