Article by Rick Willman
Dirty water and floating debris were not enough to keep local fishermen off the water last week. Those fishermen who got their boats back in the water and ventured out into the Atlantic did so with a fair amount of success. Scott Fluharty and his crew fished the Baltimore Canyon to score some nice yellowfin and dolphin to near 30 pounds. Hunter Culver got his first white marlin release while fishing the Baltimore with his father Donnie.
Inshore fishermen have started to catch more keeper sea bass while fishing the “DA” and “DB” Buoy areas. Boyd Lord on the “Capt Snooze” fished between “B” and “A” and got into some nice sea bass, croaker, and a few flounder.
Back bay action has been a bit slow since the storm and probably is due mostly to dirty water. Successful anglers have been fishing just inside the Indian River Inlet. The water there seems to be a little cleaner and therefore providing more activity.
The best fishing of the season should be getting underway anytime soon. Normally some of the largest flounder of the year are captured between September and Thanksgiving. This year, the flounder season closes on October 24th, so now is the time to go after that big flattie.
Striper season will be starting very soon and now is the time to gear up!
Offshore fishing should continue to improve if Mother Nature does not send us too many storms.
Capt. Bill Baker of Bill’s Sport reports that he was joined on the “Slicker III” by his grandson, Joey Neely, Dave McDowell and his son Vince for a trip to the Old Grounds and “B” Buoy where they ended up with a 19" flounder along with a few throwbacks. They also managed some lingcod.
Jim Mahony of “Blue Collar Man Charters” reported releasing 4 white marlin while trolling the east wall of the Baltimore Canyon.
A 28-inch, 8-pound flattie was pulled from the Old Grounds by Captain Joe Huk. The party also hooked 20 more flounder (3 keepers) along with some bluefish and croaker.
Brett Hamstead and Bill Weiss fished Herring Point with fresh spot on top and bottom rigs and had plenty of bluefish action, with the largest being 14 to 15 inches.
Capt. Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina informed us that after the passage of Hurricane Irene, inshore fishing action slowed down considerably. By week’s end, catching began to improve, with best reports coming from the ocean, on live bottom surrounding “DB” Buoy. Big croakers made up most of the take, with fair numbers of legal sea bass mixed in. Keeper flounder were hard to come by, but Mike Shockley managed a near citation 6.9-pound doormat while casting a Gulp! from Lewes Beach on Saturday evening.
Bottom fish in the Delaware Bay were affected by the storm as well. Hardheads and flounder were uncooperative in their usual haunts for the most part. Captain Ted on the “Pirate King” did find some willing croakers on Saturday at the red and green “DF” Buoy, outside the mouth of the Bay.
Snapper bluefish didn’t seem to mind the blow, and were caught at the Star Site and around the Outer Wall.
Finger mullet have begun moving through near shore tidal areas, and schools were seen inside Cape Henlopen, in the Roosevelt Inlet and Canary Creek.
Spot are still around in good numbers, and anglers at the rails of the Cape Henlopen Pier pulled in plenty using bloodworms and FishBites. Bunker remain in the Bay.
The combination of baitfish here now should attract and hold gamefish for some time. The major influx of freshwater due to rain and runoff from Irene has stirred things up in the Bay for a while, but it’s likely that catching will bounce back.
During the last few days of tautog season, toggers at the Outer Wall had good success with blackfish during parts of the tide with clean water. This bodes well for the reopening of tog season on September 29th.
Slot stripers were taken around the Lewes Drawbridge and the Roosevelt Coast Guard Station before the minimum size changed back to 28 inches on September 1st.
Boats running offshore encountered yellowfin tuna between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons after the hurricane. There was a pretty good bite during the first half of the week in 50 fathoms along the 42100 line. Some nice wahoo were mingled in with the tuna. Those fish scattered as the week wore on, but crews picked a few tuna among masses of false albacore in south-moving current near the tip of the Baltimore over the weekend.
Normally, the period leading up to the August full moon kicks off some good swordfish action. Squid and tinker mackerel bunch up in the deep and are available for swords to work over by the moonlight. Wes Olson found that to be true Friday night when he and his son hooked four swords aboard his “Bad Habit”, while drifting live squids through the Bight of the Baltimore Canyon. They put one nice swordy in the box to take home, and released the others.
Crews chasing other billfish released a few scattered white and blue marlin. Richard Fischer and his crew had a good trip to the 461 Lump on Saturday. They went 3 for 5 on white marlin, and filled the box with 37 dolphin. Some additional boats trolling southern canyons had multiple releases, but any big concentration of tailing and cutting whites working bait, like the past couple seasons, has yet to materialize.
Deep-water bottom fishing was productive for the Saturday group aboard “Skipjack”. Captain Chris Thurman had a decent drift on the edge of the Baltimore, despite strong current, and got into some nice tilefish. The guys ended up with 20 golden tiles, several in the 20-pound class. Patti Schneider earned a citation for the 3.45-pound knothead sea bass she wrestled from the Triple Wrecks aboard the “Patient Lady”.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
