Article by Rick Willman
I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and enjoyed some excellent fishing.
Flounder action in the back bays continues to produce good numbers of fish along with some nice sized fish. The Indian River Inlet is giving up stripers and bluefish along with some runs of shad. Russell Frey of Boyertown, PA used a Storm Lure to fool a 13 lb. 6 oz. linesider. David Smith of Felton, DE tricked a fat 36-inch, 20 lb. 12 oz. striper in the Indian River Inlet. David Shepherd used a bucktail tipped with red squid to tempt his 4 lb. 10 oz., 23 inch flattie. Mark Herman of Bristow, VA used squid to nab a 6 lb., 25 inch Indian River flounder. John Grabowski of Long Neck, DE used bucktail for his near- citation, 6 lb. 11 oz., 27.5-inch flattie caught in the Indian River Inlet. Will Breasure of Georgetown, DE took his citation 7 lb. 8 oz. flounder from the Indian River Bay using Berkley GULP!. Chris High of Reading, PA fished Massey’s Landing with minnow and squid to land a 4 1/4 lb., 22.5-inch flounder. Joe Vascaglia fished the Delaware Bay with Dan Readinger and caught some 40 lb. black drum. Drum fishing is starting to become more and more popular each year.
The black drum are also known as Texas Drum, Sea Drum, Saltwater Drum, Gray Drum, Drumfish, Striped Drum and Tambor. The black drum is a chunky, high-backed fish with many barbels or whiskers under the lower jaw. Younger fish have four or five dark vertical bars on their sides, but these disappear with age. The bellies of older fish are white but coloration of backs and sides can vary greatly. Fish from Gulf waters frequently lack color and are light gray or silvery. Those living in muddy bay waters have dark gray or bronze-colored backs and sides. Some are solid silvery gray or jet black. A length of six inches is reached in the first year, 12 inches the second and 16 inches the third. Increases of about two inches per year occur after that. The largest black drum on record weighs 146 pounds. This fish is a member of the croaker family and is related to the Atlantic croaker, red drum, and spotted seatrout.
Small fish, under a pound in weight, are sometimes called “butterfly drum" or “puppy drum” while those of larger size, 30 lbs. and more, are called "bull drum", although the large specimens can be either male or female. Perhaps the most notable drum harvests are the annual runs of "bull" drum. Free spawning (random release of eggs) occurs mostly in February, March, and April with some later spawning occurring in June and July. Larval drum are found in the surf and along bay shorelines in March and April, and by early summer one-half to one-inch juveniles are common in shallow, muddy creeks, sloughs and boat basins.
Young drum feed on maritime worms, small shrimp, and crabs and small fish. Larger drum eat small crabs, worms, algae, small fish and mollusks. When food is plentiful and water conditions acceptable, movements are small, but long migrations in search of food and more desirable habitats have been recorded. The black drum is found along the Atlantic Coast from New York south through the Gulf States to Mexico.
The ongoing flounder tournament at Bill’s Sport Shop in Lewes, DE runs through June 12th. Standings as of this report are as follows:
1st place: Tom Bailor, 7.34 lbs. 28 inches
2nd place: Billy Rawlings, 5.99 lbs. 25.5 inches
3rd place: John Rupp, 5.93 lbs. 25 inches
Josh Rowley of Milton, DE caught a 40 inch, 19.85 lb. striper on bunker at CHSP. Kent Brittingham of Rehoboth caught an 18.2 lb. striper at IRI on a Storm Lure. Jon Kitchen went to Site 11 and boated about 80 sea bass with 4 keepers.
At Henlopen Bait & Tackle, Dan told us flounder fishing has been great almost every place you would normally fish for flounder. All of the usual baits are being used, including minnow and squid, shiners and GULP!.
At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road, Ron said the fishing has been pretty steady with flounder catches in the back bays and striper and blues in the inlet.
