Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks! Don’t forget to sign up for the Rick’s Bait & Tackle/Sea Side Gas & Grill Flounder Tournament. The sign up deadline is Friday, June 18th, and the tournament runs from June 19th through June 24th. The final weigh-in is June 24th at 4:00 pm. Awards will follow at Sea Side Gas &?Grill with food and live music.
There seems to a lot more throwback flounder being caught than keepers for the time being. The fish are scattered now and it may be a good idea to try areas where there is less boat traffic, but still good bottom to hold the flatties.
Bluefish are still roaming the Indian River Inlet and the back bays.
Shark fishing has been pretty good, as Richard Cordy caught a 280 lb. thresher while fishing the Old Grounds aboard the “Renegade”.
The Rick’s Bait & Tackle/Sea Side Gas & Grill Flounder Tournament is beginning soon! The sign up deadline is Friday, June 18th, and the tournament runs from June 19th through June 24th. The final weigh-in is June 24th at 4:00 pm. Awards will follow at Sea Side Gas &?Grill with food and live music.
Bill’s Sport Shop in Lewes reported the current standings in their Flounder Tournament. In First place is William Rawlings with a 9.45 lb. fish, Don Ruth is second with a 9.12 lb. flattie and John Goethe is third at 8.05 lbs.
In other fishing news, Shane Townsend of Clarksville, DE caught 5 keeper flounder up to 4.40 lbs. and 23-inches at the Roosevelt Inlet on a green bucktail and shiner.
A customer stopped in on Saturday and told us that he was drifting along the Outer Wall fishing for stripers with live spot. On his first drop, he got a fish on, which turned out to be a 9 lb. 12 oz. tog that he released! Joe Cangianelli was fishing on the "Raven" with Capt. Randy and picked up a 199.8 lb. thresher at the Jack Spot on a bluefish fillet.
Capt. Brian Waslevek on the “Pirate King II” was fishing at “B” buoy using a squid and mackerel sandwich and hooked up with a 190 lb. thresher.
Ron at Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road tells us that flounder are being taken in the back bays using GULP! on jig heads, minnows, squid, shiners and smelt. Hickory shad and bluefish are in the Indian River Inlet and can be caught using jigs. At Massey’s landing, they are scoring stripers and shad at night using anything that is black.
From Hook’em & Cook’em Bait & Tackle we received the following information:
This week had a slow start but finished with a bang. Reports in the surf are that there are a few kingfish showing up. If you are going to try your hand at this, use a kingfish rig with the FishBites Bloodworms or live bloodworms. If you are looking for skates and sharks you are in luck, because it seems to be what everyone is currently catching.
Fishing out in the ocean for black sea bass and flounder started out very slow this past week, but finally turned around on Friday and Saturday. The headboat “Judy V.” has been getting out during the week, but had been reporting just a few bites with no keepers at times. On Saturday, that all changed with customers bringing home about 2-3 fish per person.
Fishing in the Indian River Inlet has slowed for rockfishing but has improved for flounder fishing. There are some stripers still being caught in the Inlet, but you will only see the keepers being reeled in at night. Frank Clark of Ocean View caught a 28.2 lb. rockfish while using a Wind Cheater plug at the end of the incoming tide.
Keeper flounder are being caught by anglers using either minnow and squid combinations or Gulp! artificial baits on a jig head. Tom Hargreaves of Bethany Beach caught a 7.8 lb. flounder using a Gulp! eel. John Lindsay of Ocean View caught a 3.3 lb. flounder on a Gulp! bait also while fishing in the Inlet.
Bluefish are running on the tides, so throw out a bucktail with or without a worm and have some fun.
Offshore, the week started slow for fishing as well. We saw some nice action with makos and thresher sharks in the Indian River Boaters Association Shark Tournament. The excitement started on Friday when a 560 lb. thresher was caught by Jay Richwine off of the "Saltwater Cowboy". The heaviest mako weighed in at 172 lbs. and was caught by David Cropper on the "Gummy Bear”. The heaviest bluefish weighed 11.2 lbs. and was brought in by Joe Nobel on the “Miss Donna”.
