Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks. Striper fishing in the Indian River Inlet has been just unbelievable. Most of the fish taken have been really big fish and it seems like everyone is getting hooked up. Anglers fishing from boats have had the most success fishing during the last two hours of incoming tide at night. The top baits have been live eels, live shad, bucktails with a white worm or putting a Storm Shad down deep. The jetty jockeys have done well using Storm Shads, bucktails or longlining flies. It has been something I can’t remember ever seeing. Fish ranging in weight from 20 to 40 lbs. were the norm.
Gil Waddington boated a 30 lb. 12 oz. striper while fishing on “Another Bill” with Capt. Cory Waddington at the helm. Allen Rogers fished the Inlet and was rewarded with a 35 lb. 11 oz. striper. Bill Davidson soaked an eel in the Inlet to fool a 30 lb. 14 oz. striper. Kenny Gregg fished on the “Rockfish” with Capt. Joe Hughes and captured his 31 lb. striper.
I want to extend a big thank you to Capt. Mike Lombardi for a night in the Inlet where I landed a hefty linesider using a live eel.
Flounder fishing continues to be fair to good in the back bays. With all the attention being given to the striper blitz, flounder have been ignored a bit this past week. Rich Miller took advantage of the situation and used cut herring to boat three flounder of 18, 21 and 22 inches.
Bill’s Sport Shop reported some really good catches of flounder last week. Brian Keech of Rehoboth Beach was fishing the Cape Henlopen Pier when he hooked up with a 23-inch, 4.89 lb. flounder while using a shad and shiner combo. David Wyszynski of New Castle, DE caught a 24.5-inch, 6.4 lb. flounder at the Cape Henlopen State Park Pier on a Gulp! artificial bait. Rich Johnson of Felton, DE caught a 3 lb. flounder at the Indian River Inlet on a bucktail and white worm combo. Ryan Brower caught 7 flounder with 2 keepers measuring up to 24-inches on minnows and Gulp! on the Lewes Pier.
Mike Bott’s 3.24 lb. flounder was the first one weighed in the Flounder Tournament, and it was caught on a Gulp! artificial bait. Scott Bucka checked in the leading flounder weighing in at 4.10 lbs.
There were many notable striper catches last week by anglers fishing in the Indian River Inlet. Matthew Rosa of Huntingdon Valley, PA nailed a 28.30 lb. striper while drifting live eels. Daniel Rosa of Huntingdon Valley, PA caught a 33.25-pounder on a live eel. Cary Rutherford of Milton, DE caught a 28.95 lb., 45-inch striper while drifting a Storm lure. Harry Lewis of Milton, DE caught a 24.35 lb., 41-inch striper while using a Storm Lure. Dave Worrell of Long Neck, DE landed a 24.60 lb., 41-inch striper on a bucktail.
Elsewhere, Mickey Bremer of Dewey landed 2 stripers measuring 34-inches and 39-inches while using live surf clams at Gordon's Pond State Park. Mike Hacker from Lewes, DE caught a 22.15 lb. 40.5-inch striper while surf fishing with bunker at the Cape Henlopen State Park.
At Capt. Mac’s in Fenwick Island, DE, Capt. Bruce McGuigan reported a few stripers, black drum and bluefish being caught from the surf. Flounder fishing continues to improve in the back bays. Offshore, Bruce reported bluefin tuna being captured on the troll just a few miles north of the Baltimore Canyon. On Friday, a 214.5 lb. mako was landed by anglers on the “Nontypical”. A thresher was released at the Fingers.
Deanna Adams at Hook’em & Cook’em Bait and Tackle in the Indian River Marina said that everyone was catching fish during the striper blitz in the Indian River Inlet. Storm Lures, Tsunami Lures, bucktail and worm, live eels, live herring, and live shad all worked well. One night they reported over 200 fish being caught from both the rails and from boats.
With the reopening of the sea bass season on May 22nd you may want to jump onboard the “Judy V.” or the “Capt. Bob II” for a great fishing experience.
In addition to the well documented striper bite in the Indian River Inlet, Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said that striped bass also came from the Delaware Bay. Timmy Barnett, Chad Tingle and Vince Lahr trolled Stretch plugs along Hen and Chickens Shoal for their limit of lunkers weighing up to 31.5 lbs. Other crews reported rock while casting Storm Shads and Bomber plugs around the Ice Breakers and Outer Wall. Joe Zaleski boated a 35-pound bass while soaking a bunker chunk on structure north of Fourteen Foot Light.
Black drum continued to come from the Coral Beds and submerged pilings off Slaughter Beach. Martha Clemmer landed a 71.5-pound boomer, one of four-boated Thursday night aboard the “Martha Marie”. The “Miss Kirstin” returned with five drum on Friday evening. Anglers on the “Grizzly” got six on Saturday night. Paul Grim decked a 68 pounder aboard the “Indian”. Jake McNitt managed a 66.9 pounder on the “Pirate King II”. John Mancuso muscled in a 61.1-pound drum.
Many drum have been pulled from the surf at Broadkill Beach. Clam or peeler crab on a short leadered fishfinder rig produced plenty of puppies from 10 to 25 pounds at the end of ebb tide and beginning of the flood.
The Lewes Harbour Canal Flounder Tournament was a great success. Over 300 anglers participated in the event, and many flatties were caught. Frank Zeccola was the big winner with a 7.25-pound doormat. Nikki Rice nailed second place with her 4.35 pounder. A 4.32 by John Mitchell took third and Ron Webster wound up in fourth place with a 4.31 pounder. Ed Bush boated a 4.17 pounder for fifth place. Bobby Smith scored sixth with his 4.11, and Tom Hudson came in seventh place with a 4.04-pound fluke. In addition to cash prizes awarded to the top finishers, more than $1,500 was raised for Camp Awareness Youth Programs. Joe, Amanda and the Dewey Beach Lions Club extend thanks to all who took part in the tourney.
Brian Clark captured a 5.94-pound flatfish in the Canal, but unfortunately it happened the day before the Tournament. Flounder fishing was good at night for fluke sharpies working the Cape Henlopen Pier with small jigs tipped with shiners or herring. Waders inside the Cape also hooked flounder. Frank and Sue Gaworski had three keeper flounder and released several others, along with some nice weakfish and puppy drum while casting Bass Assassins around the old Broadkill Jetty.
Small blues were caught on the Pier, as well as in Roosevelt and Indian River Inlets. Wes Olson encountered plenty of slammer bluefish while trying for sharks at the Hambone on Saturday.
There was much excitement over the opening of sea bass season Sunday, and boaters had very good catches at Reef Site 11.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
