Article by Larry Jock
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said flounder fishing is still the most popular game in town. Delaware Bay reef sites yielded fluke, but the bite was limited to the time of tide changes. Flatties bit best at the end of slack water through the first half hour of moving current. Jigging Spro bucktails sweetened with a strip of fresh cut croaker was a hot combination. Elijah Brown boated a 5 pound flounder while fluking in the Bay aboard the “Lil’ Angler II”.
Sunday started out as a crappy weather day, but ended up as a good catching day. Captain Brent left the dock late and headed to Brown Shoal, but still managed to put together a batch of 32 keepers for flukers on the “Katydid”.
Ocean flounder seemed to cooperate during more of the tide than those in the Delaware Bay. Many flatfish came from reefs 9, 10 and 11. Word of the good fishing drew quite a crowd of boats at the sites on fair weather days, so sometimes maneuvering on the structure was tricky. Open bottom of the Old Grounds continued to be productive as well, with spots southeast of “DB” Buoy and northwest of “DA” Buoy giving up fluke. Rigs sporting hair teasers baited with squid, shiners, smelt or strips of fresh cut croaker or sea robin were favored offerings. Bucktail jigs tipped with 5 or 6-inch Gulp! artificials proved deadly for flatties.
Captain Pete hosted the gang from Hidden Acres Sawmill on Monday aboard the “Top Fin”, and they jigged up a limit of 28 quality keepers at Site 10. Seven of the fish were over 5 pounds. Anglers on the “Katydid” returned with a boat limit of flatties. Capt. Brent took big fish honors of the day with a 7.73 pound doormat he caught from up top on the bridge. Wednesday’s regulars on the “Katydid” rounded up their limit of 40 keepers while drifting ocean structure. Lou Pennella and the boat’s mate, Chris Vann, each caught 7 pounders. Larry and Joe Coyle, along with Tyler Brown took their limit of flatfish on Wednesday at Site 10. Joe landed the heaviest, weighing 6.37 pounds. Bill Hughes fished again Wednesday on the “Miss Kirstin” and boated a 5.4 pound fluke. Wayne DeMarco, Joe Pergeorelis, Josh Wilkers and Doug Mickowski worked the Old Grounds on Wednesday for their limit of flounder. Dave Walker took Matt Shoup, Amy and Patrick Conroy, and Clara Hollingsworth to Site 10 on Wednesday to capture and bring back 20 flat ones. On Thursday, local flukers aboard the “Katydid” put 28 keepers in the box, including John Gudknecht’s 5.4 pounder.
The “Katydid” was over ocean reef rubble again on Friday, and returned with a full limit of 36 fluke weighing up to over 4 pounds.
In addition to flounder, bottom bouncers connected with plenty of croakers in the Delaware Bay. Reef Sites 5 and 8, and the edge of the Anchorage near “G” Buoy held hardheads.
Kingfish, spike trout, puffers and snapper blues were mixed in on reef structure. Croakers and big spot were also caught in the Lewes Canal, Roosevelt Inlet and in Broadkill River all the way up past Oyster Rocks.
Rockfish roamed the Canal too. Slot sized stripers were caught around the drawbridge using pencil eels.
Boaters working the rocks of the Outer Wall and Ice Breakers had some tog, triggerfish, sheepshead and spadefish. Rodney Shoemaker and “Booker” Bookwalter kept 9 chunky blackfish at the Wall on Friday. Booker battled a citation tautog weighing 7.44 pounds. Bob Meyers pulled a 3 pound triggerfish off the Outer Wall using sand fleas on Sunday.
Offshore, anglers found yellowfins, longfins and billfish in the Wilmington Canyon. Charlie Horning on the “Fish Whistle” trolled the Wilmington’s East Notch on Tuesday evening, pulling ballyhoo skirted with Joe Shute Lures and landed 4 bigeyes. The crew laid over and went 1 for 2 on another pair of eyeballs at first light on Wednesday. Back at the scales, the five tuna ranged between 137 and 194 pounds.
Inshore trollers found some pretty decent dolphin and a few white marlin at the Hot Dog. Nick Strait and Ethan Davis decked mahi of 15 and 18 pounds at the Dog aboard the “Chasin’ Tail” with Captain Mike Faust.
Further south, Capt. Bert Adams at Hook’em & Cook’em said that the waters in the back bay and in the Indian River Inlet are absolutely loaded with croaker. He said that they are so thick that flounder fisherman are having a tough time getting their bait to the bottom. Anglers fishing in the Inlet are also catching a few stripers during the day and at night along with some bluefish out towards the jetty.
Croakers can also be found in large numbers outside the Inlet to 3-miles off the beach on various ocean structure.
Flounder fishing in the ocean was fantastic right until the weekend’s nasty weather that created dirty water conditions. Bert said the key to successful flounder fishing is getting the right drift, between .5 and 1.2 knots. If you could get the right drift, the bite was red hot around “DA” and “DB” Buoys, at the Old Grounds and around Site 10.
Anglers out of Indian River are also having a good time fishing for triggerfish and spade fish around Fenwick Shoal, where they are also hooking into bluefish as well.
Offshore, the charter boat, “Capt. Ike” returned from an overnight chunking trip in the Washington Canyon where they ended up with 20 yellowfins in the box.
Anglers are also returning with solid catches of blueline and golden tilefish after dropping squids in the Canyons.
Until next week, tight lines!