Article by Larry Jock
It was another tough week for fishing, not because the fish aren’t here, it’s just that windy weather has kept bay waters dirty and boats from being able to head to the canyons.
Up and down the line, every tackle shop is commenting on how good crabbing is right now. I heard it up in Lewes and down at Fenwick Tackle, so if you like to pull traps or work handlines, now looks like a good time to get out on the water.
At Fenwick Tackle, John said that a few stripers are still being caught in the surf, but most are too short to keep, but if you put your time in a few keepers can be mixed in looking for either bloodworms or sand fleas to eat. Surfcasters are also finding kingfish looking for Fishbites or squid and there are still some good size bluefish being caught during the day on finger mullet and bunker. The choppers are averaging in the 18-inch range. At night in the surf, anglers are battling sandbars and duskies while soaking bunker in the suds.
In the bay near Fenwick, besides the awesome crabbing, anglers are still pecking at flounder around the Rt. 90 Bridge and down in the Thorofare. The Ditch is producing loads of small bluefish for anglers tossing plugs.
John said that his customers that are looking for sea bass are still having to head to deep water wrecks to fill coolers with knotheads after hooking them on clams.
At the Hook’em & Cook’em Tackle Shop in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams said that they had good bluefishing in the Indian River Inlet prior to the windy conditions on Wednesday and Thursday. After that, the bite cut off.
There were a few flounder caught in the back bay, near the VFW?Slough, but Bert heard of none being hooked in the Inlet. Minnows and Gulp! combinations are a good producer right now. Bert also reported that his customers who are interested in crabbing are reporting outstanding hauls right now.
On the beach, sharks dominate the nighttime action with kingfish and smaller bluefish being caught during the day.
Inshore, trolling spoons at Fenwick Shoal are giving anglers shots at good numbers of small bluefish. Anglers on the “Capt. Bob II” with Capt. Christopher Adams at the helm have had some good days dropping Tsunami jigs for small blues at Fenwick Shoal, however, if you are looking for choppers this is not the place to go right now.
Those boats heading to the Old Grounds in search of sea bass are finding more and more flounder willing to take their offerings of clams, squid and artificial baits. On Sunday, anglers on the “Capt. Bob II” hooked over 30 flounder with 8 keepers finding their way into coolers.
If you are looking for sea bass, structure closer to shore is mainly holding smaller fish with runs out to 100+ feet of water needed to get into bigger fish weighing over 3 lbs. This is nothing new and has been the case all spring.
The dock at the Indian River Marina was buzzing over the weekend when anglers on the “Valkyrie” showed up with a 408.2 lb. thresher shark that was caught at the Fingers. The fish was lured in with Hook’em & Cook’em Triple Threat Shark Chum. For years, I have heard the good results from sharkers who use this chum, so whatever Bert is loading it up with seems to work great!
Bert said that they also had a few makos arrive at their scale on Sunday, with a 156 pounder coming on the “Still Lucky” from the Norfolk Canyon and another on the “Jack Rabbit II” from the Hambone.
Anglers looking for tuna found bluefins in 300 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon but really had to run all the way down to below the Norfolk to find concentrations of yellowfins. A few yellowfins were picked up in canyons further north, but those that took the trip down to the 160 line really slayed them. Bigeye tuna were caught around the 461 Lump on Saturday. I also received reports of giant bluefins being found deep, in 500 fathoms from the Washington Canyon up to above the Lindenkohl. In Ocean City on Saturday, anglers on the “Nauti Norwegian” boated a 71-incher that tipped the scale at 202 lbs. They hooked it in 500 fathoms, south of the Poor Man’s in 66.6-degree water.
Over the weekend, we saw mahi caught deep outside the Washington Canyon. Interestingly, the mahi this season have definitely been larger that what we typically see this time of year.
Further north at the Lewes Harbour Marina, Tommy reported that flounder fishing in the Lewes Canal is getting better, both in the average size of fish and the number being caught. Larger flounder seem to be coming in from down by the Roosevelt Inlet. Hunter Walsh boated a couple of beauties in the Canal that measured 19-inches and 22 1/2-inches. Both were caught on Gulp! artificial baits.
The black drum bite at the Coral Beds seems to be dying off. Tommy said that he hadn’t seen one hit their cleaning table in days.
Anglers fishing in the Canal are also releasing a few small stripers during their trips.
Tommy did say that crabbing in the Lewes Canal and in the Broadkill River is very good right now.
Inshore, anglers fishing on the charter boat, “Katydid” returned with good catches of sea bass from ocean structure, but the big news was the 328 lb. thresher shark caught at Site 11 on the “Pirate King”. The shark ate a butterflied mackerel and is the largest shark brought into Lewes Harbour Marina so far this season.
Until next week, keep those lines tight and have some fun! That’s what it’s all about.