At Hook‘em & Cook‘em Bait & Tackle, Bert reported stripers in the surf and in the Indian River Inlet. He also spoke of shad in the inlet. Bob Hayes from Selbyville, DE took a 34 lb. linesider from the beach using fresh bunker. Lots of sea bass have been found on structure in the ocean but finding keepers has been tough. Bluefish seem to be staying quite a bit offshore. Flounder action remains good in the Indian River.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said the Lewes Canal Flounder Tournament was a big success. The weather was beautiful and flounder were in a cooperative mood for the 275 participants in this year’s event. Billy Hocker had the winning flattie, weighing 5.26 lbs. Dan Kimble captured second place with his 5 lb. fish. Darwin Fisher’s 4.97 lb. flattie finished third, and Mike Zimmerman was a repeat winner from last year with a fourth place 4.94 lb. flatfish. Chris Moody from the Dewey Beach Lion’s Club coordinated donations to the Camp Awareness Youth Fishing Program with a portion of proceeds from the Canal Tournament. Captain Billy Talbot and crew fished the tournament exclusively with their two-foot long Mighty Mite rod and reel combos and had two keepers out of 26 they caught on the miniature outfits. Seven-year-old Jagger Ruff brought in a 2.7 lb. flounder he caught on Tournament Day.
The Lewes Canal, Broadkill River and Roosevelt Inlet yielded lots of flounder, however the majority were shy of the 18.5-inch minimum. Nick Psaroudakis, Mike Hoffman and Bob Gantz managed to cull a limit of 12 keepers to 4.65 lbs. from a large number of fish they caught in the Canal on Thursday. Flounder also came on strong in the shallow water along Broadkill and Lewes Beaches. The shallows between the Cape Shores and Cape Henlopen Piers were quite productive as well. Brad Snitch checked in a 5.14 lb. fluke he caught from the Cape Shores Pier on a chartreuse jig with a minnow. Spec Rigs tipped with shiners worked well for anglers casting and retrieving them slowly along the bottom from the recently reopened Cape Henlopen Pier. The bite seemed better after dark, at the edge of the lights.
Flounder also were taken from the 60 to 70 foot depths of the Anchorage between “F” and “G” Buoys. Mike Rebuck had a limit catch of 4 flatties to 5.05 lbs. fishing aboard the “Angler” on Saturday. Flounder were reported north of “D” Buoy as well. It is very encouraging to see a spread of flounder on the open bottom, easily accessible to most anglers. In recent seasons, fluke were concentrated around the reef sites, where they were more difficult to get at.
Joe said more good news came in the form of the first trout he had seen brought in by customers this spring. Frank and Sue Gaworski caught 13 weakfish to 2 ½ lbs. during the last of flood tide on Saturday morning. They were casting crystal shad Bass Assassins in shallow water along Broadkill Beach. Stripers were caught by boaters casting Bomber plugs along the Outer Wall and Ice Breakers at dusk. Rockfish were also taken at night around the Roosevelt Inlet Coast Guard Station docks. Black drum action continued to be very good. Boomers bit on the Coral Beds off Slaughter Beach and in Broadkill Slough. Andy Lano and crew fished the Coral Beds on Friday afternoon for 10 drum, including Anthony Lano’s 82.3 lb. behemoth. They returned to the same spot Saturday for 8 more, when Mike Lano earned a release citation for a 48 incher. Darryl Bear got a 77 pounder in the Slough on the “Miss Kirstin”. Michelle Swords was drumming on the “Reel Passion” when she decked her 73.7 pounder. There was a really good bite on the eastern side of the Bay on Saturday evening, with catches at the Pin Top, Brandywine Slough, Tussey’s Slough and the Horseshoe. Captain Carey’s groups on the “Grizzly” got 14 drum last Friday night at the Pin Top, and 16 more on Saturday. They kept 6 fish weighing up to 68 lbs. during each trip. Captain Ted had 7 drum on the “Indian” on Saturday night. Captain Chris had five on the “Pirate King”, including a 74.8 pounder for Daniel McCoy. Drum fishing is coming into its prime, and the shop will be handling surf clams for a few more weeks, but Joe requests reservations in advance to assure the availability of bait.
Ocean trollers told of big bluefish near Delaware Light. Maw’s Tails Hooches and Mops, Pony Tails, and Stretch 25+ plugs were effective offerings.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick Willman and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle on Long Neck Road in Long Neck, DE.
