Article by Larry Jock
Well, the official end of the summer is right around the corner but it looks like we have a lot of good fishing ahead of us.
At Capt. Mac’s High Performance Tackle in Fenwick, Capt. Bruce McGuigan reported that anglers fishing at the Ditch continue to experience good catches of red drum, black drum, spot, croakers and short flounder. The drum bite, in particular, has really been a pleasant surprise. Capt. Bruce said that he has never seen the drum action be so consistent, for so long, as it has been this year.
Anglers fishing off the beach have seen a definite uptick in both numbers and quality of bluefish being caught in lower Delaware and North Ocean City. In addition to the snapper blues, surfcasters are still getting into spot, kingfish, small sharks, skates, rays and even some pompano.
Capt. Bruce said that a lot of his customers have taken advantage of the tremendous flounder bite found particularly at the Old Grounds and African Queen. The number of fish being pulled off of ocean structure is staggering and the quality of fish has been impressive. He said that a spearfisherman told him that he has speared flounder up to 34-inches at the Queen.
Bruce had a chance to head offshore to the Poor Man’s Canyon for a couple of days last week and told me that they had a great time catching yellowfin up to 85 lbs. in addition to a pile of mahi-mahi. He said that they didn’t see many other boats out there, with most heading to the Washington Canyon (800/800) for bigeye tuna and the Norfolk Canyon for marlin.
At Hook’em & Cook’em at the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams said that the striper bite in the Indian River Inlet was good after the full moon with anglers catching their limit of linesiders at the end of the incoming tide.
Those fishing off the rocks on the south side of the Inlet found weakfish, up to 24-inches, interested in their artificial lures, especially “electric chicken” Bass Assassins. Flounder fishermen were actually frustrated with trout stealing bait intended for flatties, which may be a good thing, since most of the flounder being caught were too small to keep.
Bert agreed with Bruce that the flounder bite on ocean structure has been fantastic if the current isn’t running too hard and you can get yourself a nice drift.
In addition to the stripers, flounder and trout, anglers fishing by the Indian River Bridge have been pleasantly surprised with catches of triggerfish while using sand fleas or little pieces of clam for bait. Bert’s son, Christopher, took some time off from the shop and was rewarded with a spadefish last week on a Gulp! artificial bait.
Anglers casting off Bubble Gum Beach have hooked into red drum and black drum when baiting with peeler crab or sand fleas.
If you are looking for small croakers or big spot, you can find them just outside the Indian River Inlet or at Massey’s Ditch, according to Bert.
Indian River boats ventured to the Washington Canyon for bigeyes and yellowfins, but boats also found yellowfins, wahoo, dolphin and skippies at the Hot Dog, Hambone and the Chicken Bone as well.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said open bottom flounder action was good in the ocean. The deep water of the Old Grounds and along the edges of the Shipping Channel yielded many nice fluke during the week. Captain Brent’s crew aboard the “Katydid” had a great catch while drifting the Grounds on Saturday. By 11 am, they only had two flounder in the box, but when the northeast wind picked up and seas got crappy, the flatfish turned on. The group ended their afternoon with 37 keepers, several of which were over 5 pounds. On Saturday, Don Hoffman was fishing ocean bottom on the “Grizzly” when he connected with a 7.25 pound citation earner. Wes Olson and Barney Gallagher worked a favorite spot southeast of “DB” Buoy on Friday for their limit of fluke to nearly 6 pounds. The “Katydid” drifted ocean bottom on Friday for 20 flatties, the largest weighing 6.1 pounds. On Wednesday, flukers on the “Katydid” captured 18 fish to 6.25 pounds. Wayne Demarco and his fishing partners scored a limit of 16 flounder to 24 inches while bucktailing between “DB” Buoy and Site 11 on Wednesday. Joe Lucyk landed an 8.5 pound doormat on Wednesday near “DB” Buoy aboard the “Lil’ Angler II” with Capt. Brian Wazlavek. Flounder sharpie Joe Walker took time off from running his own rig to hop on a head boat for some ocean fluking with Captain Ricky Yakimowicz. Joe returned with his limit on Thursday and again on Friday when he also caught the pool winner.
Flounder catching was tougher in the Delaware Bay due to hard running currents around the full moon. Fishermen who waited tides out for the short window of decent drifting did manage a few flatties from the reef sites. Anglers on the “Martha Marie” pulled 8 keepers from Site 5 on Tuesday. Bobby Bryant and his buddies fished Sites 6 and 7 aboard the”Katydid” on Tuesday, and kept 16 good fluke.
Plenty of other bottomfish continued to please Bay anglers. Small croakers were available most anywhere, but larger specimens hung out in heavy cover of reef rubble and wrecks. Nice kingfish are still mixed in with hardheads. Nathan Porter nailed a citation 1.13 pounder on the “Fish Hawk”, and Dorothy Wright wound in a 1.22 pound king at the Star Site Reef.
Spot, puffers and spike trout rounded out the local selection of summer panfish.
Snapper blues could be found cruising current rips along the Outer Wall, crashing through bunches of silversides. Tossing a small Kastmaster or other flashy metal to feeding fish usually resulted in aggressive strikes from scrappy snappers.
Triggerfish, and the occasional sheepshead, spadefish or puppy drum hung out on rocky structure of the Outer Wall, the Ice Breakers and other Bay wrecks. Captain Brian’s guys aboard the “Lil’ Angler II” got 17 triggers on a short wreck trip before being chased in by a thunderstorm Thursday afternoon.
Until next week, tight lines!
