Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
This week, other than the biting flies on the beach, the weather was great! Fishing overall was also great with lots of big flounder, sea bass and croaker coming into the docks.
Sea Bass
Sea bass remains very strong this year. The inshore and offshore wrecks and reefs are holding large numbers of fish. Many of these are small, but several keepers can be found if you put the time in. Clam and squid remain the best baits. The hot areas this last week were the NJ/DE reef, as well as Site 11. Target the high areas of the wrecks and larger areas of coral when looking for keeper sea bass. With the light winds this week drifting was possible on most of these areas. When the wind is causing too fast of a drift, try deploying a wreck anchor. A wreck anchor is nothing more than 3 or 4 pieces of rebar welded together formed into a hook. After catching the wreck all you need to do is back off the wreck to free the anchor. The rebarb can then be bent back into position for the next wreck. If you can't make your own wreck anchor, several tackle shops and local welding shops will make one for you at a reasonable cost.
Flounder
Flounder is better than I have seen in the past few years. Several doormat size flounder are being brought to the docks. Evan Falgowski caught a massive 32” long monster. The fish had a huge 26” girth and weighed an outstanding 11.48 lbs. at Lewes Harbour Marina. Joe Lombardo checked into Rick's Bait and Tackle in Long Neck, DE with a 7 lb., 26” flounder he caught at the old Grounds on Gulp. Mark Steelman reported great catches of flounder, as well as sea bass, all along the Old Grounds and offshore coral near A Buoy. Many anglers had limits of flounder along with some added big knot head sea bass. The mahi are still around also. Several anglers trolling small plugs and spoons around the sea bass pots just outside of the shipping channel reported all the mahi you wanted. Many of these fish were smaller peanuts but a few bigger fish were also around. Trolling chugger plugs at a speed of 4-6 knots seems to be the ticket. Other anglers drifting for flounder have seen schools of Mahi swim by. If you had a circle hook rigged with squid and could toss it to them fast enough you were rewarded with a nice mahi fish dinner. Reports as close as Site #10 came in of mahi being caught. So if you have always wanted to catch a pelagic fish but didn't have the boat or money for an offshore charter trip, now is the time to try for some mahi.
Sharks / Rockfish / Blues
Sharks fishing remains pretty good with lots of dusky sharks on the near shore humps. Fenwick Shoals remains a hotspot for chumming up sharks as well as the occasional cobia. Chumming during a heavy current flow will send your chum out further bringing in more sharks, so look for that. Bluefish in the inlet remain hit or miss. Some nights blues can be found along the rocks near the Coast Guard station but these fish have not been caught as regularly as in past weeks. I had a few reports of small rockfish being caught along the jetty rocks of Indian River, as well as the break wall near Lewes at the mouth of the Delaware Bay. The biggest fish I heard of was a 24” fish caught by the lighthouse. Although these fish are not keepers, it is still great to see the fish are around. Even better that they are nearing legal limits.
Surf Fishing
Surf fishing this week has been tough. The main reason for this was the west wind that brings the biting flies. This week was awful. I think the most asked question this week on social media was “how can I stop the flies from biting?” The fact is..You Can't! When we have a west wind expect flies. They are vicious and I have lived at the beach my entire life and have found nothing that will deter them. Those who could stand it reported some small blues and kingfish, but many anglers stayed off the beach this week.
Crabs and Clams
Crabbing remains hot. My daughter and I had our worst haul this past week pulling only ten keepers per pot! Any other year this would have been considered a great catch. Bunker is the prime choice. Clamming also remains strong and many areas are back to sandy instead of muddy, making raking easy.
Tight lines and fins up!
