Article by Larry Jock
The fishing season is really starting to heat up, especially for offshore anglers who are seeing a lot of yellowfin tuna, some bluefins, and now, a few white marlin and blue marlin showing up in their spreads.
Flounder
The Indian River Inlet saw some great flounder fishing for anglers fishing from the shore and by boat. Several fish over 5 lbs. were caught by anglers drifting live spot or the larger, 6-inch Gulp! Alive Swimming Mullet. Anthony Martin caught a nice 25-inch, 6 lb. flounder on live spot in the Indian River Inlet early in the week. Jeff Weidman also caught a 25-incher, with his weighing in at 6 lbs. 2 oz.
The back bays aren’t producing many fish, but anglers are able to snag a few if they put in their time drifting minnows, live spot and Gulp! artificial baits. Paul at Rick’s Bait & Tackle reported bottom bouncers on the “Next” landing 12 keepers, up to 25-inches, while drifting at the mouth of the Indian River Bay.
Flounder fishing on ocean structure has also improved greatly. The best catch we have seen in a long time came in on Saturday, where anglers on the “Katy Did” captured 40 flatties, including 2 that weighed over 9 lbs. The fish were caught at several locations, but Reef Site #10 seemed to produce the best catches. Cut bait, minnows and smelt did the trick. According to Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina, the flounder bite has also been good at the Old Grounds, between “DA” and “DB” Buoys. On Friday, the “Tranquila” returned with 17 nice flounder while fishing near “DA” Buoy.
Striped Bass
Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em said that anglers are still having good luck hooking into striped bass in the Indian River Inlet on both sides of the Coast Guard Station. You have to weed through a lot of short fish to get your keeper. The keeper ratio is probably around 10 percent right now. Those fishing with sand fleas, black bucktails, eels and Storm lures at night are also having good results according to Paul at Rick’s Bait & Tackle.
A few stripers are being caught around the Outer Wall in the Delaware Bay by those pitching live spot and some were also caught by surfcasters throughout the week.
Weakfish
Although they are small, the weakfish catches this year are the best we have seen in a number of years. Tiderunners are being caught in the Indian River Inlet, and at Reef Sites 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the Delaware Bay. Capt. Bruce at Capt. Mac’s Bait and Tackle in Fenwick mentioned that he has seen more trout, albeit small, coming from anglers fishing from the surf, than he has in the last 3 years.
Bluefish
Gators mixed in with some kingfish, are being caught by anglers fishing off the beaches in Delaware. The fish aren’t very big, generally falling between 12 and 18-inches. Capt. Bruce also reported bluefish being caught in The Ditch near Harpoon Hanna’s. Those fish were larger, measuring up to 30-inches.
Sharks
Except for a few sharks being caught around the Fingers and Sausages by those not interested in chasing tuna, sharks are being released in good numbers by anglers fishing from the surf, mainly sandbar, sharpnose, dusky and smooth dog sharks.
Sea Bass
Fishing for sea bass has been fantastic for anglers hitting inshore structure. The keeper ratio is still very low, running around 10%, but there are enough fish being hooked that anglers can bring home their fair share of keepers.
Joe at Lewes Harbour said that ocean structure in 100 to 120 feet of water is starting to reload with sea bass. The “Katy Did” did some wreck hopping in the middle of the week and caught their limit of 225 sea bass on metal jigs that were suspended well above the structure. The area around “DA” Buoy is also producing solid catches of knotheads.
Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em also reported several good trips for anglers fishing aboard the headboat, “Judy V.”.
Offshore
Anglers chasing yellowfin tuna had a very good weekend with fish caught up and down the line. The Wilmington and Baltimore Canyons, in 60-75 fathoms, produced the most action not only for yellowfin tuna, but for white and blue marlin as well. Clouds of birds were seen circling and diving over areas holding bait and fish, setting the target for trollers.
Although there were several bigeye tuna caught in the Washington Canyon by anglers fishing out of Ocean City, we didn’t see any hit the docks in Delaware last week.
Yellowfins are still mainly in the 35-50 lb. class and most boats are able to come home with at least a handful of fish each trip. As is usually the case, trolled ballyhoo and spreader bars are the main weapons of choice, although green machines seemed to do exceptionally well this past weekend.
Bluefin tuna have also shown up in better numbers with most being caught by anglers running in after a day of yellowfin fishing deeper in the canyons. When they hit the 20-30 fathom mark, acres of bluefins have been seen on the surface, enticing boats to launch their spreads again in hopes of picking up a big bluefin.
The largest bluefin we saw last week had the crowd buzzing at Lewes Harbour Marina, when Dave Cook and Sean Herlihy returned with a 162.6 pounder they teamed up on at the 19 Fathom Lump.
Bailer and small gaffer dolphin have also been caught by anglers trolling for yellowfins. We haven’t seen any monster mahi so far this year, but hopefully as the water warms, the larger dolphin will start showing up at the scales.
According to Joe at Lewes Harbour, Marina, “Blue marlin have been unusually abundant in Baltimore Canyon, especially this early in the year, and several blue ones were reported during the week. Several blues and whites were hooked by the fleet on Sunday morning. Dave Popovich battled a large blue marlin, estimated at near 500 pounds for a long time aboard the “Quintessa”, but the fish made a final lunge under the boat and broke off just before the leader could be touched for an official release. “Quintessa” also released a white that same morning.
Until next week, tight lines!
