Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
The waters of Delaware had everyone watching the weather channel to see which way hurricane Debby would go and if we would get a direct hit. Lucky for us she went inshore and died out.
The midweek still had tons of winds and even a few storms. Many anglers sat at the dock mid week waiting for the winds and seas to lay down.
Flounder fishing continues to improve despite the still colder than normal water.
Sea bass are still around but getting harder to find. The surf fishing is still producing a few big reds and rockfish, however, most catches are spot and kingfish.
Nearshore Coral & Wrecks
Many boats stayed at the docks with wind and storm threats. For those that ventured out of the marinas, big flounder were found on the wrecks and coral spots. We saw a huge flounder come to the scales of Hook’ Em and Cook’ Em Tackle. Mr. Michael Harden walked up to the cleaning table with a true doormat. The big fish measured a massive 32 inches with a girth of 27 inches and weighed a whopping 13.2 pounds. This is the biggest flounder I have seen brought in this year. Capturing a fluke over ten pounds is a feat not accomplished by many anglers, but catching one at 13 pounds is virtually unheard of in our waters. Great job Michael, truly a catch of a lifetime!
This week in Delaware is the Flounder Pounder Open and I'm sure all anglers will be looking for this fish's big brother. For those wondering, the state record for flounder is 17.5 lbs. held by William Kendall.
Jun Steve fished the Old Grounds and landed a limit of big flatties along with a couple of keeper sea bass. Dominick Davis fished near B Buoy and caught 2 flounder up to 22 inches.
“Wreck Dog Sportfishing” caught 16 quality fluke while fishing ocean structure near the coral grounds.
Brian Boyt reports the shore line was crowded, so he kicked out 2 miles and found a big overslot rockfish. Brian even had a big shark taking a run at the bait before the rock hit.
“Flip N Fins” was making up for a slow week and fished the inlet and was rewarded with a gem of an over slot rockfish. The fish was returned to swim away unharmed. Jaden Rutt got in on the action of the north jetty catching a nice trout along with a big red drum.
David Sarno reported a good day at Site 11 while fishing the “Captain Bob” out of Indian River.
Back Bays & Inlets
The back bays have been producing some big flounder lately. The main area for fish has been in front of the coast guard station as well as Massey’s Ditch.
Kyle Siler stated that the ditch was on fire last week. He caught over 30 flounder with a 3 man limit. The biggest fish was 22 inches. Later in the week he returned to the ditch and pulled around 15 shorts and a bunch of keepers.
Paul Powalski caught a 23 inch 5.6 pound fluke at Masseys. The fish was checked in at Rick’s Bait and Tackle.
Dave Cheek fished the inlet near the Coast Guard Station and came home with 3 big flatties.
Max Sontag fished live bait from the rocks at the inlet to bring in his two keepers. The fish measured 18 and 20 inches. The fish were checked into Hook ‘Em and Cook ‘Em Tackle on Indian River.
8 year old Owen Sellers checked into Hook’Em and Cook’Em Tackle with a 5.5 pound flounder caught near the Coast Guard Station. Cheering him on was his brother Karson and cousins Kendal and Jaycee Shafranich. Way to go Owen, great catch!
The Lewes Canal has also been giving up some nice fish. Kevin McNelis caught a nice 21 5/8 inch flounder.
John Cessna reports a steady 7-1 ratio of keepers in the Lewes Canal and reports his logs indicate over 100 flounder caught this year. The water temperature in the canal was 74 degrees.
John Spence also fished near Roosevelt Inlet and caught 18 fish along with 2 keepers. John also reports catching 12.5 inch trout along the grass at the canal that hit like a freight train. He said over 160 flounder have been caught so far this year. John always seems to find the fish and make our report. I guess his years of experience has taught him a thing or two.
Robert O’Neal caught a tog as well as a couple sea bass while fishing with Captain Roberto.
Mike Hammer hit the Old Grounds, and with water temps between 67-68 degrees, fishing was tough. They had plenty of bites from small fish but couldn't catch any sea bass. The crew did manage a few keeper flounder though.
Paul Garner fished the DE Bay, and despite a tough bite, he caught a few undersized tog. Bruce Carton fished with Jim Osborne and Sporto Gray near the wall and landed a big sheepshead.
Surf Fishing
Surf fishing was slow with croaker, spot and kingfish making up the average catch.
A few reds and flounder have been caught including Jim Zmiyarch of New York who was fishing South Bethany when he hooked and caught a 27.5 inch, 7 pound flounder. Nick Perrone caught and released an Atlantic angel shark from 3Rs Beach. Jim Scherden had a great day at 3Rs catching 2 big skates and a stingray. Andrew Clayton released a nice ray at Herring Point Beach.
Clams & Crabs
Crabbing remains about the same as previous weeks with averages of 8-13 keepers per pot. The big change this year is the size of the crabs. Our last pot pull produced 54 crabs for a 4 pot string with over 30 being over 6.5 inches and even some over 7 inches.
Clamming is doing well with tons of soup size larger clams close to the sands surface. Smaller clams are hard to find with many areas having been picked over. Finding out of the way areas is the key to these casino size clams.
Until next week...
Tight Lines and Fins Up §
