Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
During the past week in Delaware, we observed a calming of the winds, which led to a return to more normal fishing conditions. Inshore we saw mahi, and I mean big dolphin, at the Bass Pots. Many fish were over ten pounds and most pots held several fish.
The air temperatures remained in the 90s last week, keeping the water temps around 80 degrees. Several redfish have also shown up with many in the 40 inch range.
The Old Grounds are still producing big flounder, however tons of smaller fish are around also making catching limits a little harder. As the week went on the mahi appeared to move back out to deeper water and the flounder bite dropped off.
The newest hurricane is heading north offshore of our waters but is expected to bring big swells to our coast later this week keeping most in the bays.
Nearshore Wrecks & Coral
The nearshore wrecks and coral were alive with fish in the beginning of the week with several anglers returning to the docks with limits of flounder. Lots of small sea bass are returning to the wrecks and making catching keeper fish difficult. You are required to weed through about ten throwback fish to catch one keeper.
Spanish mackerel are still on the humps and Fenwick Shoals early in the morning.
Tom Birago spent the day fishing on the “Katydid” with Captain Bret and mate Chris. He caught an 8.24 pound flounder that was 27.5 inches with a girth of 26”! The fish was measured at Lewes Harbour Marina and qualified for a state citation.
Cliff Cornielson went out and scored big on the Bass Pots, catching 17 mahi including a 43 inch & 27.4 pounder. He caught that one on a light action spinning rod with a cut chunk of bunker. The fish put up a 40 minute fight and had almost worn though the line when he finally boated the big fish. It too qualified for a state citation.
“Bad Wind Charters” also made a few mahi trips early last week and returned with a 3 man limit of dolphin, including several gaffer size ones. The crew reported they lost around 4 big fish at the boat but still managed to bring home plenty of fish for the table. That's a lot of tacos!
Jefferson Fort fished on the “Rooster” and brought home his limits of mahi along with a few tuna. Several tunny tuna and jacks are also being taken on the inshore troll.
Nick Samson had a solid day of fishing, bringing home several keeper sea bass, flounder and a few chicken mahi. Nick reports the inshore bite early in the week had been on fire and he had coolers full of nice sea bass despite the warmer water. He was pleased to see the bass back inshore this early.
Jonathan Farekas was out with “Bottom Line Sportfishing” and got a few nice mahi as well as a few big bluefish while trolling the inshore pots and humps.
The Old Grounds have been very productive for flounder all summer with limits coming over the rails daily on many boats.
Edward Zema headed there with the goal of snaring a few flatfish, however he did not expect to catch a 40 inch redfish on his flounder rig! The fight was a tough one on light tackle but after bringing the big fish to the boat and snapping a few pictures, the fish was released and swam away healthy.
Ted Proseus had a good trip early in the week, catching limits of mahi off the pots; however late in the week he trolled the Fenwick Shoals and reported catching only one big spanish mackerel and a few small bluefish. He turned to drifting for flounder and sea bass after the troll proved fruitless and reported they could not find a keeper fluke, but did manage several just legal sea bass off one of the inshore wrecks near A Buoy. Fresh clam and squid got them the fish. Several triggerfish also came off the wreck, adding to the dinner menu.
Joshua Paul reported he trolled the lightship area on Thursday and got skunked on the mahi. Joshua went out to the NJ/DE Reef and tried the pots out there and despite finding clear blue water with 60 ft visibility, he only managed a few peanut mahi. They did however have a decent catch of sea bass when they drifted the subway cars.
Carl Gutberlet and I also trolled the area south of the Lightship on Thursday and found the pots to be clean with little growth, appearing to have just been pulled by the commercial boats. We found no mahi willing to bite and only had two bar jacks that decided to strike our lines. The water inshore is very green after these storms have passed and it appears the mahi have moved further offshore in search of cleaner water.
Back Bays & Inlet Fishing
The Lewes Canal is reporting some good days of flounder fishing, with some nice fall doormats coming in on anglers lines.
“Wiker Restoration” was out and fished three half day trips this past week bringing home several nice flatfish from his trips. The crew reported a few rockfish and blues also fell for their presentations.
Lewes Icehouse reports bluefish are being caught in the canal as well as Broadkill Beach early in the morning. False albacore are being trolled up at Site 10 on small spoons.
Indian River Inlet has seen small rockfish and blues on the evening high tides with a few big ribbon fish also coming into the Inlet.
Old Inlet Tackle reports a few big sheepshead are also coming off the rocks at the Inlet with some in the 8-10 pound range. Live eels are accounting for many of the night time stripers taken from there. Old Inlet also wants to remind everyone that the fall Surf Fishing Classic will be held on September 23-24th. Sign up can be done on their website as well as in person at the store.
The full moon is the last week of September and is usually when we see the big blues and redfish show up on our beaches.
Until next week...
Tight lines and fins up §
