Article by Larry Jock
Thank God for bluefish and tautog because with air and water temperatures colder than normal, the fishing season has been off to a slow start. Things are starting to break, however. You can feel it in the air and the activity in the boatyard has picked up and more flounder and stripers are trickling in.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said big bluefish continued to capture the spotlight this past week. It’s surprising that they pushed so far up into Broadkill River, and remained there. Many were caught from the landing at Oyster Rocks Road by shorebound anglers dunking bunker, or tossing artificials, like chartreuse colored jigs. Scott Aiken scored the whopper of the week there, a lunker weighing 17.1 pounds. Patrick Musser muscled in a 15.5 pounder and Frank Payton put a 14.4 pound slammer in the cooler. Other blues came from the Beach Plum access area on Broadkill where fishermen could fish either the River or the Bay beach.
Blues surprised flukers in the Lewes Canal too. Dave Monnett and Mike Massey were drifting bucktails tipped with minnows for flounder on Sunday in front of Lewes Harbour Marina and caught three big choppers. Roosevelt Inlet also yielded blues and fish hit Lewes Beach on high tide Sunday morning when Luca Miller landed an 11.7 pounder during the flurry. Choppers were also caught from the sand beside the Cape Henlopen Pier and in the Herring Point surf.
Kayakers and small boaters also got in on the action while drifting shallow flats inside the Cape. Bill Fintel and Jason Krout caught slammers using surface poppers on Wednesday. Matt and KB Brittingham boated three blues weighing up to 10-plus pounds while casting swimming plugs inside the Cape on Sunday morning. Jeff Weaver and Rich King kept nine slammers they nailed by bucktailing inside the Cape on Sunday.
Surfcasters at Herring point released a few short stripers. Jeff Sherwood beached a 21.7 pound bass while soaking a clam in the suds at Broadkill on Saturday.
Togging was a little tough with wind and moon currents, but on days with decent conditions, good numbers of tautog were taken around the Outer Wall and Ice Breakers, as well as on Reef Sites 6 and 7. Toggers on the charter boat, “Katydid” took home a limit of 30 chunky blackfish on Wednesday and again on Sunday. Fred Robinson reeled in an 11.63 pound tautog on “Katydid’s” Sunday trip. Jim Meyers managed a 7.35 pound tog and Bob Meyers boated an 8.58 pounder while working Site 10 on Sunday.
With nicer weather Sunday, flounder bit a little better in the Lewes Canal. Chris Moody drifted minnows in front of Lewes Harbour Marina for a pair of keepers measuring up to 22-inches. Dan McCoy checked in a 20-inch flattie from the Canal. Tom Stack landed a 6 lb. 1 oz. doormat fluke that grabbed a squid strip in the Roosevelt Inlet.
The Canal Flounder Tournament will take place on Friday May 15th. Anglers can sign up to fish the event with a $25 cash entry at Lewes Harbour Marina any time prior to the Tourney.
At the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams reported good tautog fishing on the “Judy V” over the weekend with a mix of sea bass and cod. Unfortunately, sea bass have to be returned since the season doesn’t open until May 19th. Bert said that the reefs are being hit pretty hard right now and they are finding nice size tog on natural bottom.
In the surf outside the Indian River Inlet, bluefish are dominating the action with sharks and skates hitting at night. The largest bluefish we have seen so far in Delaware was caught by Trey Appenzeller while fishing with fresh bunker from the beach at 3R’s Road. Trey’s chopper tipped the scale at 17 lbs. 15 oz.
The northeast wind last week, especially on Thursday, dropped the water temperature in the Indian River Inlet into the mid-50’s. Anglers are mainly catching shad, bluefish, a few stripers in the 34-inch range and some tog from boat and from shore. On Monday morning, Noulack Mouyniuong landed a 48-inch striper while fishing from the South Jetty on Monday morning. On Sunday, Kerry Lodish caught a 26 lb. 3 oz. striper while casting a Storm shad in the Indian River Inlet.
Big bluefish have moved into the back bays, something rarely seen according to Bert.
Choppers, up to 10 lbs., were found in the waters by Holt’s Landing State Park on Sunday.
Until next week, tight lines!