Article by Larry Jock
We have a lot of great things to report this week, so lets get right to it.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina filled us in on the big news of the week when a potential new State Record swordfish was captured this past weekend. It was an awesome offshore adventure for the guys aboard “Candy’s Reel Choice”. They overnighted in the Washington Canyon for 11 yellowfins and a mako on Friday. On Saturday, the boys dropped in Poor Man’s for 11 golden tilefish weighing up to 20+ pounds. Then, they set up in 1,800 feet of water in the Poor Man’s Canyon on Saturday evening. Just before dark, Captain Pete Floyd deployed a skipjack belly bait 300 feet below a balloon, and a few minutes later, a tell tale bounce of the rod tip indicated something was about to happen. The hook was set and Kurt Lorenz battled the big fish for 2 hours and 50 minutes on 80 pound tackle before it was subdued. Crew members Mark Avon, Rusty Smith, Chris Ragni and Brian Garancheski all played a part in making sure the trophy would be coming home with them. Back at the scales at Lewes Harbour Marina, the bruiser sword weighed 358 pounds, enough to eclipse the old Delaware record of 276 pounds 12 ounces set in 1978. The massive swordy measured 140-inches overall with an impressive 48-inch girth.
In other offshore action, bigeyes were caught in the Wilmington Canyon on Saturday by boaters trolling amidst pods of whales. Traffic was heavy as many crews vied for position where the tunas were likely to pop up. Yellowfins were also caught there by those willing to impart extra action to cedar plugs by vigorously jigging the lures. Longfin albacore tuna made an appearance in the canyons also. The “Quintessa” had a pair of longfins trolling between Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons on Sunday. The anglers also got three makos on the troll and released a pair of white marlin, after spending the previous night in the Washington Canyon, where they chunked up 4 yellowfins.
Billfish were present in the Baltimore Canyon as well. Geoff McCloskey and his buddies released a white marlin and put a 61.1 pound wahoo in the box while working the Baltimore Canyon on Saturday. Chunking in the Washington Saturday night produced 7 yellowfins for Wes Olson and his gang. Captain Carey’s group on the “Grizzly” had an excellent chunking trip in the Washington Canyon on Wednesday night. In less than 3 hours, they put a limit of 27 yellowfin tuna in the boat. Most of the fish were caught using hammered diamond and Butterfly jigs on spinning gear. Captain Brian and some friends on the “Lil’ Angler II” also chunked the Washington Canyon on Wednesday night for their limit of a dozen yellowfins.
Back inshore, the flounder bite remained good on the Old Grounds. Captain Carey’s flukers on the “Grizzly” pulled in 16 keepers from the Old Grounds on Monday. Captain Brent’s flattie fishermen iced 15 keepers on Wednesday aboard the “Katydid”. Theresa Pauley had her personal best flounder weighing 5.83 pounds, while fishing on the “Katydid”. Mike Newsham and his crew had a limit of 12 flounder with a couple over 6 pounds during a midweek outing on the “Local Girl”. Wes Olson and Barney Gallagher drifted southeast of “DB” Buoy on Thursday for their limit of flounder weighing up to 6.75 pounds. Keith Orendorf and friends boxed 7 fluke on Thursday near “DA” Buoy. Wayne Demarco and “Striper Killer” Steve Kiibler limited out with quality flatfish between “DB” Buoy and Site 11 on Saturday. The largest was Wayne’s 7.16 pound citation doormat. Captain Carey’s Sunday patrons on the “Grizzly” scored 22 keeper flounder and released 51 others while drifting at the Old Grounds.
In the Delaware Bay, better sized croakers made a good showing. Nice hardheads measuring up to 15-inches came from Reef Sites 6, 7 and 8. The assortment of kingfish, puffers, porgies, trout, triggerfish and spot are also still frequenting reef rubble too. Jumbo spot have been plentiful in the Lewes Canal. Nice bluefish of 2 to 4 pounds roamed the Outer Wall last week and could be caught with bucktails, Gotcha Plugs and live spot or mullet. They’re better sized specimens than the small snappers that arrived a couple weeks ago.
At the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams reported that flounder fishing in the Indian River Inlet remains the same. Each day is different, with one species dominating the action on one day, only to be non-existent the next, but replaced with another species. Flounder fishing remains slow with anglers finding mostly throwbacks. A few keepers were landed on Gulp! artificial baits.
A lot of croakers were caught on the south side of the Inlet in the cove where dredging is being done. Most of the fish are in the 10 to 12-inch range.
Bluefish are being caught off the rocks in the Inlet, mostly at night, but some were caught during the day at the end of the incoming tide. As usual, the snappers were fooled with anything shiny.
Stripers have been scarce, but some keepers were caught on Thursday night by anglers tossing swim shads and flies.
Black drum were caught in decent numbers on sand fleas, but unlike the bay waters behind Ocean City, only a few red drum were caught.
Those fishing in the back bays found plenty of croakers while fishing with clams. Bert said that anglers typically found good results with clam flavored Fishbites, but that hasn’t been the case in recent weeks. Fresh clams have definitely worked better.
Head boats out of the Indian River Marina had good catches of flounder and croaker, and
1/2 day and full-day trips produced an average of 2 to 3 flounder per person while fishing on ocean structure. Site 11 was particularly hot last week along with the areas around “A” and “B” Buoys and at the Old Grounds. The fish cleaner at the marina cleaned 70 flounder on Thursday alone.
In the surf, anglers continue to find kingfish, croaker, spot, short flounder and some bluefish.
Offshore, several boats took overnight trips to the Washington Canyon where they encountered bigeye tuna, longfins, yellowfins and white marlin. The “Boys Toy” had a good overnight trip where they returned with 2 bigeyes, 9 yellowfins and 1 longfin in the box in addition to 4 white marlin releases. The “Capt. Ike II” had 18 yellowfins in the Washington Canyon during a mid-week overnighter and the “Fish Whistle” brought back a 241 lb. bigeye and 8 yellowfins from just north of the Washington Canyon.
Until next week (which is the final Coastal Fisherman of the season), tight lines!
