Article by Larry Jock
It was a very tough week of fishing because the wind blew... and blew... and blew. Fishing in the bays was difficult and heading offshore was impossible on most days. The only decent windows of opportunity came on Friday and Saturday morning. Boats out of Delaware mainly headed to the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons where they absolutely smoked the yellowfin tuna with a small batch of dolphin mixed in.
At the Hook’em & Cook’em Tackle Shop in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams reported a frustrating week dealing with wind, but the savior was the weekend tuna bite that was the best Bert said he has seen in over a decade. A few highlights were a 168 lb. bigeye that was caught south of the Poor Man’s on the boat, “Raven”. In addition to the bigeye, the anglers also captured 8 yellowfin tuna during their trip. Bert also said that there was a 78 lb. yellowfin caught in the Baltimore Canyon on the “Canyon Hunter” over the weekend, but details and a picture were not found at press time. Overall, many boats returned with boxes full of yellowfins, including several limits.
In the Indian River Inlet, short stripers are the main attraction right now with only a couple of keepers caught throughout the week at night. The schoolie stripers are being hooked on soft plastic baits and Bass Assassins.
Flounder fishing in the Inlet was rough due to dirty water conditions from all the wind. Bert did see one angler catch his limit on Sunday while using pink Gulp Shine artificial baits, but no other flatties came in to the cleaning table that day. He also had an angler report losing a 30-incher as he was trying to get it over the rocks on Friday evening. The fellow was using a Tsunami Tidal artificial bait which is a scented swim shad and cheaper in price than Gulp. It looks like companies are really starting to go after the market that has been owned by Gulp for the past several years. A couple of weeks ago, we told you about the American Stink line of soft plastics impregnated with scent and now the Tsunami Tidal baits. Looks like the battle of scented rubber baits is on!
Bert said that ocean flounder fishing was practically nonexistent due to windy conditions, but on Saturday the headboats managed to get out but found the wind bucking the tide. Not good.
A couple of nice size threshers arrived at Hook’em & Cook’em last week from anglers fishing at the Old Grounds. The “C-Monster” captured a 528 pounder on a mackerel fillet and the “Hook It Up” returned with a 430 pounder fooled with a bunker.
At Lewes Harbour Marina, Capt. Tommy said the flounder bite in the Lewes Canal has really slowed down as the fish are moving out. Anglers are finding a lot of throwbacks with a ratio of 5 to 1 to get your keeper. A few weakfish were caught in the Canal down by the Roosevelt Inlet and some schoolie striped bass were hooked by the Drawbridge.
In the Delaware Bay, the black drum bite at the Coral beds is over. Those fishing around the Walls are finding keeper weakfish, small bluefish and schoolie stripers. Bigger weakies are being found at various Delaware Bay reef sites, including the Star Site Reef, along with a few flounder, bluefish and even some croakers.
Tommy didn’t hear much coming in from around the Cape Henlopen Pier last week.
Flounder boats out of Lewes have been heading out to Sites 10, 11 and the Old Grounds, weather permitting, and have seen a continued improvement in the flounder bite. Not many huge fish yet, but the numbers are encouraging.
Offshore, Lewes boats passed on the long trip down to between the Washington and Norfolk Canyons and opted instead to head to the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons where they also found yellowfin snapping. Tommy said that one boat also had a white marlin sniff around 3 baits, but just couldn’t get it to come tight.
Capt. Mike at Rick’s Bait & Tackle didn’t have any reports from the Lewes Canal last week, but said that this time of year his customers start to fish more in the Indian River Inlet and Bay anyway. Those that drifted bucktails, Rat-L-Traps and small lures found plenty of schoolie stripers to keep them busy in the Inlet and there are still a lot of shad around. Mike said that the bluefish that were so plentiful have disappeared.
Offshore, Mike said that some of his customers did venture down to the Washington Canyon where they got in on the epic yellowfin bite, but some also found them snapping in the Baltimore and Poor Man’s as well.
One of the highlights of the week was Mike Fry from Parkville, MD catching a 36.5-inch, 19.8 lb. blueline tilefish in the Washington Canyon on Saturday. The current Delaware State Record is 22 lbs. 3 oz. set back in 2015.
In the surf, everyone is reporting mainly kingfish with the normal menu of sharks, skates and rays.
Upcoming Tournament
This weekend is the famous Indian River Marina Kids Catch-All Tournament held at the Indian River Marina. This is the tournament’s 5th year for junior anglers aged 3 to 18. They can fish from the beach, off the jetties, in the bays or head offshore. Registration is on Friday, June 21st and the cost is only $25 per angler or $150 per boat. The entry fee also includes t-shirts and dinners on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Fishing days are Saturday and Sunday with weigh-ins on Saturday from 3:00 to 6:30 and Sunday from 3:00 to 6:00. A portion of the tournament proceeds will go to the Lyme Disease Association of Delmarva.
Until next week, have fun and tight lines.