Some bluefin tuna were caught by anglers trolling in Massey’s Canyon.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said the offshore season kicked into gear, and he had the first reports of tuna, dolphin and billfish from shop customers. Jimmy Reed and Mike Cannon trolled in 100 to 300 fathoms, south of the Poor Man’s Canyon on Friday, and scored six yellowfins in the 40 lb. class. The bites came while pulling spreader bars and other plastics behind birds in 66-degree water. Rainbow and pink were the most effective colors.
Charlie Horning, Walt Schrade and the guys on the “Fish Whistle” found yellowfins along the 862 line between 75 and 95 fathoms on Friday afternoon. They boated 7 tuna ranging from 25 to 42 pounds. Towing spreader bars and small squid daisy chains on flat lines was the winning technique.
The gang aboard the “Spoiled III” had a fantastic trip to 1,000 fathoms in the Washington Canyon on Saturday. Capt. Angelo Delapo came across acres of wooden boards floating in cobalt blue, warm water. The crew was rewarded with 13 gaffer dolphin in the 15 lb. class, including a 16.9 lb. mahi for Julie Nelson. They also iced a pair of 30 lb. yellowfins while trolling skirted ballyhoos. The highlight of the day was an estimated 500 lb. blue marlin that charged in and grabbed a horse ballyhoo with pink and white Illander combo on the shotgun line. Chris Dispoto was in the chair, and after a lengthy battle, the crew released their first blue one of the year.
Ed Sigda and the boys aboard the “Snow Goose” put out a spread of lures when they arrived at the 19 Fathom Lump on Friday morning, and shortly thereafter hooked a 32-inch bluefin on a cedar plug. Ed mentioned that the structure was covered with clouds of sand eels in water that ranged from 67 to 69-degrees. Sometimes the baitfish were so thick, they could be seen right at the surface.
Ocean bottom fishing was fair with strong currents surrounding the new moon, but sea bass remained elusive. Boats that made multiple anchor stops on small pieces of structure ended up with some decent bass, but crews drifting broader areas had few keepers. Fluke have been showing up on the Old Grounds. Anglers working strip baits on Spro bucktail jigs got some legal size flatties.
In the Delaware Bay, flounder were found around artificial reefs 6 and 7 near the Brown Shoal. There were no big numbers of keepers, but Captain Pete on the “Top Fin” returned with a few quality fish while bottom bouncing this past week. George Slick scored a 7.34 lb. citation doormat, Scott Peterson pulled in a 5.04 pounder, and Art Shapiro landed a 4.63 lb. flatfish. Scattered reports of flatties also came from boats drifting the eastern edge of the Anchorage and structure changes near the 19 Buoy.
The best flounder game in town continues to take place in shallow water. Gulp! artificials in chartreuse, white and pink have been the ticket. The soft baits by themselves on a leadhead, speck rig or bucktail jig have been highly effective, but some anglers combined them with minnows or shiners for extra punch. Plenty of fish came from the Lewes Canal, Broadkill River and the Roosevelt Inlet. Alan Herr checked in Thursday with a 6.28 pounder that nailed a chartreuse Gulp! Jerk Shad. Aaron Strausbaugh was drifting the Broadkill when he boated his 7.09 lb. citation winner. Flatfish were also spread out in skinny water close to Broadkill and Lewes Beaches, and on the Henlopen Flats, but numerous big rays grabbed offerings intended for flatties.
Striped bass have taken up residence along the Outer Wall, and boaters casting lures in the evening and after dark got into some good sized fish. Bombers and Rat-L-Traps were popular hard baits. Rockfish were also active in the Lewes Canal. Guys drifting eels around the drawbridge had success with keepers. Anchoring and baiting with clams on the bottom also resulted in nice catches.
The July and August slot season will offer anglers the chance to keep two stripers between 20 and 26 inches per day from Delaware Bay and its tributaries.
Until next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
