Article by Larry Jock
After the bad spring season we had there weren’t many weekends that got blown out, so we were due to have a bad one. The end of the week saw tough conditions and the weekend was just too nasty to fish outside the Inlet.
Before the bad weather rolled in we did see some okay fishing. Incredibly, the cobia bite is still rolling along for anglers tossing bucktails and eels at cruisers around bunker balls. Some large fish were spotted around Little Gull Shoal. I didn’t hear of any being caught off the coast of Bethany Beach, but I’m sure they were there along with some around Great Gull Shoal. Matt at Fenwick Bait & Tackle headed to Little Gull one day last week and found some trout interested in his offerings and then switch to cobia when he saw a large one circling bait balls.
At Hook’em & Cook’em, Capt. Bert said that flounder fishing was decent in the Indian River Inlet with flatties up to 6.3 lbs. hitting live spot and Gulp artificial baits. The best bites came near the rocks and from the Coast Guard Station to the Indian River Bridge. Anglers also found bluefish, mainly in the 10 to 12-inch range, but on Saturday some larger 14 to 16-inch fish moved in along with some Spanish mackerel.
Bert said that nothing really came in from the back bays, but he did hear of some bluefish that were netted and a few flounder came from Massey’s Ditch.
Inshore at Fenwick Shoal, boaters are encountering bluefish and Spanish mackerel. Unfortunately, flounder and sea bass fishing on inshore structure and open bottom is still tough. Nobody is quite sure why, especially with black sea bass since they are loaded up on sounder screens but just not eating.
The salvation has been the number of bailer dolphin being found not far off the beach. Delaware anglers found them in decent numbers from “A” Buoy to the Delaware Lightship and around the pots near “B” Buoy. They are also seeing them in good numbers around the DelJerseyLand reef site.
Surfcasters are still finding bluefish, pompano and kingfish during the day and sharks, rays and skates at night.
At Lewes Harbour Marina, Tommy said that there are still some flounder being caught from the Roosevelt Inlet down to the drawbridge with the better action closer to Roosevelt. Anglers are also finding small stripers, snapper bluefish and spot.
In the DE?Bay, croakers, good size kingfish, snapper bluefish and increased numbers of weakfish were found at reef sites before the recent blow. Quite a few triggerfish were also caught on clams around the Haystacks and the inside of the Outer Wall.
Inshore, Tommy said that boats are heading to 100-feet of water to find respectable number of black sea bass, but even there the bite is inconsistent.
Capt. Mike at Rick’s Bait &?Tackle said that in addition to some flounder his customers found weakfish interested in their offerings of squid in the Indian River Inlet. One angler caught a 22-inch weakie that weighed 3.5 lbs.
In the back bays, drifters are finding a lot of spot biting on artificial baits and those going just outside the Inlet picked at croakers and Spanish mackerel.
At Fenwick Bait & Tackle, Matt said that those fishing in the suds off Fenwick are still catching some Florida pompano. For whatever reason (probably water temperature) this has been the best year we have seen for this species. I even had reports of them being caught further up in the canals.
Until next week, have fun and tight lines!
