Article by Larry Jock
Like it has been all spring, anglers were hampered by windy weather almost every day last week making it uncomfortable in the bay and downright snotty in the ocean.
Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em at the Indian River Marina reported a slow flounder bite in the Indian River Inlet, although a whopper was caught on Wednesday when Phillip Chandler landed an 11 lb. 5 oz. doormat while drifting live minnows. Other than that, it was pretty slow for flounder fishermen.
Anglers in the Indian River Inlet did experience a good nighttime striper bite around the South Jetty. There are a lot of Hickory shad in the Inlet, so there’s no doubt the linesiders are in there having a feast. Those landing larger stripers are having luck tossing bucktails or livelining shad and eels around the rocks or just outside the Inlet.
We have definitely seen more trout caught this year, and on Sunday a nice 5 pounder was caught in the Inlet by an angler casting a Swim shad.
Bert said that there were a few bluefish blitzes throughout the week for anglers fishing with metal jigs.
Surfcasters off the beaches in Delaware are finding a mix of kingfish, spot, croaker, blowfish, sharks, skates and stingrays. They are landing an occasional striper, but the absence of bluefish has been noticeable.
Windy weather made it difficult for anglers to get to their favorite inshore haunts in search of sea bass last week. The headboat “Judy V.” did have an action packed day on Saturday, although most of the fish were too small to keep. The charter boat, “Capt. Ike II”, did have a good day on Saturday, but had to run 30 miles offshore to find some keeper fish.
At Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, Mike Behney mentioned that there have been a lot of throwback tautog caught off the pier at Massey’s Landing and the flounder bite there has been pretty steady for anglers fishing with spec rigs tipped with Gulp! artificial baits.
Mike spent some time last week fishing from the surf off Cape Henlopen and he said the suds were loaded with kingfish. He had over 30 fish in just 2 hours. Fishbite bloodworms and crab flavored strips were deadly.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said the season’s first mako hit their dock last week. Wes and Shane Olson and Barney Gallagher were drifting in 59 degree water at the tip of the Baltimore Canyon when they boated the 85 pounder (Coastal Fisherman has a 100 lb. minimum for shark pictures). Joe noted a few other blackeyes came from inshore.
Shark fishermen also encountered threshers on twenty fathom structure around the Fingers. Captain Ed Sigda and the guys aboard the “Snow Goose” released a whopper thresher while drifting in Massey’s Canyon on Friday. After an hour long battle, they put a tag in the fish at boatside, where its fork length measured over 8 feet. The weight was estimated between 400 and 500 pounds. In addition, they released 16 blue sharks.
Ocean bottom bouncers picked at sea bass on Reef Site 11 and around the Radford and Poole wrecks in the Del-Jersey-Land reef site. John Mattson and friends fished with Captain Carey aboard the “Grizzly” on Monday, and put a mix of 121 keeper bass, ling and cod in the box. On Monday, anglers aboard “Katydid” worked the reefs for 114 bass, including Lou Pennella’s 4.7 pound knothead, 99 ling, a bucket of big bergalls, and a pair of codfish. Captain Brent Wiest decked the heaviest cod, which weighed 22.7 pounds.
Cod have staged a comeback off Delaware’s coast the past couple seasons, and it’s pretty cool seeing impressive specimens like that once again. Wesley Bernard was fishing at the Del-Jersey-Land reef site on the “Dana Lynn” when he had the uncommon duo of a 4.2 pound cod and a 4.2 pound flounder.
Offshore bottom fishing was good. The boys on “Candy’s Reel Choice” deep dropped in the Baltimore Canyon on Friday for an assortment of 15 golden tilefish weighing up to 30 pounds, plus rosefish, ling and sea bass.
Back inshore, black drum action was holding up well in the Delaware Bay. Kevin Parker pulled in a 69.2 pound drum he battled on light spinning gear at the Coral Beds. Brandon Jackson brought in a 58.1 pound boomer. Zach Jackson got one weighing 52.5 pounds. Captain Brian’s anglers aboard the “Lil’ Angler II” had good drumming Sunday evening. They returned with four fish, including P.J. Sneeringer’s 73 pounder and a 57 pounder for Tara Wiker. Sophie Gressens came all the way from France to catch her first black drum. She’s an exchange student who celebrated graduation by boating the 50.1 pound citation earner aboard the “Fish Hawk”. A good drum bite developed northeast of Brandywine. Captain Carey had a one person charter there Friday evening aboard the “Grizzly”, and reported that his angler was busy fighting fish the whole time. Wild man Jim Weidman reeled in 14 drum himself during a crazy bite. Jim kept one for the table and released all the others. Wayne Wilson and friends set up east of number 14 Buoy on Saturday afternoon and caught 10 drum weighing up to 70 pounds.
The return of weakfish continues to please Delaware Bay fishermen. Nice trout have been taken by those casting lures around the submerged Roosevelt jetties, the Ferry Wall and Inner Wall. Soft baits such as Gulp!, Bass Assassins and Fin-S-Fish have been effective. Jeff Purdy was tossing a paddletail worm on a red jighead at the Ferry Wall when he connected with a 5.6 pound sea trout. Not to be outdone, Jeff’s dad, Vince Purdy, caught a 5.3 pound weakie and a 1.9 pound speckled trout there the next day. Those fish also fell for the red jighead and purple paddletail combo. Glenn Barrett was reeling in a spot he hooked while fishing from the Cape Henlopen Pier when it was inhaled by a 3.5 pound gray trout.
Other bottom bouncers in the Bay and along Lewes Beach and the ocean surf reported increasing numbers of croakers, kingfish, blowfish and spot. Pieces of bloodworm or Fishbites on small hooks did the trick on the tasty panfish.
Anglers throwing plugs around the Outer Wall at night got into stripers. Stripers in the 18 to 25 inch range were taken from Lewes Canal by those bottom fishing with clams or cut bait.
Until next week, tight lines!
