Article by Larry Jock
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said this summer’s flounder action was the best in recent memory, and it has carried through right into September. Providing there are no severe weather fronts to push them out prematurely, anglers should enjoy a few more weeks of good fishing as flatties stage on structure during their movement offshore.
Fluke continued to be found on Reef Sites 9, 10 and 11, the Old Grounds and on bottom features surrounding “DB” and “DA” Buoys. Captain Brent worked over the flounder pretty good during the week with groups aboard the “Katydid”. He returned early Tuesday with a 32 fluke limit that included Charlie Jammer’s 6.65 pounder. Bully Bob and his crew of “athletes” joined Brent on Wednesday and put together a limit of 40 quality flatfish. Thursday was another 40 keeper day, highlighted by Bob Fleming’s 9.24 pound doormat. A bunch of regulars boarded the “Katydid” on Saturday, and brought back a boat limit of 36 flatties. Among the take was a 6.28 pound fluke for Ron Mistretta, and Bob Crossley’s 3 pound black sea bass. That catch of fish raised the total number of keeper flounder landed aboard the “Katydid” this season to more than 1,500.
Plenty of other nice batches of fish came to the cleaning table at Lewes Harbour last week as well. Bob Horton and his buddies took advantage of good conditions during the week, and limited out on flounder three trips in a row while working Site 11 and the Old Grounds. Jim Meyers was dialed in on big fish at Site 10. Tuesday, he scored a pair of fluke scaling 6.83 and 8.01 pounds. He topped them Friday with an 8.36 pound citation earner. Wayne Brady boated a 5.3 pound flounder from the Old Grounds aboard Miss Kirstin. Jon Bixler drifted squid on the Old Grounds for his 5.9 pounder. Harry Glembocki had his limit of flatties on Thursday. Half of it was a keeper doubleheader that included a mat weighing 6.08 pounds. Vince Budnavage checked in his best flounder yet. The 6.84 pound beauty fell for a squid and minnow sandwich on the Old Grounds. Joe Crowley captured a headboat pool winning 5.95 pound fluke on Saturday and Scott Ayars wasn’t far behind with his 5.7 pounder.
Anglers reported success using a variety of baits including squid, smelts and shiners. Live offerings like minnows and spot worked, but weren’t really necessary. Cut meat was quite effective. Fresh strips of bluefish, croaker, spot, mullet or sea robin were gobbled up by feeding fluke. A 3 to 6-ounce bucktail sweetened with cut bait or Gulp! produced numerous flatfish and frequently performed better than traditional bottom rigs. Jigging often causes a reactive strike from otherwise uninterested fish.
Besides flounder, ocean bottom bouncers encountered some big croakers between Site 10 and “DB” Buoy. Captain Vince on the “Miss Kirstin” had several in the 15-inch range mixed with flounder there on Wednesday.
In the Delaware Bay, some flounder and assorted panfish were available at the Star Site. That mix included jumbo spot, hardheads, kingfish, puffers, triggers, sea bass, spike trout and snapper blues. Clams, bloodworms, squid, shrimp and Fishbites got bit.
Snapper blues have been active in the lower Bay and could usually be found beneath working birds. The rip on the shoal just off the Outer Wall’s north end attracted numerous snappers. They could be hooked there with cut baits on bottom rigs, or cast bucktails and metal jigs.
Bluefish also roamed the ocean surf, especially since more mullet have shown up. Surfcasters caught small blues using fresh mullet from inside Cape Henlopen down to the Towers. Decent numbers of kingfish were still in the suds, and would respond to pieces of bloods or Fishbites on small float rigs. Lance Cochran landed 25 kings while soaking fresh mullet at Keybox Road on Saturday.
Offshore trollers found white marlin and dolphin. Steve Fleming and his group trolled the Baltimore on Thursday for a nice batch of dolphin. Shawn Gallagher and the guys on the “Free Spool” released a white from 50 Fathoms inshore of the Poor Man’s on Friday. Captain Chris Thurman’s crew had 3 white marlin and 9 mahi trolling in the Poor Man’s on Saturday aboard the “Quintessa”. The bigeye bite was off and on in the Wilmington Canyon. Charlie Horning had three eyeballs while trolling the East Side on Thursday evening on his “Fish Whistle”. Captain Brian’s gang on the “Lil’ Angler II” trolled up some nice dolphin in the Wilmington on Saturday. Brandy Parker put a 15.9 pounder in the box.
Until next week, tight lines!
