Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks. The striper activity in the Indian River Inlet has certainly slowed but has not stopped. Some nice fish are still being caught at the end of the incoming tide. Live eels, bucktails with white worms and Storm or Tsunami lures are still doing the trick. Bluefish and shad are also providing plenty of angling entertainment.
In the back bays, flounder fishing has surely slowed in numbers and size. Lack of cooperation could be due to tons of boat traffic or may be just a normal lull on their part. I am sure the flounder fishing will pick up and give us plenty of action in the coming weeks.
Sea bass fishing has not been as good as I thought it would be after the season re-opened. Some nice fish are being caught at Site #11 and other structures.
In the surf, anglers are hooking into kingfish, bluefish, stripers and flounder.
According to Capt. Bruce McGuigan at Capt. Mac’s High Performance Tackle in Fenwick, there is a mixed bag coming from the surf. Stripers, black drum, and bluefish, along with plenty of sharks and skates have been keeping anglers busy. Clams seem to be the hot bait and Bruce has had stripers measuring up to 36 inches brought into the shop. Anglers fishing in the bay have been catching flounder and 1 to 4 lb. bluefish. The offshore tuna bite is starting to pick up with yellowfin and bluefin tuna taken on the troll. Two makos were brought in from the Fingers in addition to a thresher.
Capt. Bill at Bill’s Sport Shop reported the following notable catches in the Indian River Inlet: Gus Nikolaou from Rehoboth Beach used a saltwater fly to catch his limit of stripers measuring up to 40-inches. Dominic Coviello of Lewes captured a 44-inch striper on a Storm lure. Merrill Pusey of Lewes nabbed a 35.15-pound striper using a Storm lure, likewise for Kent Brittingham’s 40-incher.
Elsewhere, Grant Gano of Frankford, De. nailed a 64.40 lb. black drum while fishing with clams in the Delaware Bay. Jeff Bowers caught a 25.5-inch, 6.4 lb. flounder on a minnow from the Cape Henlopen Pier. Anglers are also catching keeper flatties on white and chartreuse Gulp! artificial baits as well.
The current standings in Bill’s Flounder Tournament are:
1st - Scott Bucka 4.10 lbs.
2nd - Oak Thompson 3.50 lbs.
3rd - Mike Bott 3.24 lbs.
At Hook’em and Cook’em Bait and Tackle in North Shore Marina, Deanna said, that although the rockfish bite has slowed it has not disappeared. The fish are on the smaller size and there are few of them, but anglers are still catching them from the rocks and from boats. Storm or Tsunami Lures, white bucktails with white worms, live eels, live bunker or herring are all doing the trick. With less of the "SLOB" stripers in the inlet, it has made way for the bluefish to start showing up. Most of these fish are in the 2-5 lb. range and are also mainly being caught on bucktails, but Hopkins or Kastmaster lures are producing also. Remember to use some steel leader on those rigs.
The flounder bite seems to have slowed down a little bit. You will still find some being caught in the Indian River Bay and around by the VFW Slough. You will have to work for them using minnows and squid, herring or Gulp baits.
The surf also seems to be a slow pick with some stripers still being caught.
With the return of black sea bass season, boats are heading out to the wrecks in good numbers. Anglers on the “Judy V” have had some good days. Chris Adams had a nice catch of sea bass along with a 7 lb pollock. Others are going home with anywhere from 5-10 fish per person.
Now that the sea bass have shown up there are some guys trying their hand at shark fishing. Jimmy Bunting and David Long caught a 135 lb. Thresher shark out at “B” Buoy.
There have been some successful offshore trips to the canyons recently. Last Sunday, Scott Stapleford and Jimmy Hughes went to the Baltimore Canyon and came back with a 52.9 lb bluefin tuna caught using ballyhoo.
A 75.2 lb bluefin was caught by the crew of the “Reel Life”while fishing on the 100-fathom line, halfway between the Poor Man's and the Washington Canyon. They hooked the bluefin on a blue and white Ilander/ ballyhoo combination. The "Liquid Handler" went all the way to the Lindenkohl and brought back the first wahoo of the season. Phil and Evan Falgowski brought in the first yellowfin of the season. They were fishing with Mark Stephens and Charlie Horning out at the Wilmington Canyon and caught these 35 and 37 lb tunas using skirted ballyhoo.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said sea bass action was pretty good since the season opener on May 22nd. Most crews concentrated on the rubble of Reef Site 11, but bass also came from numerous wrecks in 80 to 120 foot depths. Anglers had to weed through lots of short fish, but usually ended up with decent numbers of keepers. Some sizeable knotheads were checked in. The most impressive was a 5.62 pounder landed by Hobby Isaacs. James Rodek reeled in a 3.8 pounder. Captain Brent’s bassers aboard the “Katy Did” enjoyed fine fishing, returning with a boat limit on Sunday, and good catches throughout the week. Among the bass were several nice cod, and it’s great to see them making such a comeback. Sea bass should spread out onto open bottom between “DB” and “DA” Buoys and the Old Grounds soon.
No word of an ocean or bay flounder bite yet, but plenty of flatties continued to come from the Lewes Canal and shallow water near Lewes Beach and around the Cape Henlopen Pier. Minnows, shiners and Gulp! artificials were the most productive offerings.
The Coral Beds off Slaughter Beach gave up black drum during the week. Kili Gomez got a 67.8 lb. boomer on the “Joint Venture”. Matt Bailey boated a 66.7 lb. drum and Bill Grieser decked a 61-pound drum aboard the “Martha Marie”.
Surf fishermen along Broadkill Beach had smaller drum in the 15 to 35 lb. range, along with some stripers and the first few croakers. Stripers were also caught by anglers using cut bunker at Roosevelt Inlet. Ocean trollers told of bluefish on traditional structure. Lex Robertson fished outside Delaware Light with Doc Peoples on the “Spectacle” and put several slammers in the box near the Twelve Fathom Lump. Big blues were also found at the Jackspot, Massey’s Canyon, the Hambone and throughout the Fingers. Bluefin tuna and a few yellowfins were hooked by boats trolling temperature changes in 50 to 100 fathoms between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe !
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
