Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks! The back bays are still full of croakers and are providing anglers with almost constant action. Bloodworms are probably the number one bait of choice, but the Gulp! swimming mullet in white or chartreuse also works great. The size of the Gulp! is basically too large as is, so the best thing to do is cut it into small pieces and bait your hook. A size #6 hook is a good one to use. These fish will provide you with plenty of action, and if you can catch a few in the 14-inch range, they make for great table fare.
Flounder action in the back bays is fair to good, but finding keeper-sized fish has been the biggest hurdle. Try to find the deeper holes and you will usually catch larger fish.
Inshore fishing has been getting better at Site #10 and the DB Buoy areas along with the Old Grounds. All three areas have provided some very nice flounder. Sea bass are still plentiful, but finding nice-sized fish has been tough. Once again, the Gulp! products have worked very well. To catch larger flounder, use larger pieces of bait.
Offshore action is still spotty with a few tuna and dolphin being taken at Massey’s Canyon and the 19-Fathom Lump. The Hot Dog, Hambone and Chicken Bone areas have also produced some fish.
Near the Delaware Lightship, Greg Smith on the “Fired Up” had Brandon Smith on a trolling expedition where Brandon hooked into a 40-inch barracuda. Roy Rea on the “Out-Rea-Geous” fished between 90 and 200 fathoms in the Baltimore Canyon to score 8 nice dolphin and 2 white marlin releases. Roy then fished the east wall of the Elephant Trunk to boat a 123 lb. bluefin and release another white marlin. Capt. Bob Smallwood on the “Dana Lynn” took angler Trevor West to Massey’s Canyon where Trevor boated a 50 lb. bluefin tuna. They later moved to the west wall of the Baltimore Canyon and went 5 for 8 on gaffer dolphin. Trevor’s tuna was his first, Blake Hershelman got his first dolphin and Matt Magee released his first white marlin.
Some of the inshore catches included Larry Range’s flounder ranging between 27 and 20-inches on the “Silver Bullet” using cut bait at the DB Buoy. Five-year-old J.J. Klosiewicz of Georgetown fished Site #10 with his father Tommy and his uncle Paul on the “Sea Hawg”, where they all got their limit of flounder to 6 lbs. 10 oz. Bobby Haas, Greg Haas and Mike Binder of Boyertown fished east of Site #11 where Bobby used a bucktail to fool a 22 lb. cobia. Tom Breen, Keith Barnhart and Ian Barnhart fished the Old Grounds to boat 5 flounder to 5 lbs. 9 oz. using Gulp!, squid and cut bait. Elliot Cardano fished the DB Buoy on the “Sea Dation” with Steve Cardano to score a citation flounder of 8 lbs. 14 oz.
At Hook‘em & Cook‘em Bait & Tackle, Bert reported plenty of dolphin action offshore. The “Boy’s Toy” weighed in a 60 lb. yellowfin. The “Out of Bounds” reported two blue marlin releases and some big bluefin.
Those soaking bait from the surf are scoring on croakers, kingfish, spot and blues, while a few anglers are catching sharks at night. Stripers, blues, flounder and croakers can be found in the Indian River Inlet. Dwayne Douglas caught two sheepshead of 12 and 8 lbs. on sand fleas, as well as a few drum and tog.
Dan at Henlopen Bait & Tackle mentioned that the good ole’ croakers can be found almost anywhere. The flounder action has mostly been on the Reefsites. The larger flounder are there, and if anglers are willing to give up some rigs they will score nice fish.
