Article by Larry Jock
It finally looks like we have a fishing season with nicer weather allowing anglers to get out on the water.
Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em in the Indian River Marina reported water temperatures in the Indian River Inlet hovering between 54 and 58-degrees, resulting in an excellent striper bite on Thursday night for anglers casting bucktails and swim shads from the shoreline. Boaters didn’t fare anywhere near as well. The fish were big, with some reaching over 40-inches. Unfortunately, the bite didn’t continue and fell short on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Anglers also caught a few bluefish in the Inlet, but the action was spotty and the fish were on the small side.
Some nice size tautog were captured by anglers on Saturday along the north side of the Indian River Inlet under the bridge.
Flounder action has improved in the bays around the VFW?Slough and at Massey’s Ditch. Most of the flatties being caught are in the 19 to 20-inch range.
In the surf, a few striped bass were landed in addition to a couple of red drum and 14 to 16-inch bluefish. Surfcasters continue being hounded by blowfish, skates and sharks.
At Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, Mike Behney reported a good striper bite for surfcasters fishing from the shores of the Delaware State Park and the first croakers showed up in the surf at Cape Henlopen. Fish were in the 10 to 11-inch range.
The flounder bite was very good off the Cape Henlopen Pier, but the throwback ratio was very high. Mike also said a 20-inch weakfish was caught off the Pier last week.
Further north in Lewes, Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said strong easterly breezes pushed stripers in close to shore and created good surf action for guys fishing from Broadkill Beach midweek. Jack Austin, Tosh Tryon, Chris Vann and Brent Wiest endured wind and rain in their faces Tuesday, but were rewarded with a four man limit of bass weighing up to 18.5 pounds while soaking clams in the suds. Ocean beach anglers also got into some stripers. Anthony Lano landed a 20.5 pound linesider in the wash at Herring Point, using bunker. Bert Long deployed clam baits to release 7 stripers at Herring Point on Thursday. He also had a 28 inch black drum and the season’s first croakers, a pair of 14 inchers.
Black drum were active in the Delaware Bay around the new moon. Mason Newsham nailed a 75.7 pound behemoth and Richard Bloom boated a 64 pounder at the Coral Beds. They were using surf clams, and the bite happened Tuesday evening during the first of flood tide.
Joe will be stocking surf clams throughout May, but suggests calling early in the week to reserve bait for the weekend.
The Lewes Canal continues to give up good numbers of flounder. D.J. Churchill and Bruce Phillips drifted minnows and shiners in the Canal on Thursday for their limit of 8 flatties measuring up to 23 inches, and a nice bluefish (picture on left). Donald Lewis was working a jig and minnow combo when he connected with a just shy of citation 6.9 pound doormat.
Flounder aficionados are hoping for more fluke that size during the annual Canal Flounder Tournament, to take place Friday, May 17th. Interested anglers can sign up at Lewes Harbour Marina up until the 7am start time. Entry fee is $25 per person, $5 of which is donated to the Camp Awareness Youth Program. Complete details can be found in the fishing reports section at www.lewesharbourmarina.com
Flounder were also found in good supply around the Cape Henlopen Pier. Folks at the rail reported catching flatfish using speck rigs sweetened with cut bunker or shiners, and small jigs tipped with Gulp! Best bites have occurred after dark, during the beginning of outgoing current. There have been quite a few incidental catches of trout among flounder fishermen recently, so it’s likely those who target weakfish around traditional shallow water structure like the Roosevelt Jetties, Ferry Wall and the Broadkill rockpile should have success. Gulp!, Bass Assassin Sea Shads, small bucktails and MirrOLures are good choices for artificial offerings. Bait fishermen should catch using peeler crab or chicken.
Reef Site 11 yielded some impressive tautog at the end of spring season. Robbie Hummel had a 14.6 pound bruiser, Guy Jensen got a 12 pounder, and Keith Orendorf iced an 8.3 pound citation earner as part of their limit of over 6 pound tog taken there. Other boaters along the Inner and Outer Walls and Ice Breakers got in on the last of spring togging as well.
Net fishermen doing sturgeon research in the Ocean south of Indian River continue to report seeing thresher sharks. The first hook and line catch of a sickle tail could happen soon, with sharks feeding on schools of bunker as they migrate along the edges of the Shipping Channel.
Until next week, tight lines!
