Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
This week brought some cooler weather, winds and lots of traffic on the water. As we enter into our 8 weeks of tourism the waters around Delaware are getting crowded. With more anglers on the water fishing will begin to get tougher.
Flounder
Flounder fishing remained pretty strong this week when anglers could get out. Strong winds dominated most of this week making drifting a little tougher.
Those anglers making it out were rewarded with some nice flounder. Brian Davis caught a nice 18” flounder at the Indian River Inlet on Wednesday at high tide. Sean Clever hooked into a 17.5” flounder Wednesday and a nice 22” flounder on Thursday. As for the bay side, flounder in the Indian River Bay and Rehoboth Bay have been fair, with a keeper ratio of about 3 throwbacks to 1 keeper. Prime areas are Massey’s Ditch and the main channel at the inlet. In Rehoboth Bay, the southern end and side channels are producing the best fish. High boat traffic and fishing pressure have made targeting spots tough. Look for the out of the way deeper holes not on the main channel. The mid bay areas near Pot Nets are a great place to look and have some really nice deep holes on the northern side of the channel. On the ocean side, Site 10 is starting to show some signs of good life. Reports of nice flounder and some sea bass are coming in. Jacob Gearheart caught a few nice flounder here on Nuclear Chicken Gulp. Site 10 is a short 6 miles outside of the inlet and great for those not wanting to run the 13 miles to the coral grounds. B buoy and A buoy both reported some decent fish this week. Site 11 and NJ/DE reef are the top producers for flounder this week. Pink Gulp is the bait of choice!
Sea bass, Sheepshead & Spot
Sea bass has really started to slow due to warming water temps. Target deeper locations 100 ft or deeper with fresh clam for the best results. A few sea bass are on site 10 and 11 but most are now throwbacks. NJ/DE reef remains the hot location for keepers but even here in deeper water the ratio is about 10 throwbacks to 1 keeper. Finding wrecks that have not been hit hard by multiple anglers has paid off big time as a few die hard sea bass captains are returning to the docks with nice loads of keepers. Target the smaller wrecks that can't be fished by the bigger boats. Burt Campbell reported that he caught sheepshead on the north side jetty of the Indian River Inlet. A few other reports have come in that sheepshead are beginning to turn on at the inlet. Shrimp or sand fleas are taking the most fish. Remember small hooks and lighter drags so as not to rip the hooks from these fish softer mouths. The inlet and bays are full of big spot this year. They are a prime food source for all larger predators and this is a welcome sign. The past couple of years have not had the bay spot we were accustomed to seeing. Even crab pots have spot in them. Many anglers attest that they are also great table fare. Sabiki rigs are the method for targeting these fish. Most Sabiki rigs are 5-7 hooks, so try cutting off the bottom 2 hooks to avoid tangles when multiple fish are caught at the same time. Clams or bloodworms are the prime baits to use.
Sharks, Rays & Cobia
Sharks and rays are everywhere near the beach. Michael Deller reported getting spooled twice by a big cow nose ray while surf fishing the Delaware beaches. He was using a 30 lb. line and 60 lb. leader. They are notorious runners and will empty your spool in one long run or dig into the sand and lay there, daring you to pull harder. Sharks are also abundant near shore. Chumming with large chuck baits are your best way to target these hard pullers. Make sure that when fishing for sharks keep a live spot or eel rigged up because your chum will not only bring in the sharks but also the cobia. They’ve shown up on the Fenwick Shoals as well as the mouth of the inlet.
Surf Fishing
Tons of spot are in the surfs along with a decent amount of weakfish. Small floats tipped with squid or bloodworms are the best baits.
Crabs & Clams
Crabbing was a little slow this week with pots yielding about half the crabs they did a week ago. Looking at the area I crab in, I can't recall ever seeing so many pots in the water. Also as a side note, DNR is out tagging pots for both times attended (3 day max) as well as for pots not being all white with name and addresses readable. Clamming remains strong with Rehoboth Bay being the prime area this week.
Until next week...
Tight lines and fins up
