Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Welcome to the Nor'easter that was not truly a Nor’easter! This week was a series of storms and high winds. As the week began, we saw the storm that although didn't fit the criteria of a Nor’easter, packed winds that were measured at 74 mph in Lewes, 56 mph in Bethany and low 50’s inland. Samantha and I went to pull our crab pots right in the middle of Saturday's 56 mph tormenting storm. Even with full commercial style rain suits it was a tough ride. Our pots just outside the marina took us about an hour to pull, a feat we usually perform in about 15 minutes. Just to note, 3 other boats were also scrambling to pull pots before the storms dragged them away. The good news is we made it back safely and soaked to the bone with a tally of 34 keeper crabs in 4 pots on a 3 day soak. All along the eastern seaboard the wind and rains pounded the coast leaving many towns in utter destruction.
To start off with this week we will have no surf report. The reason is that the beaches are pretty much gone and Delaware DNREC had closed all entrances to the drive on beaches until further notice. I seriously doubt that anyone would want to brave the winds and surf we had this past week to try anyway. The surf conditions did not improve as the week went on, with winds between 25-40 mph continuing through Thursday with temps in the low to mid 50’s. Offshore was no better with wind and seas reaching 14 ft. with sloppy confused seas. By Thursday the seas had lowered to about 6 ft. but remained very sloppy.
I talked to several charter and headboats who normally fish the week before sea bass season opens. All of them stated they were doing general maintenance to prepare for the opening of sea bass but had not fished. The towns were majorly flooded and many, such as Bethany Beach, closed and barricaded roads. The beaches were washed away right up to the dunes and snow fences, walkways and steps were washed away leading to the beach. The following weeks as the seas calm down will require quite a bit of repair to beach access, businesses and roads.
Sea Bass, Tog & Flounder
Sea bass season opened on Sunday the 15th in Delaware with a size limit of 13” and a creel limit of 15. As part of the change in minimum, the season will also be shortened and end on December 11 vs. December 31.
The past two years gave us big fish and large catches early on and even had the season extend into the summer warmth later than we have seen in years. Fresh clam and jigs are the preferred method at this time as many of the sea bass are of larger size and hungry as they make their way back inshore and begin their migration north. Bucktail jigs are a favorite of many anglers often tipped with a strip of squid. Metal jigs or flat fall jigs are also widely used in catching these big brutes off the wrecks. Beware that you will not catch the numbers of sea bass that you typically catch with these baits, however, the quality of the fish is often much larger. Sand eel type lures are also used for catching sea bass right now. Fresh clam is by far the best bait you can use this time of the year with salted clam and squid being second best. Deeper wrecks will be less crowded the first few days and can provide the angler a better chance of catching a limit of bigger fish.
Tog will end starting May 16th. Prior to the storms many record size tog have fallen prey to the anglers off the wrecks. The new state record tog was caught out of Lewes this past week as reported in Issue #2 of the Coastal Fisherman. This week I did hear of a few brave souls that tried to fish the beach before the big storms set in. Erick Rosckos pulled in a nice 24” black drum from 3R's beach. Lighthouse Bait and Tackle in Lewes reported the surf was slow until Friday when at high tide an angler threw a spoon, and sure enough, hooked up on a nice 15” bluefish. Others caught several more all around the same size. The fish were no more than 20 yards off the beach. Flounder has been slow to start, but each week we are seeing more of keeper size being taken from Indian River Bay areas.
On Thursday John Miller was fishing the rocks at Indian River using a white bucktail pulling in a nice 21” flounder. Most of these fish were taken on squid strips and minnows. Many were from the inlet area with deeper water coming in from the ocean on an ebb tide.
Rockfish & Bluefish
Jonathan Jackson was also fishing the Delaware beach and caught a nice 33” rockfish using sand fleas. Not many stripers have come into the beaches or surf this year, but with night temps in the mid 40’s they just may be late to arrive. Cold water and wind have seemed to slow everything down. Many of the fish being caught are either in the Chesapeake Bay or Delaware Bay, still spawning or even further south in Maryland or Virginia and haven’t finished their trek north. Surf clams and sand fleas remain the best bait for both black drum as well as rockfish in the surf and on the shoals in the bay areas. The big spawn of black drum was just beginning in the Delaware Bay, but after this big storm it is anybody's guess if they will still be around. The last full moon in May is usually the height of the spawn both here in Delaware as well as down south in Virginia and Maryland.
Crabs & Clams
Crabbing has been good with pots averaging about 8 keepers per pot. The big news this year is they are very big! Many of the crabs I've pulled out of my pots are over 7” with a few topping 8”.
Until next week and hopefully calmer and warmer weather...
Tight lines and fins up