From Bill’s Sport Shop in Lewes, we got reports of good fishing in the area. Cary Rutherford was fishing with Harry Lewis at the Ferry Wall and nailed a 6 lb. flounder on a Gulp!. Michelle Lightcap used a Gulp! chartreuse swimming mullet while fishing in the Lewes Canal and landed a 21-inch flounder. Roger and Michelle Gross went to the B Buoy on their boat the "Hot Rod" and caught keeper flounder up to 23-inches along with some sea bass using squid and minnow sandwiches. Pam Dierolf caught 19 and 21-inch flatties at Massey's Ditch using minnows and pearl white Gulp! baits. Short stripers have been reported hitting plugs in the Indian River Inlet. Chuck Nagel of Bill's Sport Shop has been fishing Massey's on his time off and has caught 20 and 22-inch flounder. Sheepshead, tog and croaker have also come over the railing.
Matt Morris and friends trolled from the Hot Dog to the Baltimore Canyon on their boat, the "Called in Sick", and released a blue marlin estimated to be between 400 and 500 lbs. and had another blue marlin break off. They also hooked a white marlin and released a mako. The anglers ended up with a 40 lb. wahoo and 5 dolphin to 20 lbs. in the box. Trey Parker and crew on the "Playing Hookie" tagged and released a 78-inch white marlin at the Sausages and also had one bluefin tuna over 47-inches. They fished the Hot Dog and boated 5 gaffer dolphin and 2 bulls. Kenny G., Dave Majors, Bill Bishop, Bill Bishop Jr., Ron Moretti and CJ Sumser were fishing on the "Just Right IV" and trolled up 4 dolphin weighing up to 23 lbs. at the Tea Cup.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said flounder action was hot over the weekend. With good drift conditions on Saturday, boaters were able to effectively work structure, and bay reef sites gave up numerous flatfish. Sites #6 and 7 at Brown Shoal were popular, but flatties came from the #8 Star Site as well. Even though the majority of efforts were directed towards the artificial reefs, the open bottom produced fluke too. Captain Carey on the “Grizzly” ended up with 10 keepers while drifting near the A Buoy on Saturday. Joe Walker and his sons Joe and Michael caught their limit on structure at Brown Shoal and were back at the dock well before lunchtime. Joe Sr. showed the boys he’s still got it by decking a 7.72 lb. citation winner. Captain Chet’s group on the “Lil’ Angler II” had 19 keepers up to 6.2 lbs. while rubble hopping. Ron Rowles landed a 5.95 lb. flattie that was one of 11 brought back on the “Skipjack”. Captain Pete’s guys on the “Top Fin” landed 19 keeper fluke this past Friday. The “Martha Marie” returned with a dozen nice flounder, while Wade Bondrowski checked in a 5.95 lb. fluke he pulled off reef site #6. West Sarver scored a whopping 8.5 lb. doormat at Site #7.
Anglers reported success using a variety of baits including squid, minnows, shiners and smelts. Fresh cut strips of spot and bluefish were particularly effective. In addition to good fishing in the bay, ocean fluking was quite productive. Reef site #10 yielded flatties, as did bottom contours between the DB and DA Buoys. Flounder came from site #11 as well. Bouncing two to four oz. Spro Jigs along the bottom resulted in the downfall of many flatfish. Sweetening the lures with cut spot, smelt, sand eels or Gulp! Belly Strips was the key for turning on fluke. Croaker catches were very good in the Delaware Bay. Small hardheads were found just about anywhere, but larger croakers congregated around the concrete rubble of the Broadkill Slough Reef #5. Shore bound anglers got in on the croaker bite also, with fish taken from the Roosevelt Inlet and on the Cape Henlopen pier. Clams, bloodworms and Fishbites were favorite baits. Spot have become plentiful around the pier, in the Lewes Canal and in the Broadkill River. Fishbites and bloodworms also worked well for spot. Tuna were scarce this past week, but a few fish were reported between twenty and forty fathoms. Crews had a scattered pick on yellowfins between the Hot Dog and the Baltimore Canyon. Angelo and Anna Delapo, along with Arnold Azamar and Michael Davidson, teamed up for a great trolling trip outside the Tea Cup. They had bluefins of 136.5 and 70 lbs., and had 4 gaffer dolphin aboard the “Spoiled III”.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
