Article by Larry Jock
If you have been following this report each week, not much has changed, although the wicked weather we experienced over the weekend will surely have a negative effect on fishing early in the week. On the flip side, with kids heading back to school, we should see lighter boat traffic, especially during the week.
Croaker
Good numbers of hard heads have shown up in the Indian River Inlet, according to Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em. The fish being caught are getting larger, measuring up to 16-inches, and are being hooked on clams, Fishbites or bloodworms. Anglers are also seeing croakers in the back bays where they have been mixed in with some black puppy drum.
Bert mentioned that larger croaker were caught on the Indian River head boats while fishing between the mouth of the Delaware Bay and “DB” Buoy.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said that in the Delaware Bay, productive spots included the Inner and Outer Walls, the Ferry Jetty and the Star Site. Most anglers chose to fish the bottom with clams, bloodworms or Fishbites, but a jighead tipped with Gulp! artificial bait proved deadly for light tackle aficionados.
Bluefish
Joe reported that numerous bluefish provided fun for those casting artificials in the Bay where there has been an abundance of baitfish luring schools of snappers that could be seen crashing pods of shiners in the rips around the Outer Wall. Clouds of crashing birds usually indicated a feeding frenzy taking place below. Tossing Kastmasters, Stingsilvers, Krocodiles or Gotcha plugs into the melee resulted in strikes from ravenous choppers. Boaters trolling Clark spoons or Tony Accetta’s on light gear also got in on the action, not only in the Bay, but Fenwick and Isle of Wight Shoals in the ocean.
Bluefish were also snapping in the Indian River Inlet, where Bert said that the best bite occurred at the end of the incoming tide. The fish are now in the 16 to 18-inch range, giving anglers plenty to tangle with on light tackle.
Sea Bass
The headboats out of Indian River have seen better sea bass fishing lately, although anglers are still needing to weed through a lot of throwbacks to get their keeper. The fish are scattered, but spending time over coral beds will give you your best shot when drifting with squid or clams.
Flounder
The flounder bite in the Indian River Inlet has been very sporadic. Early in the week, there was a good bite, but it tapered off as the week went on. Those fishing around the Coast Guard Station seemed to have the most action.
According to Joe, anglers putting in time on Delaware Bay reefs and at Ocean Sites 9, 10 and 11 continue to connect with decent numbers of flounder. Natural structure on the Old Grounds, southeast of “DB” Buoy and near “DA” Buoy also gave up flatties. Anglers fishing aboard the “Grizzly” on Friday hooked 54 flounder, returning with 11 from the Old Grounds. The big fish of the week was the 7 lb.
10 oz. flattie caught by Leon Silicki at an ocean wreck on Wednesday.
In the Surf
Norfolk spot, bluefish and kingfish are dominating the surf action during the day with sharks, skates and rays showing up during nighttime hours. The recent east wind and rain will rough up the surf for a few days, but after things settle down, these same species should continue cruising the suds, although we might start seeing a few linesiders in the mix, based on what we are seeing in the Inlets.
Striped Bass
Speaking of stripers, some fish are being caught in the Indian River Inlet at night, although most are short. Anglers fishing with cut bait or flies are hooking a few linesiders and are even getting a bonus of a few weakfish showing up in the mix.
Offshore
The tuna bite continues to be dismal, although there was a ray of sunshine when boats started showing up with good size bigeyes caught in the Wilmington Canyon during the week.
We also saw a few larger dolphin arriving at the dock along with some wahoo in the 35 to 50 lb. range. Keith Ullman was fishing on the “Tranquila” on Saturday when he wrestled in a 38 lb. speedster at the Elephant Trunk.
Further offshore, more and more anglers are getting into the deep dropping action and returning with golden tilefish and grouper. The Outdoors Delmarva crew ventured out on the “Quintessa” and successfully reeled in 16 golden tilefish, weighing up to 35 lbs. John and Andrew Schneider took a trip down to the Norfolk Canyon and ended up with a dozen gray tilefish and a pair of snowy grouper weighing 13 and 37 lbs.
Until next week, tight lines!
