Article by Larry Jock
After a fairly slow early season, it actually looked like a typical fishing season this past weekend with flounder, weakfish, tuna and dolphin hitting the scales.
Capt. Bert Adams at Hook’em & Cook’em tackle shop in the Indian River Marina said that anglers are pecking at snapper bluefish, stripers, flounder, shad and weakfish in the Indian River Inlet. Bluefish and shad are all over and anglers are having luck tossing spec rigs tipped with curly tails. A few stripers are being caught during the morning and early evening hours. Weakfish weighing between 4 and 6 lbs. were landed by anglers fishing on Saturday.
Bert reported croakers being caught in the Indian River Bay, but he hadn’t heard much on the flounder front.
The headboat, “Judy V” had a good trip on Saturday, especially for anglers looking for flounder. They returned with 11 flatties, up to 24-inches, during their morning trip and followed that up with another 8 flounder in the afternoon.
Indian River boats heading offshore over the weekend brought back 3 bigeye tuna from the Baltimore Canyon. Angler fishing on the “On the Edge” boated a 180 pounder and 7 yellowfins in the Baltimore canyon on Saturday. Chris Eby captured a 170 lb. eyeball and another group of anglers landed a 132 pounder, both also in the Baltimore.
Yellowfin tuna were also caught in decent numbers in the Baltimore Canyon and in the northern end of the Poor Man’s. Bert also said that a group headed to the Wilmington Canyon and caught a few yellowfins and a half dozen dolphin.
Finally, a big 317 lb. mako shark was caught on an overnight trip by a group of anglers fishing in 500 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon. Fresh bluefish was the ticket for hooking the 96 1/2-inch shark.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina also said that sharks were in the news at his dock during the week. Threshers aren’t usually caught at night, but the one Captain Brian Wazlavek and his crew aboard the “Lil’ Angler II” landed didn’t get the memo. They headed down the Buoy Line on Sunday night and set-up on structure, west of Delaware Light. Capt. Brian found a temperature break from 58.5 to 61-degrees holding a school of bunker, and started a slick of Aquatic Nutritions Bloodstream and Voodoo Menhaden Milk. At 2:00 AM, a good sized shark grabbed a butterflied mackerel and after a 45 minute battle, Josh Chubb subdued the 221.5 pounder, with assistance from Mike Trestka and Aaron Jost. After hearing of that catch, Greg Wagner had his sights set on a thresher and Captain Brian offered to ride along with Greg on Wednesday and provide some guidance. They headed back toward the Delaware Light, but stopped short when they spotted a shark on the surface. At 6:50 AM they were hooked up, and by 7:30 AM Chris Wagner and Ron Steen were helping to haul the 144.5 pound whiptail aboard. Greg’s wish had come to pass.
Dustin Schell, John Kenyon and Trevor Paradyscz were trolling in the Baltimore Canyon on Wednesday and boated an 85 pound mako that grabbed a ballyhoo and Ilander combo meant for tuna. John Kenyon went seeking sharks again on Saturday morning, and picked “DB” Buoy as the spot to try for threshers. John, Tom Kenyon and Jimmy Yingling teamed up to capture a 93 pounder there.
Tuna action was good offshore. Art and William Lodge pulled spreader bars up tight, through 66-degree water in 100 Fathoms of the Baltimore on Saturday for their limit of yellowfins weighing up to 51.5 pounds. Other crews told of yellowfins in Baltimore Canyon too, as well as some bigeyes. Jason Massey said a large eyeball picked the lightest outfit in his spread on Saturday, of course, and it took almost 3 ½ hours to bring aboard. During the time they weren’t battling the bigeye, Jason and his buddies managed 6 keeper yellowfins weighing up to 50 lbs., plus other shorts. Ed Sigda and his gang on the “Snow Goose” overnighted offshore Saturday afternoon into Sunday when they headed to the Poor Man’s Canyon and trolled nice yellowfins weighing up to 59 lbs. before nightfall. The crew moved north to the Baltimore for some sharking, and during the darkness they tagged and released a 60-inch mako, along with a huge 12-foot hammerhead! Before dawn, they were surrounded by tinker mackerel and scores of schoolie bluefin tuna that eagerly grabbed metal jigs. Once day broke, they returned to trolling for a couple more keeper yellowfins and a gaffer mahi. The guys capped the trip off with some blueline and golden tiles from the bottom before heading home.
Jason Burris ran his “Sea Hunter” north of the Baltimore Canyon on Sunday, and trolled up a 45 lb. yellowfin and a 17.8 lb. dolphin for Jason’s son Gannon, on his first offshore fishing trip.
Back inshore, sea bass fishermen had to work hard for any big numbers of legal fish. Captain Brent anchored the “Katydid” many different times over structure in 100 to 130-foot depths on Wednesday, but he picked some nice fish at each spot. At the end of the trip, his anglers returned with 111 keeper knotheads and 22 big ling. Capt. Brent switched his schedule from seeking sea bass to finding flounder on Saturday when he drifted the Old Grounds, where his patrons put 12 quality fluke in the box.
In the Delaware Bay, the black drum run on the Coral Beds is about done, but boomers were caught in the lower end of Bayshore Channel near the Cape May Canal entrance. Joshua Mellinger muscled in a 63.2 pounder, and Mike Haller handled a 48.8 lb. drum while fishing there with Captain Vince on the “Miss Kirstin” on Saturday night.
Weakfish continue to please casters around the Roosevelt Inlet, the Ferry Jetty and the Inner Wall. K.B. Brittingham was tossing a MirrOLure at Roosevelt when he connected with a 5.16 lb. trout. Kyle Scott used white Gulp! at the Ferry Jetty for his 3.8 lb. sea trout. Dan Martin was fishing from the bank of the Broadkill River on Sunday morning when he landed a 5.79 lb. tiderunner that took a chunk of peeler crab. Joe Ryan and Shirley Muncey worked soft plastics in the eddy of a Delaware Bay wreck on Sunday for several nice weakies, including Shirley’s 4.78 lb. citation earner.
Boaters anchoring on Reef Site 5 in Broadkill Slough got into croakers, kingfish, trout, spot, blowfish and bluefish. Many of the hardheads were small, but larger specimens hung tight to reef rubble. Clams, bloodworms and Fishbites worked well for all the panfish.
Flounder have not turned on in the Delaware Bay yet, but flatfish continue to come from the Lewes Canal and Broadkill River, and along Lewes Beach and the Ferry Jetty. Young flounder pounder, Andrew Wertz used minnows in the Roosevelt and had keepers of 16 and 18-inches, plus 6 more shorts. Shane Townsend took a 4.16 lb. fluke from Roosevelt with a minnow. Jim Haug had flatties of 17 and 25-inches in the Roosevelt on Sunday.
Stripers are showing up along the Outer Wall. Jason Leach checked in his limit of linesiders measuring up to 36-inches that fell for eels at the Breakwater on Saturday night.
Surf anglers along the ocean beach got a few bluefish, kingfish and croakers on bunker, mullet and bloodworms. Dave Furio had quite the surprise Saturday when he landed a 45-inch cobia from the suds at Herring Point.
Upcoming Tournament
Don’t forget to register for the 1st Kids Catch-All Tournament held at the Indian River Marina on June 28th and 29th. In addition to the fishing, a cook-out and awards banquet will be held for all who register. For details, call the Indian River Marina at 302-227-3071.
Until next week, tight lines!
