Article by Larry Jock
Fishing right now is a mixed bag with sub-par action in the bay, very good fishing offshore and so-so on the inshore lumps.
Capt. Bert Adams at the Hook’em & Cook’em Tackle Shop in the Indian River Marina told me that anglers fishing in the Indian River Inlet are really struggling right now to find anything to bend the rod. Hardly any flounder are being hooked in the Inlet and only a few in the back bays. They have seen a few weakfish lately in the Inlet in addition to short stripers near the Coast Guard Station and around the North Jetty. Bert said that he is surprised there aren’t more fish being caught in the Inlet, especially bluefish, since big schools of mullet have been seen moving in and out during the coarse of the week. The stripers have mostly been in the 12-inch range and the largest have measured around 23 to 24-inches. We did see some larger, keeper size linesiders caught in the Ocean City Inlet last weekend, so hopefully that is a sign that they will be showing up around Indian River as well.
In the surf, anglers are finding waves of bluefish in the 13 to 16-inch range, but nothing consistent. The blues are being caught mainly on mullet rigs with fresh mullet (if you can find some). No striped bass have been reported by surfcasters.
Inshore, Bert said that nothing seems to be hitting within the first 7-miles off the beach because the water is still murky from the last storm. Flounder are biting around Site 11 and at the Radford wreck where several boats returned with their limits last weekend. The sea bass bite is picking up with the best action continuing to happen at the DelJerseyLand Reef. This site has been a top producer over the last month. It takes some motoring to get there, being around 23 miles from both the Indian River and Ocean City inlets, but right now it seems like it is worth the trip. Flounder are biting on strips of mahi or flounder belly in addition to Gulp! artificial baits and live minnows or spot. Sea bass like to snap at strips of squid or chunks of clam.
The offshore scene is the bright spot right now with wahoo being caught in both the Poor Man’s and Wilmington Canyons. Trolling lures in the colors of black and purple have always been the top choice for those seeking speedsters.
Yellowfins showed back up in the Wilmington and Washington Canyons. Most boats looking for yellowfins headed to the Wilmington where reports came back of acres of fish seen airing out in 100 fathoms.
Bert said that a couple of swordfish came back last week from anglers on overnight trips to the Washington Canyon. One weighed 81 lbs. but the other was a bruiser that tipped the scale at 190 lbs. gutted.
White marlin were hooked in decent numbers last week by boats trolling ballyhoo in the Wilmington, Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons. Most of the boats came back with 4 to 7 white marlin releases in addition to loads of mahi caught along weed lines or any floating debris.
Since this is the last issue of the season for the Coastal Fisherman, I would like to thank Capt. Bert Adams at Hook’em & Cook’em for his weekly reports. The big Coastal Fisherman Winter Issue will come out on January 1st, so if you have any pictures you would like to submit, you can email them to coastal [email protected].
There should still be plenty of good offshore and wreck fishing action to experience this season, so keep that boat in the water and head out into the Atlantic. Hopefully, we will have a better striper season this fall since last years was absolutely pathetic, although we did see a few 50 pounders caught in December. When water temperatures hit 50-degrees the bite should turn on and the party is over when it falls into the 30’s.
I wish everyone a great fall fishing season. Don’t forget to email you pictures to [email protected].
