Article by Larry Jock
There was a lot of excitement at the scales over the long July 4th weekend, especially from offshore anglers who slayed big bluefins, bigeyes, yellowfins and dolphin. Now, if can only keep the nice weather around...
At Hook’em and Cook’em in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams said that they saw a lot of different species of fish being caught in the Indian River Inlet, but almost everybody could only muster up a few fish per trip. Anglers were able to hook into some nice size flounder, black drum, a few red drum, stripers and they even saw some triggerfish move in. Strangely, water temperatures dropped mid-week, down to the high 50’s, and brought with it some dense fog and unusual fishing conditions.
Stripers were caught on live spot by boat anglers next to the Coast Guard Wall. Flounder fishermen saw good numbers of flatties caught, especially by those using the 6-inch, “Pink Shine” Gulp! Minnow.
Headboats out of Indian River found an inconsistent flounder and sea bass bite. Anglers really had to weed through a lot of short flounder to get their keeper. On one trip, Bert said that anglers boated 40 flounder, but only 14 were large enough to keep. The good news is that when they struggled with finding flounder and sea bass, headboats were able to catch small, but plentiful croakers.
Capt. Bruce McGuigan at Capt. Mac’s High Performance Tackle in Fenwick reported that the cold water in the surf, where water temperatures heading into the weekend were a frigid 59-degrees, didn’t hamper surfcasters looking for panfish such as kingfish, spot, croakers and weakfish. Those using Fishbites bloodworms seemed to outperform others.
The Ditch continues to surrender good numbers of black drum and some speckled trout, weakfish and a lot of short stripers.
Flounder fishing in the bay has been spotty, due mainly to poor water conditions. But those that busted the inlet and visited inshore wrecks and hills found plenty of flatties. The best results came from anglers jigging 4 oz. Spro bucktails tipped with squid.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said bruiser bluefins came from twenty fathom structure. Crews trolling spreader bars and skirted ballyhoos at the Hot Dog, Hambone and Chicken Bone connected with some nice tuna. Bill Swords and his buddies aboard “Swords Fish” hit the northeast corner of the Dog early Thursday morning, and before the third line was in the water, they were hooked up. After a lengthy tug of war, they boated the 135 pounder that had inhaled a pink and white Joe Shute Lantern and ballyhoo combo. The next day, the guys were back at the same spot for a repeat performance. Before all the lines were deployed, a trio of big fish crashed the spread, and one came tight, again on the pink and white. Andrew Earl kept pressure on the tuna for nearly 4 ½ hours before the boys could put the brute aboard. The bluefin measured 72-inches, and weighed in at 200.1 pounds.
On Sunday, anglers trolled the Hot Dog aboard the “Katydid” and put a 75.2 pound bluefin in the box, and released 2 other big fish before giving up on their under 47 incher. Tom Richardson reeled in an 11.8 pound mahi at the Dog on that trip. Other offshore boats had yellowfins, bigeyes, dolphin and a few billfish in Poor Man’s and at the 800 Square of the Washington Canyon.
Deep water bottom bouncing continued to produce golden and blueline tilefish. Brandon Brown brought in a 37.3 pound golden he pulled from the depths of Poor Man’s aboard “Swords Fish”.
Inshore bottom fishermen experienced pretty good flounder action on the Old Grounds between “DB” and “DA” Buoys and at Reef Sites 9 and 10. Flukers aboard “Katydid” had a great trip Friday, returning with 32 keepers to 6.75 pounds. On Saturday, Captain Brent’s anglers on “Katydid” put together a limit of 28 quality flatties, including a 6.1 pounder. John Yoder worked the Old Grounds with Captain Ricky Yakimowicz for his limit of fine flatfish. Ball jigs with 6-inch Gulp! Swimming Mullets were the ticket for John’s take that included fluke weighing 5.17 and 5.5 pounds. Steve Kiibler captured a 6.04 pound doormat from the Old Grounds aboard “Lil’ Angler II”. Tony Vansant took home a 6.15 pound specimen from Site 10.
In the Delaware Bay, boaters reported the bite improving for reef site flounder. Minnows, shiners, smelts, squid or Gulp! tipped bucktails bounced over the rubble of Sites 5, 6, 7 and 8 yielded flatties. Panfish remain plentiful on Sites 5 and 8, and on live bottom of The Shears. The mix includes croakers, spot, blowfish, spike trout and kingfish. They all responded to bloodworms, clams, small squid strips or Fishbites. Many kings have been decent sized. Samuel Key kept a 1.02 pound citation kingfish he caught on the Fish Hawk. Christopher Hurd had a 1 pound kingfish that earned him a citation on the “Lil’ Angler II”.
With the progression of summer, some exotics such as triggerfish and spadefish have shown up in the Bay. Captain Ted told of a cobia caught on the Pirate King Sunday. Eighty four year old Wilbert “Bud” Posey from Red Lion, PA hooked a 7.61 pounder on a piece of clam.
A few black drum are still hanging around. Tim O’Connell was surprised when something heavy struck the pink bucktail he was casting while using light spinning gear for trout along the Outer Wall. Three hours later, he put a 65.6 pound drum in the boat.
Flounder just keep coming from the Lewes Canal and Broadkill River. Karen Revis reeled in a pair of 20 inchers from the Broadkill. Fred Robinson tempted a 4.3 pound flattie and two other keepers from the Canal using pink Gulp! Swimming Mullets. Kenny Dear captured a 5.48 pound fluke in the Canal with a minnow.
Shorebound anglers at Roosevelt Inlet got into croakers, spot, trout, flounder and slot stripers. Those fishing from Lewes Beach found the same lineup.
Fishermen targeting rockfish in Lewes Canal found slot size linesiders concentrated between the Drawbridge and Train Bridge. Live eels, clams, swimming plugs and soft plastics drew strikes from stripers.
Until next week, tight lines!
