Article by Larry Jock
Bad weather at the end of the week and into the weekend put a damper on fishing, but before and after the blow we saw some good fishing.
At Lewes Harbour Marina, Tommy said that flounder fishing has been good in the Lewes Canal, particularly up towards the Roosevelt Inlet since the fish are now starting their move out towards the ocean. Most of the keeper flounder are in the 18 to 20-inch range and are being caught on spot, bunker, minnows, squid and Gulp artificial baits. Anglers are also finding small stripers and some weakfish in the Canal as well.
In the Delaware Bay, sheepshead and triggerfish are being caught around The Walls and also out along the rocks at Brandywine Shoal Lighthouse. Reef sites around the Bay are holding plenty of puffers, some weakfish in the 2 to 3 lb. range, triggerfish, flounder, croaker and bluefish.
Inshore anglers are finding flounder fishing picking up around Sites 10 and 11, according to Tommy, and the DelJerseyLand Reef is still providing good action on sea bass and flounder. Drifters are also hooking into some small mahi around several inshore locations as well, but the incredible mahi action is out in the canyons.
Matt at Fenwick Bait & Tackle reported a good bluefish and small striper bite in the surf off Fenwick Island. Fresh bunker and mullet have been the ticket.
Matt did say that he ventured down to the South Jetty in the Ocean City Inlet and in one outing, while only using sand fleas for bait, he hooked into short stripers, red drum, flounder, sheepshead and pompano. His largest sheepshead was a 5 pounder. A very cool trip!
Unfortunately, Matt said that action in the Fenwick Ditch continues to be slow. This time of year, the bite should be pretty good, but the warm water temperatures seem to have hurt the bite this season.
At Hook’em & Cook’em in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams said that anglers are catching small striped bass at night and bluefish and Spanish mackerel during the day by anglers casting spoons. Short tautog are being hooked along the rocks on the south side of the Inlet and flounder fishing is hit-or-miss. Bert believes that the flatties have already made the move offshore.
Good action was seen by anglers fishing inshore shoals only 1 to 3 miles off the beach. Last week, they caught black drum, pompano, triggerfish, sea bass and bluefish.
Indian River headboats are running 10 miles from the Inlet and finding good flounder fishing. Bert said that it isn’t “great”, but definitely on the upswing with several fish last week in the 3.5 lb. range being hooked on bucktails and jigs tipped with squid or Gulp artificial baits. Bert said that the effects of Hurricane Dorian seems to have stirred up the water and warmed things up a bit, creating better flounder and sea bass fishing. Some boats are finding better action when they get into 100-feet of water.
Offshore boats out of Indian River found plenty of dolphin in the canyons, particularly the Baltimore and the Wilmington, but they also got into some good size yellowfin tuna as well. The Ostrowski family ventured out to the Wilmington Canyon over the weekend and returned with 3 yellowfins caught while trolling Moldcraft lures and Hawaiian Eyes. Their 2 largest yellowfins tipped the scale at 74 and 78 lbs. They also caught some mahi that weighed up to 13 lbs.
Capt. Mike at Rick’s Bait & Tackle reported that his customers had good luck flounder fishing last week at the Old Grounds on the west side of “A” Buoy. They had good numbers of fish, but nothing big. Mike also said that the DelJerseyLand reef site is continuing to produce good numbers of sea bass for anglers soaking squid and clams.
In the Delaware Bay, Mike’s anglers caught sheepshead and triggerfish around the Haystacks and the Ice Breakers.
Flounder fishing in the Indian River Bay saw anglers dealing with a lot of throwbacks and those who fished in the Indian River Inlet caught schoolie stripers during the incoming tide.
Surfcasters are primarily dealing with bluefish during the day and the typical line-up of sharks, skates and rays at night.
Finally, Mike said that he has never had so many customers express an interest in swordfishing as he has had recently. This reminds me of what we saw a few years ago with tilefishing and with anglers seeing that daytime swordfishing can be lucrative, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a lot more swordfish pictures in the Coastal Fisherman next season.
Since this is the final issue of the 2019 season, I want to extend a huge “Thank You” to Bert Adams at Hook’em & Cook’em, Matt Shoup at Fenwick Tackle, Mike Behney at Rick’s Bait & Tackle and Tommy Serbin at Lewes Harbour Marina for all the input they provided each week for the Delaware Fishing Report. Also, thanks to Amanda Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina and Deanna Adams at Hook’em & Cook’em for sending in pictures.
Upcoming Tournaments
The Lewes Harbor Marina Tautog Tournament is set for October 19th to November 17th. Their Striper Tournament will run from November 23rd to December 22nd. Go to their Facebook page or give them a call at 302-645-6227 if you need additional information.
Until next year, have fun and tight lines!
