Article by Larry Jock
Matt at Lewes Harbour Marina said that spot have definitely shown up in the Lewes Canal, although they are on the small side. Croaker are also being caught in the canal with most in the 6-inch range. Flounder fishing in the Canal has been sporadic, but fish up to 7 lbs. have been caught by anglers drifting minnows, squid and Gulp! Swimming Mullets.
Schoolie stripers have been caught in the Canal by anglers jigging or fishing with eels. The best bite has been in the Roosevelt Inlet or under the lights by the Research Center.
Anglers fishing off the Cape Henlopen Pier have found plenty of croaker and spot, but cow nose rays have been a nuisance and folks are constantly getting spooled.
In the Delaware Bay, a lot of small weakfish, measuring 9-inches, have been caught with an occasional 14 to 15-inch keeper thrown in to make things interesting. Kingfish in the Bay have also gotten larger with fish pushing to 1 1/2 lbs. lately. Boaters running around the Bay have come across good numbers of 10 to 19-inch bluefish pushing shiners.
Tautog fishing has been slow for hook and line anglers, but spearfishermen are having some good days while roaming around the Outer Wall. Good size sheepshead are being caught around the Haystacks and the Ice Breakers.
Matt said that the ocean flounder bite for anglers fishing out of Lewes continues to be consistent, just not consistently good. After a great start to the season, the bite really died off a couple of weeks ago, but could be ramping back up as we speak. The Old Grounds continues to be the best spot for good catches.
A few sea bass were caught last week by anglers fishing ocean structure in search of flatties, but bassers have had to weed through a lot of short fish to find their keeper.
Surfcasters are being kept busy by kingfish lately, but those that are using kayaks to drop their baits off the coast are getting into some good shark action.
Offshore, not many boats are running to the deep since the chunking bite at Massey’s just keeps chugging along. The bite last week was very hit or miss, with fish not as spread out as they have been. One boat might be slamming them and other boats only a short distance away are getting skunked. It does seem like when the bite is on fire, it is a very early bite and only last a few hours. This is what anglers found there on Sunday morning when the best bite cranked up shortly after sunrise and was over by 10:00 AM. A few days earlier, the bite got going at sunrise and was over by 8:30 AM.
A few boats headed to the Bigeye Hole in the Washington Canyon where Matt said a couple eyeballs were caught by boats out of Lewes.
Those that are venturing out to the deep, into 1,000+ fathoms outside the Baltimore Canyon are getting into white marlin, blue marlin and sailfish.
Until next week, tight lines!