Article by Larry Jock
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said ocean fluking continued to be the best in recent memory, but since currents subsided with the waning moon, flounder started cooperating again in the Delaware Bay.
Captain Carey took his Monday group aboard the “Grizzly” to Brown Shoal, where they put together a limit catch from Reef Sites 6 and 7. On Wednesday, Grizzly returned to Sites 6 and 7 for another limit of quality fluke. Five of the keepers were over 5 pounds. On Tuesday, Tom Coyle and his crew joined Captain Brent to put a limit of 32 flatties in the box aboard the “Katydid” while working the Brown Shoal reefs (#6 & #7). Wednesday, Joseph Harwell had a 4.4 pound flounder at Site 7 on the “Indian”. Seth Morgan checked in a pair of keepers he got at the Outer Wall on Thursday using Gulp!
Other bottom bouncers in the Delaware Bay found croakers, spot, kingfish, blowfish and trout around the reef sites. Hardheads have also shown up on the dropoff outside the Outer Wall.
Snapper blues have been prevalent in the rip on the shoal off the north end of the Wall. The presence of choppers feeding on silversides is usually indicated by diving birds picking scraps and wounded baitfish from the surface. Casting bucktails, small spoons or other metal jigs on light tackle is a fun and effective way to hook up with scrappy blues. “Top Fin” Captain Pete Haines took son Rainer to the rip for his first fishing trip this week, and Rainer had a blast catching snapper after snapper.
Jumbo spot to over 10 inches and stout croakers have been inhabiting the Lewes Canal. They’re suckers for a piece of bloodworm or Fishbites.
Stripers also roamed the Canal and Broadkill River. The slot season ends August 31st, and after that, the minimum size for stripers from Delaware Bay and it’s tributaries jumps back up to 28-inches. Rockfish were caught around the drawbridge with eels, clams or peeler crabs. Brian Smith was casting Bass Assassins and surface plugs along the grass banks of the Broadkill on Saturday morning and hooked his two slot bass limit, plus three pretty speckled trout.
Surf action showed a little improvement. Some kingfish were caught along the ocean beaches by anglers using bloodworms. Jeff Sherwood deployed cut mullet at the Navy Crossing below Cape Henlopen to secure his limit of snapper blues on Saturday.
As mentioned earlier, Ocean flounder action has been as good as it gets, and this past week was no different. Sites 10 and 11 still produced plenty of flatfish, and live bottom and structure changes between “DA” and “DB” Buoys gave up numerous fluke as well. On Monday, Joe and Dave Walker, Robert Karpovich, Tony Vansant and Tom Coyle put together their limit of chunky founder weighing up to 6.77 pounds at Site 10. Also on Monday, Bob Fitzwater and his crew brought in a 20 fish limit from the Old Grounds. Josh and Fischer Edmonson drifted Old Grounds structure on Thursday for their 8 keeper flatties plus 5 big triggerfish and some sea bass. Bob Horton, Drew Messick and Jack Henriksen fished the Old Grounds on Friday for their 12 keepers, including a 5.4 pounder for Drew and Jack’s 6 pound specimen. Several of the rest were over 4 pounds. Earlier in the week, Jack landed a surprise 12.5 pound dolphin that grabbed a flounder rig he was winding back to the boat. Otto Evans was drifting squid on a pink Aqua Clear rig between “DA” and “DB” Buoys on Friday when he hooked a 7.58 pound citation doormat.
Offshore, tuna remained scarce, but the billfish bite is shaping up. Billy Hein and the boys aboard the “Stacey” trolled the Baltimore Thursday and released 6 whites and a blue marlin. Clean, blue water was reported from 20 to 30 fathoms, and boats working that region had decent sized dolphin among scattered weeds. Captain Les on the “Martha Marie” fished between Site 11 and the 20 fathom line on Saturday, not venturing farther out because of rough seas. The area produced a 50 pound wahoo for Ryan Graver. The wahoo hammered a deep trolled ballyhoo with a blue and silver skirt. Mike Johnson, Rodney Gilbert and Jim Valentine put a pair of gaffer dolphin and some false albacore in the box to round out a good inshore trolling trip, despite crappy conditions.
Further south at the Hook’em & Cook’em Tackle shop in the Indian River Marina, Capt. Bert Adams reported slow conditions for most anglers due to the northeast blow we had over the weekend. Anglers fishing in the Indian River Inlet are finding a lot of small bluefish with some 3 to 5 pounders mixed in. Those looking for striped bass and flounder are mainly finding fish too short to keep.
Inshore headboats were having a good week right up to the windy weekend. Flounder were really snapping on ocean structure. Bert asked me to remind everyone that the headboats will be running two 1/2-day trips during the week (8am-12pm and 1pm-5pm) with full-day trips on the weekend.
Offshore boats returned with white marlin releases from the Wilmington and Baltimore Canyon, with the Poor Man’s heating up on Saturday. Tuna fishing has been slow but the “Fish Whistle” did catch a pair of bigeyes on Thursday night, around 6pm, during an overnight trip to the Baltimore Canyon.
Until next week, tight lines!
