Article by Larry Jock
Anglers are experiencing some amazing fishing right now, both in the ocean and in our bays. Bigeyes, bluefins and yellowfins are dominating offshore, and the flounder bite on ocean structure and in the bays is outstanding.
Cobia
The big news last week was the 82 lb. cobia caught by Joe Costello from Lancaster, PA. Joe always wanted to get into cobia fishing, so he got some tips from Capt. Bruce McGuigan at Capt. Mac’s in Fenwick Island and headed out to Russell’s Reef. When Joe arrived at the buoy, he employed one of Bruce’s tips, which was to rev your engine a couple of times. Cobia are a curious fish, and this tends to bring them closer to the boat. Joe set out a live spot and the big cobia took it and ran. After a 1 hour fight, Joe had the monster in the boat. The fish measured 57-inches and had a girth of 24-inches. Currently, Delaware doesn’t have a state record category for cobia, but we are hoping that they will start one with the catch of this magnificent fish. Joe certainly deserves it!
Tuna
Anglers aren’t waiting for the Ocean City Tuna Tournament to be over to begin chunking and they are finding success catching both yellowfins and bluefins at the Hot Dog.
According to Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina, boats anchored on the northeast corner of the lump chunking with butterfish and sardines did well with tuna. Chunkers noted that baits presented close to the bottom got bit most often, but fish were taken throughout the water column. A few yellowfins were mixed in and were hooked on hand fed chunks at first light. Fluorocarbon leaders improved success. Anglers working hammered diamond and butterfly jigs caught bluefins too.
Although many tuna fishermen opted to chunk, those who trolled the Hambone and Sausages found bluefins and a few yellowfins in 40 to 60 fathoms inshore of Poor Man’s Canyon. Phil Falgowski, Geoff McCloskey, Nick Krayer and Mike Paoli trolled up two yellowfins and a 112.5 lb. bluefin on Thursday.
We didn’t see any bigeye tuna being landed in Delaware, but quite a few were caught by Ocean City boats last week while trolling in the Washington Canyon.
Bluefish
Bert at Hook’em &?Cook’em reported big bluefish, up to 10 lbs., in the Indian River Inlet. Saturday evening was especially good. Choppers will eat practically anything and metal jigs always seem to do the trick.
There have also been some bluefish caught on the troll at Fenwick Shoal.
Trout
Weakfish, mixed in with triggerfish, were caught by anglers anchored on Fenwick Shoal.
In the Surf
Capt. Bruce McGuigan at Capt. Mac’s Bait & Tackle said that the kingfish and snapper bluefish bite along the coast is really good right now. Anglers are having good results using bloodworms or Fishbite artificial bloodworms for kingfish and cut bait for bluefish. Anglers are also catching a lot more sharks at night than they have in recent weeks. Those crazy enough to use a kayak to drop their baits further off the shoreline are doing very well catching spinners, sand tigers and even an occasional hammerhead.
Striped Bass
There are still a few striped bass being caught in the Indian River Inlet on sand fleas and live spot. The area around the Coast Guard Station has been the most productive.
Further north, Joe reported small boaters on the Lewes Canal, between the Drawbridge and the Train Bridge, caught slot stripers while casting Storm Shads, Rat-L-Traps and Gulp! artificial baits.
Sea Bass
Sea bass fishing picked up some last week. The throwback ratio, which had been running incredibly high, seems to be getting back to a more reasonable level. Quite a few knotheads over 3 lbs. were landed at “B” Buoy and on ocean structure.
Croaker
Joe at Lewes Harbour said that hardheads are showing up in better numbers at Sites 5 and 8 for anglers using clams and bloodworms. We also saw some caught by anglers fishing just off the coast near Indian River.
Marlin
Some white and blue marlin were caught by anglers trolling from 75 to 500 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon.
Dolphin
Anglers chasing tuna continue to return with a few mahi in the box. The good news is that we are definitely seeing an increase in their average size.
Flounder
The best flounder fishing we have seen in years continued last week with not only good numbers of flatties hitting the dock, but some big boys as well.
The “Katy Did” had a remarkable day on Sunday, coming back with 39 keepers, including Joe McNeal’s 9 lb. 4 oz. whopper. The boat also had several other good days, with 28 and 33 quality keepers in the box.
Some big fish were weighed last week. We already mentioned Joe McNeal’s 9 lb. 4 oz. flattie. Mickey Payne also landed a 9 pounder in the Indian River Inlet, during Rick’s Bait & Tackle Memorial Flounder Tournament. Wes Olson decked an 8 lb. 4 oz. flounder at the Old Grounds and Matt Shoup had a 9 lb. 5 oz. flattie at Site 10.
In addition to the normal hot spots like the Old Grounds and Site 10, Joe at Lewes Harbour said that flounder action is improving in the Delaware Bay at the Ferry Wall and Sites 5, 6, 7 and 8. Brown Shoal also gave up 11 keepers to Nate Evans, Chip Graves and Matt Baker while drifting live spot one day last week.
Paul at Rick’s Bait & Tackle said that the deeper holes at Massey’s Ditch and in the VFW?Channel in the Indian River Bay produced good catches of flounder last week.
Live bait such as spot and mullet have really been fooling the flatties lately, but the Gulp! Swimming Mullet and simple bucktails tipped with curl tails are also doing the trick.
Let’s hope this streak of fantastic fishing continues.
Until next week, tight lines!
