Article by Larry Jock
A string of good weather allowed anglers to get out on the water on consecutive days and return with nice catches.
Offshore action dominated the Delaware fishing scene with big makos and numerous yellowfin tuna hitting the scales.
Sharks
There was a lot of activity on the docks in Lewes with anglers returning with nice size sharks. According to Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina, Alex McClure brought in the largest mako of the season with a 221.5 pounder caught on a mackerel fillet at Massey’s Canyon. Mako’s were also caught at the “Jenny Lynn” wreck, the Hambone, near the Sausages and at the Triple Wrecks.
Also in the mix were blue sharks, brown sharks and blue whalers.
Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em at the Indian River Marina said that tuna fishing was so good, not many boats out of the marina went searching for sharks this past weekend. They did have a 197 lb. mako weighed in that was caught at the Hambone.
Tuna
The yellowfin tuna bite was excellent over the weekend with most of the bites coming from the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons. The best day was on Saturday when several boats returned to the dock with their limit just after 12:00 noon.
On Friday, most boats headed to the Washington Canyon but moved north into 60 to 75 fathoms in the Poor Man’s and Baltimore Canyons on Saturday, where boats averaged between 5 and 8 yellowfins. According to Bert, the boats that fished a little further north in the Baltimore and in the Wilmington Canyon on Saturday did slightly better, averaging 7 to 14 yellowfins for the trip.
Sunday saw the action remain in the Baltimore Canyon, although the bite was definitely slower, moving west into 75 to 100 fathoms.
With everyone looking for yellowfins, bluefins have been few and far between at the scales. On Saturday, the “Big Herring” was fishing between Massey’s Canyon and the northeast corner of the Dumpsite where they ran across a couple of acres of feeding bluefins. They were able to put a 40 pounder in the box and released several others that they hooked on trolled cedar plugs.
Flounder
Paul Ferenczi at Rick’s Bait & Tackle reported that Massey’s Ditch is giving up some nice catches of flounder. Dennis Stetz and Jimmy Pyle from Long Neck had a good day on Wednesday in Masseys Ditch where they caught four keepers up to 19 1/2 inches. The following day, Dennis returned to the same location and caught another 3 keepers out of the 10 he hooked. His largest was a 25-incher that weighed in at 6 lbs.
Joe at Lewes Harbour Marina said that flatties were also found at the Old Grounds between “DB” and “DA” Buoys, in addition to around Delaware Bay structure at Reef Sites 5, 6, 7 and 8.
There was also a good flounder bite in the Indian River Inlet on Sunday for anglers fishing with live spot. Actually, every day except Wednesday saw good flounder fishing in the Inlet, especially for anglers fishing off the rocks.
The top baits for the week were squid strips, minnows, shiners, live spot and the Gulp! Alive Swimming Mullet.
Striped Bass
The best striper bite continues to occur during the early morning hours and at night. Those fishing in the Indian River Inlet near the Coast Guard Station did well at night with live eels, bucktails tipped with curly tails and Storm lures.
Black Drum & Sheepshead
Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em said that anglers fishing at the end of the North Jetty in the Indian River Inlet have been catching black drum and sheepshead. Black drum are being caught mainly at night by anglers using peeler crabs for bait. Those catching sheepshead are doing so with sand fleas.
Bluefish
We still aren’t seeing many big bluefish being caught. A few were landed in the Indian River Inlet by anglers tossing metal lures during the incoming tide.
Croaker
According to Joe Morris, the first croaker of the season was caught in the Delaware Bay by Frank Thomas while fishing on the “Angler”
Sea Bass
Although the catch numbers are pretty high, anglers fishing on ocean wrecks and reefs are finding an incredibly high throwback percentage. Sea bass were found on the Old Grounds between Buoys “DB” and “DA”. The keeper ratio around “DB” Buoy was only around 1 out of 10 with a slightly better percentage coming in around “DA” Buoy.
From the Surf
The beach has been pretty dead with the occasional striper showing up to get everyone excited.
Most surfcasters are getting into sharks, rays, skates, bluefish and kingfish.
Until next week, tight lines.
