Article by Larry Jock
This Week Last Year
•a 3.91 lb. flounder won the Joe Morris Flounder Tournament.
•good size bluefish were caught off of the Cape Henlopen Pier.
•the striper bite was good in the IR Inlet and surf.
•DelJerseyLand reef produced good catches of black sea bass.
•black drum were caught off Conquest Road, Broadkill Beach & Coral Beds.
•1st mako released at the Sausages.
•bad weather kept offshore boats at the dock. Good bite was down in the Norfolk Canyon
Compared to last year when we had horrible weather this time of year, this past weekend was a nice one and a lot of boats were on the water.
At Fenwick Tackle, Matt said that he is still seeing bluefish caught in good numbers along the beach from North Ocean City up into Fenwick, with the best bite happening around 140th Street. Surfcasters seemed to have the best luck using bluefish or bunker heads for bait.
The Fenwick Ditch is still producing small stripers in the 25 to 26-inch range. Saturday’s bite was good on light tackle both at the Ditch and around the Rt. 90 Bridge.
Some of Matt’s customers had luck last week flounder fishing in very shallow water in the Thorofare. The boats are equipped with trolling motors allowing them to get into 2-feet of water.
At Hook’em & Cook’em, Capt. Bert reported snapper bluefish biting in the Indian River Inlet on Hopkins lures or anything shiny. Short stripers were also caught in the Inlet with an occasional keeper hooked while tossing swim shads off the rocks at night. Bert didn’t hear of many flounder being caught in the Inlet but Tim Goodman did catch a 4 lb. 8 oz. flattie on Sunday while drifting a Gulp Swimming Mullet. Bert said he also saw a 20-incher caught this morning (Monday) by an angler fishing off the South Jetty during the incoming tide. One of the best flounder bites was in the Indian River Bay, near Buoy 5.
With black sea bass season opening last Wednesday, and tog season being closed, headboats are loaded with fishermen looking for knotheads. Opening day for anglers fishing on the full-day “Capt. Bob” found rough seas and a mediocre bite. The best bite right now looks to be at the DelJerseyLand Reef and the Dry Docks. Structure in 120-feet of water, around 25-miles off the beach seems to be the place you want to be.
Speaking of headboats, on Saturday an angler on the “Judy V” had a thresher shark hooked up while fishing a wreck, 12 miles off the coast, but it came loose during the fight.
We did see the first weakfish of the season caught by Jackson Chin when he landeda 22-inch, 4 lb. weakie in the Indian River Inlet while using clams for bait.
In the surf, a few keeper stripers came into Hook’em & Cook’em during the week from anglers soaking bluefish heads or fishing with mullet and bunker. There are still a lot of throwback stripers and the bluefish bite is very good, but Bert said that you need to be in the right spot at the right time.
Offshore, Indian River boats headed to the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons where they found plenty of bluefins and a few mahi in the 8 to 10 lb. range.
Capt. Mike Behney at Rick’s Bait & Tackle reported bluefish being caught by anglers fishing off Massey’s Landing Pier. Most of the blues were small-to-medium size, but Mike did hear of at least one 10 pounder hooked there as well. Mike said that the bluefish are so thick in the Rehoboth Bay that he is hearing complaints from the commercial guys who are trying to net bunker. The blues are tearing up the bunker caught in the nets.
Stripers were caught in the Cape Henlopen surf and off the rocks in the Indian River Inlet, but Mike said that you really need to put in your time to get one for the cooler. Daiwa SP Minnows and swim shads have been the top producers.
Mike had some customers come into the shop with flounder they caught in the Indian River Bay, specifically from the VFW?Slough during the outgoing tide. The flounder bite in the bay is slowly getting better.
In the Indian River Inlet, Mike is getting reports of a load of shad right now and he also heard of some ling being caught on ocean wrecks.
At Lewes Harbour Marina, the big news was the excellent participation in the Joe Morris Memorial Canal Flounder Tournament held last Friday. This year they had 445 anglers, significanly up from 200 last year, looking for flatties in the Canal and Amanda Morris said that after t-shirt sales and post tournament donations, she expects to hit her goat of $10,000 donated to the Pancreatic Action Network in memory of her husband, Joe Morris. Joe was one of the greatest guys you could ever meet and the way that this flounder tournament has grown is a testament to how fondly the fishing community felt about him. I wouldn’t be surprised if next years event is even larger. The winner of this years tournament was Tom West with a 5.95 pounder followed by Jeff Semans with a 4.07 lb. flattie. Third place was won by Jeff Purdy with a 3.73 pounder.
On the fishing front, Capt. Tommy said that the flounder bite in the Lewes Canal lightened up a bit over the weekend, probably from all the pounding it received on Friday. There are bluefish all over the Canal with fish in the 14 to 18-inch range going after anything meaty or shiny. Unfortunately, the striper bite in the Canal has fallen off.
Black drum were caught by anglers fishing off Broadkill Beach and at the Coral Beds. Tommy heard that they are really whacking them good over on the Jersey side of the Delaware Bay for anglers fishing with clams.
At the Cape Henlopen Pier, bluefish are getting bigger and the flounder bite was sporadic.
Bluefish are also being caught in good numbers off Herring Point and Cape Henlopen State Park. Anglers are even finding a few schoolie stripers in the mix.
Until next week, tight lines!
