Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks. I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend and thank goodness we were spared the wrath of Mother Nature.
Fishing activity was slow due to the threat of the storm and rough water after the storm. We were seeing an upturn in bottom fishing prior to the storm and hopefully things will improve even more.
Tog season is closed until the end of the month but there should be plenty of flounder and sea bass action to come. It should not be long before the water starts to cool and the bigger fish start turning on. Now is the time to gear up for the coming striper season. Be sure your equipment is ready to do battle with feisty linesiders. Bucktails, worms, Stretch 25’s, and plenty of bait rigs need to be in your tackle box ready to go to work.
Back Bay action is still producing flounder, croaker, spot and blowfish. There are still more throwbacks than keepers, but some nice fish are being caught. Captain Chuck of “First Light Charters” fly fished at the Outer Wall and caught several stripers on dark colored bunker imitation flies. Michael Silar of Georgetown took his boat “Screamn” to Site #10 and scored a 7 lb. 12 oz. citation flattie.
Offshore action has been spotty other than for those in search of dolphin. Capt. Cory Waddington was at the helm of “Another Bill”, trolling the 30 line near the Tea Cup when angler Ron Campbell caught a 49 lb. wahoo. A few days later Capt. Dan Waddington took the helm of the same boat and Jay Tucci scored a 20.5-pound wahoo.
At Bill’s Sport Shop, Capt. Bill tell us the Wharf Restaurant in Lewes is the location for this year’s striper tournament weekly Friday night buffet. The 2010 Striper Tournament will be held from Oct. 15th to Dec. 10th. First place will pay $3,000 while the 2nd place winner will pocket $2,000 and third place will win $1,000.
Offshore, Jonathon Thompson, Mike Thompson, Jeff and Matt Sherwood and crew ventured out to the Baltimore Canyon where they released 4 whites, landed 2 tuna and 10 gaffer dolphin. Chris Wagner landed a 109 lb. yellowfin tuna after it circled the boat 12 times while trolling between the Chicken Bone and the Hambone. Also while trolling, he found a bucket floating and picked up several gaffer and peanut dolphin. Capt. Steve Peterson on the “Pandemonium" took Frank Perna and crew out to the Poor Man’s Canyon and ended up with a 63 and 68 lb. yellowfin. They also released a 425 lb. blue marlin. On another trip, they took Jamie Greer and crew back to the same area and went 3 for 3 on the white marlin and caught 6 gaffer dolphin.
Capt. Oak Thompson reported: “We had a good day fishing in the Indian River Inlet on Saturday. Phil O’Connor and I caught and released 40 plus flounder, the only keeper was my 23“, 4 lb. 6 oz. flattie caught on minnows and cut spot. We also had bluefish, croaker, sea bass, spot and blowfish on clams and FishBite bloods”.
At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center, Eric tells us there are still lots of throwback flounder being taken in the Back Bays. Minnow/squid combo or Gulp! seem to be the ticket. Stripers are being taken in the Indian River Inlet at night. Dolphin are anywhere from the Lightship to the Tea Cup.
Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em Bait & Tackle reports inshore ocean action holds a mix of sea bass, flounder, blues, croaker, and triggerfish. Before the blow, the headboats were providing customers with a mix of all. Bluefish and stripers are being caught in the Indian River. A 744 lb. blue marlin was landed near the Poor Man’s Canyon. Capt. Bert said fishing has been slow for anglers fishing from the surf.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said the white marlin bite offshore has probably been the best that many anglers will ever experience. Large packs of whites roamed the Washington Canyon, balling and cutting baitfish, and boaters that encountered the feeding billfish were treated to some wild action. Those who went a week ago this past Monday saw spectacular fishing, with a small fleet in 700 fathoms of the Washington releasing more than 300 white marlin. Monday’s fishing was the hottest, but marlin were caught all week leading up to the passage of Hurricane Earl on Friday. Whites were reported in the deep of the Washington, inshore of Poor Man’s and in the Baltimore Canyon as well. Some days, marlin were more difficult to entice because they were keyed in on small bait. Crews that were able to locate fish away from the crowds of boats usually had better results. Traditionally, September has been the choice month for marlin fishing, and it was encouraging to see such numbers of billfish in August. It will be interesting to see what develops in the next few weeks.
Inshore tuna trolling showed promise this week as well. Decent numbers of yellowfins came from 20 fathom structure of the Hot Dog and Hambone. The “Skipjack” returned from the Hambone with 5 yellowfins weighing up to 42 lbs., 3 dolphin up to 21 lbs. and a 35 lb. wahoo. On Monday, guys on the “Grizzly” trolled the Dog for 4 yellowfins and David Wilson’s 52.5 lb. wahoo. On Tuesday, Captain Jeff’s anglers aboard the “Ocean City Girl” put 14 yellowfins in the box at the Hot Dog. Jeff said he pulled a mix of ballyhoo and plastics, and it was tough to keep hoards of hungry false albacore away from baits.
Inshore bottom bouncers had a mix of sea bass, croakers, snapper blues and a few keeper flounder on the Old Grounds and at Site 11. Croakers remained elusive in the Delaware Bay. Boaters concentrating on the rubble of Reef Sites 4, 6, 7 and 8 found some legal flounder prior to windy weather at the end of the week. Mara Danoff decked a 7.58 lb. doormat on Wednesday while drifting a reef on the “Top Fin”. After Hurricane Earl went by, Captain Brent on the “Katy Did” made it out for a half-day trip on Saturday morning and managed a bucketful of 28 blowfish while anchored at the Star Site. Puffers have been plentiful on reef junk, and the eating quality of the odd looking “sea squab” is excellent.
Until next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.