Article by Larry Jock
Like this time every year, it was a crazy week with marina activity centered around the White Marlin Open and offshore boats in search of billfish, bigeyes and yellowfins. Congratulations go out to the “Ocean Dan-Sar” for their 1st place finish in the Small Boat Calcutta with their 148.5 lb. bigeye tuna caught by John Coleman. The anglers took home a check in the amount of $46,060 for their catch.
At Hook’em & Cook’em in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams said that not much has changed over the past few weeks. The Indian River Inlet continues to be as unpredictable as the weather. One day the flounder are snapping, the next you will find trout and then bluefish on the following day. There is just no rhyme or reason to it.
Bluefish continue to move in and out of the Inlet. We aren’t talking big fish, since they are mostly in the 3 to 4 lb. range. Anglers drifting bucktails or anything metal had good luck catching these snappers.
On Wednesday, anglers fishing both the north and the south sides of the Inlet tied into some weakfish while tossing nuclear chicken Bass Assassins and Tsunami lures.
Flounder fishing continues to be decent with the best spot being in front of the Coast Guard Station. White Gulp! Swimming Mullets in the new, 5-inch size has worked the best, and if you can get some small, live spot or mullet you could really be in for some action. If the baitfish are too large, which many are complaining that they are, just fillet them up. Also, don’t waste the white belly on your flounder. Strips of flounder belly and dolphin belly are a favorite of many excellent flounder fishermen. Bert said that there really hasn’t been a “best” tide; all you need is some moving water (but not ripping).
Fishing at night in the Inlet has been spotty, but dedicated anglers have been able to catch a few stripers and bluefish along the rocks.
The back bays by Massey’s Ditch has produced some small croakers and a couple of flounder.
On Sunday afternoon, anglers on the head boat, “Judy V.” had a good trip for anglers looking for flounder on ocean structure, and the tackle shop had a 9.8 lb. flattie come in from the Old Grounds. Site 11 has also been a hot spot all summer. Many will tell you they were at Site 10, but chances are, if they had a nice catch, they were probably around Site 11.
Surfcasters are still finding kingfish, spot and croakers during the day and stingrays, skates and sharks at night.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said that Delaware Bay reefs yielded flounder last week when conditions were right. With hard running currents or strong breezes causing fast drifts, some boaters anchored to present baits properly among reef structure. Walking a bucktail tipped with Gulp! artificial baits or squid and smelts on a short leadered bottom rig over rubble resulted in some pretty good catches. Captain Vince hosted Bill and Charlotte Hughes for some reef fishing at Sites 6 and 7 Thursday aboard “Miss Kirstin”. They limited out on both flounder and trout by drifting squid and minnows. Captain Brent worked Sites 6 and 7 at Brown Shoal on Friday on the “Katydid”. His flukers put 23 keepers in the box. Brent went back to the same area on Saturday, where he found conditions a little difficult in the morning, but his group managed 7 nice keepers, plus some legal trout. Brent went back out for an afternoon run and returned with 13 flatties. Brian Logue brought in a 6.57 pound flattie he bucktailed off Site 7 on Sunday.
Flounder are still being caught in both the Roosevelt Inlet and in the Lewes Canal. Chris and Mala Teeter checked in with three good keepers from the Canal on Saturday. Mala’s largest was 22 inches, and fell for her favorite pink Gulp!.
The Canal was also home to numerous spot, many the size of your hand. They’re suckers for a bit of bloodworm or a piece of Fishbites on a small hook.
Stripers were in the Canal as well, feeding on spot, silversides and other baitfish. Anglers connected with slot rockfish while drifting pencil eels and live or cut spot around the Drawbridge.
Croakers seem to be just about everywhere. Hardheads were caught in the Canal, along Lewes and Broadkill Beaches, around the rock Walls and on the artificial reefs. Most were in the 8 to 10-inch range, but bigger ones have mixed in recently. Some of the nicest croakers of 12 plus inches were taken near the Ferry Jetty or by anchoring right amongst the thickest reef junk at Sites 5 and 8. The headboats have been cashing in on the abundance of hardheads, and patrons end up with a good mess of tasty panfish to take home.
Sizeable kingfish have also been plentiful. Alice Harness had a 1.43 pound citation king, Audra Babb bagged a 1.17 pounder, Joseph Hacay got one weighing 1.16 pounds and Eric Thompson took a 1.09 pound kingfish aboard the “Angler”.
Triggerfish hung out on hard structure such as wrecks, reefs, the Outer Wall and the Ice Breakers. Sandfleas, shrimp, pieces of clam or a small chunk of pink Gulp! were the offerings of choice for triggers.
Sheepshead favored the same haunts as triggers. Evan Falgowski weighed in a 6.4 pound sheepshead he pulled from the Wall. Alex Joseph was surprised when he hooked a 67.2 pound black drum while drifting a strip of squid near the Haystacks.
Ocean bottom fishermen found flounder on the Old Grounds between “DB” and “DA” Buoys as well as at Reef Site 11. Sea bass and croakers hung out with the flatfish. Captain Brent fished ocean structure on Sunday aboard the “Katydid” for a catch of 18 real pretty flounder, including specimens of 6.1 and 6.9 pounds, plus an 8.4 pound doormat for Jason Lhamon. The “Quintessa” drifted Site 10 on Sunday for 10 keepers, including Ethan Snyder’s 7.19 pound citation winner.
Deep water bottom dropping was productive. Captain Chris and the boys on “Quintessa” dropped in the Wilmington Canyon on Tuesday for 6 golden tilefish between 20 and 35 pounds. Wednesday’s fishing aboard “Quintessa” resulted in 15 quality blueline tile to over 15 pounds. Captains Brent and Dave ran “Katydid” to the Wilmington on Tuesday, where their group landed a yellowfin, and filled the hold with quite an impressive catch of tilefish.
This time of year is a busy stretch for tournaments. After last week’s White Marlin Open, we now head into the Poor Girls Open at Bahia Marina in Ocean City. This is the largest women’s billfish tournament in the world and is a great time for participants and spectators. Weigh-ins are Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 4:00 PM to 7:30 PM.
Right after the Poor Girls is the Mid-Atlantic $500,000 which is held in Cape May, NJ and locally at Sunset Marina. This tournament, like the White Marlin Open, is a 5-day event with weigh-ins from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM each night. Since the tournament started allowing boats to fish out of Sunset Marina, the number of local boats participating has grown each year, and the last couple of years has seen them win over 90% of the money, so if the trend continues you should see some good action at the Sunset Marina scale.
Until next week, tight lines!
