Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks. The fishing continues to be a bit on the slow side with most anglers reporting mostly small fish being caught.
Flounder action in the Rehoboth and Indian River Bays has been most productive during the outgoing tide. The usual baits such as minnow and squid combinations, frozen shiners, smelt and, for sure, good ‘ole Gulp!. A few bluefish are being caught, especially in the Indian River Inlet on the incoming tide. If you see the birds working, you can be pretty sure the blues are roaming underneath. Just throw any cut bait or a shiny lure and you should score.
Sea bass fishing has not been as good as I thought it would be. Anglers are scoring some fish at Site # 11 and the areas of rubble between “DB” Buoy and “DA” Buoy. Salted clam seems to be the best choice for bait.
Offshore action has been fair with reports of yellowfin and bluefin tuna for those trolling the canyons.
Capt. Bill Baker at Bill’s Sport Shop reported that cod are still being caught and spot have shown up. Croaker have also been spotted in the Delaware Bay.
Jim Jones went to the Washington this past weekend and caught 15 to 20 small yellowfin tuna and 1 bluefin tuna. Loren Kline caught a 75.40 lb., 49-inch black drum at the Coral Beds on clams. Michael Davidson, aboard the "G-Force", boated 6 yellowfins, 2 bluefins and released 2 mako sharks in the Washington Canyon.
At Capt. Mac’s in Fenwick, DE, Capt. Bruce said that offshore action heated up in the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons. Most action has taken place east of 45 fathoms. Yellowfins, bluefins and a few bigeyes are giving anglers a workout. Chunking has produced some fish around the Hot Dog and the Sausages. Shark fishing has seen a lot of different species of sharks but not many big fish.
In the back bays anglers are catching small bluefish and a lot of short flounder.
Surf fishermen are picking up some stripers and kingfish although the fishing has been a bit slow overall.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said a big shark caused a buzz around the dock last week. Captain Ted Moulinier and the crew of the “Pirate King II” celebrated Memorial Day with some sharking, and returned with a 487-pound thresher. The large longtail struck a mackerel northwest of “DB” Buoy, and after the battle, was too heavy to get over the gunwale, so it was towed home.
The tuna bite was good on Saturday. It was encouraging to see numerous yellowfins inshore of the canyons, and hopefully the pattern will continue. All of the trollers reported numerous short tuna, plus plenty of skipjacks and some false albacore on both ballyhoo and a variety of artificials.
Offshore bottom fishing was good. Bill Swords and his buddies brought back 16 golden tiles to 35 pounds, plus a bunch of sea bass and ling caught while deep dropping in the Baltimore Canyon.
Inshore sea bass action was fair at Reef Site 11. Anchoring seemed more productive than drifting. Bass fishermen had to weed through many short ones to end up with a catch of fish above the 12-½ inch minimum. However, some nice bass were boated, like Chuck Coverdale’s 3.59 pounder caught on the “Angler”.
Back in Delaware Bay, black drum continued to come from the Coral Beds, but the run will likely wind down soon. A couple big boomers checked in recently including Phil Spare’s 72.1 pounder on the “Joint Venture”, and a 68.6 pounder landed by Ogden Lester aboard “Miss Kirstin”. Stripers were taken around the Outer Wall and Ice Breakers by casting plugs, bucktails and soft plastics in the evening and early morning hours. Flounder are beginning to bite around Bay reef sites. Captain Chet Harer showed ‘em how it’s done by pulling in a 5.19 pounder. The Lewes Canal is still yielding good numbers of flatties. The largest so far was an 8.1-pound doormat that Thurman Stanley scored using a Gulp! right in front of Lewes Harbour Marina. Ethan Boyle fooled his 3.46-pound flatfish with a Gulp! as well.
At Hook’em and Cook’em Bait and Tackle in Indian River Marina, Deanna Adams reported that through the week it was pretty slow, but then the yellowfin tuna started to hit the docks on Saturday. John Coleman, a former Hook 'em & Cook 'em employee, went out to the Wilmington Canyon and brought back some yellowfins with the biggest weighing in at 63 lbs. One bluefin made it to the docks weighing in at 40 lbs. It was caught out at the Chicken Bone and was brought to us from the "Black Widow".
The inshore bite for sea bass was pretty good on the “Karen Sue” last weekend. Capt John Nedelka ran out to the Washingtonian and came back with a nice catch. Nate Walker caught a 4.8 lb sea bass when he was fishing out at Site 11 with Capt. David Kincaid on the “Ambush”.
The headboat “Judy V.” has been making trips out to the inshore sites as well. The bite has been somewhat slow but there have been keepers taken home by some and throw backs for others. As the days get warmer we are looking forward to seeing more keepers come to the area along with flounder.
Speaking of flounder...the boat “Horizon” returned with 6 keepers after drifting out at the Old Grounds and Site 11. Flounder are finally showing up in the Indian River Inlet in bigger numbers. Many people are reporting catches of a lot of undersize fish, but are finding more keepers than last year at this time.
The Indian River Inlet is still popping out some keeper rockfish. Frank Hunters caught a 12 pounder on a chartreuse Storm lure while Bill Winkler took his sons fishing on two separate days and caught 5 rockfish weighing in at 23, 18, 18, 11 and 9 lbs. Bill uses live hickory shad for his bait. Blue fish are also coming to the fish-cleaning table from the inlet. They are still on the small side, but there have been some nice ones caught as well.
With only a few small kingfish, bluefish and a blowfish now and then, the surf remains the best place to catch a nap and a tan.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe !
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
