Article by Larry Jock
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said it may sound like a broken record, but the flounder action is still of the finest kind. The bite was good on Delaware Bay reefs early in the week, but strong running currents around the full moon prompted many boaters to try the ocean later on, where tidal effects seemed less severe, and drift conditions were better. Once the moon wanes, Delaware Bay reefs should light up again.
Captain Brent and a group of local flounder fans on “Katydid” worked Bay structure Monday for their limit of 28 flatties. Blake Reed boated a 5.67 pounder, and Jeff Trench took one weighing 5 pounds.
Stefan and Adrienne Talabisco tangled with and released big Delaware Bay sharks aboard the “Top Fin” last Monday, then finished their trip with a limit of flounder. Tuesday’s group on the “Katydid” took home 22 keepers, including the 5.78 pounder Joe McNeal nailed with a Gulp! Squido. Bob and Bobby Bryant, John Schnaitman and Al Rebierio worked upper Bay reef sites 3 and 4 for early, 16 fish limits on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, flukers aboard the “Katydid” captured a 36 keeper limit. Captain Brent Wiest and Tony Gargurevich caught twin flounder weighing exactly 6.21 pounds each. Captain Brent’s Friday charter group got into some real quality ocean fish. There were three citations among the limit of 32 keepers, and the weight of just the five heaviest totaled nearly 35 pounds! Cecelia Spinelli scored an 8.1 pounder, Brian LaClair landed a 7.51, and Captain Brent caught a 7.41 pound fluke. Daryl Mergenthaler managed an 8.15 pound doormat while fishing a Delaware Bay reef aboard the “Fish Bones”, with Wayne DeMarco on Friday. The “Angler” drifted Old Grounds bottom on Saturday for a real nice catch. Tom Horner had the heaviest of the day with his 7.18 pound citation fluke. Diana and Tony Vansant, Robert Karpovich, and Joe and Michael Walker had their 20 fish limit from ocean structure on Saturday. Diana out did the guys with her flattie weighing 6.1 pounds. Joe and Dave Walker, Robert Karpovich and Bill Yeager ran to Sites 3 and 4 on Sunday to secure a catch of 11 good fluke.
Even though open Bay and ocean catches have captured the spotlight, shallow water anglers continue to quietly pick away at flounder in the Lewes Canal, Roosevelt Inlet and around Cape Henlopen Pier. Bill Regnault reeled in a 4 pounder using minnows in the Canal. Fred “Beaver” Ruff got a 5.31 pound beauty right off the dock in front of Lewes Harbour Marina.
The Canal is also yielding slot stripers. Casting popping plugs or drifting eels around the drawbridge was popular and effective. Croakers were plentiful in the Canal too, and also in Broadkill River. Bits of bloodworms or Fishbites worked well. The Broadkill Reef, also known as Site 5, held croakers, spot, spike trout, kingfish, blowfish and snapper blues. Some could be caught drifting, but anchoring right on structure was most productive.
Offshore boaters found bluefins between the Hambone and the Hot Dog. Carl Meyer and his guys on the “Reel Tease” trolled up a bluefin and a yellowfin there on Friday. Captain Mike Newsham and the crew aboard “Local Girl” pulled ballyhoo behind blue and white Ilanders way back for their under and over bluefins weighing up to 92 pounds there on Saturday morning. They then moved off to the Baltimore where white spreader bars attracted yellowfins of 57 and 48 pounds. They also had a white marlin hooked, and saw others in their spread. Captain Ed Sigda and the gang on the “Snow Goose” enjoyed another productive overnighter. Trolling near the Hot Dog yielded a pair of bluefins in the evening. They released two makos and a 200 pound dusky while sharking the Dog at night. A 20.5 pound mahi made the mistake of eating one of the shark baits, and ended up in the box. They trolled the Baltimore in the morning and landed a 59 pound yellowfin and also dropped for some nice blueline tiles to round out the catch. Captain Pete and the boys on “Candy’s Choice” had a good offshore run to the Baltimore Canyon. They went 1 for 2 on white marlin, released a blue one, and bailed two dozen dolphin. Bottom bouncing there produced several golden tilefish, rosefish and some big hake. Brian Ludwig and Jeff Snyder were towing a ballyhoo and red/white Ilander combo way back at the Hambone Sunday morning, and connected with a 70 pound bluefin.
At the Hook’em &?Cook’em Tackle Shop in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert?Adams reported a good flounder bite in the Indian River Inlet before the arrival of the full moon on Saturday. Flounder still bit after the moon, but he did see a little dropoff. Anglers using live spot for bait was the most effective method for getting a keeper flattie in the box, and Bert does have some live spot available. Some anglers also did well catching live shiners, but they are tough to keep alive.
Striped bass are being caught around the pilings of the old Indian River Bridge, but anglers need to show a lot of patience because the throwback ratio is huge. There has been a very good bite at night, but again, you need to go through a lot of throwbacks to get your keeper.
Croakers have invaded the Inlet and the bays. Smaller croaker were caught on Fishbites along the north side of the Inlet but larger hardheads could be found on the south side, near the campground.
A few weakfish were caught by anglers drifting along the south side of the Inlet while using Fishbites, squid and swim shads.
A couple of sheepshead were caught last week in the Indian River Inlet. Justin Keller landed a 12 pounder on a spec rig along the jetty rocks, and a 6 pounder was caught on Friday. Bert said that calico crabs are the top bait if you are looking to land a sheepshead.
Inshore, the headboats have seen an improvement in flounder fishing on ocean structure. Fish are moving, so a good bite on one piece of structure may switch to another as these fish move east and west. Triggerfish and croaker are also keeping anglers busy on ocean reefs and wrecks.
Surfcasters are finding the usually summer varieties of kingfish, croakers, spot, sharks and skates. Larger sharks, such as sand tigers, sandbars and even some spinner sharks are being caught at night.
Offshore, bigeye tuna have anglers running down to the Washington Canyon and those not looking to venture that far are busy catching bluefins and yellowfins around the Hot Dog and Hambone. Some smaller bluefins have been caught at Massey’s Canyon.
Deep droppers are finding blueline and golden tilefish in 800+ feet of water in the Baltimore and Washington Canyons.
Those looking to tangle with a shark will be happy to know that small makos, in the low 100 lb. class, are still lingering around in the Baltimore Canyon.
Until next week, tight lines!