Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
What a difference a week makes! Last week fishing was slow and the water was cold and dirty this week the 80 degree temps at the end of last week warmed our waters up nicely and the fish reacted to it. Flounder this week saw a surge in both fish and keepers. Lewes Canal was the hotspot this week with several nice keepers being caught. Back bays are producing a few fish but nothing consistent yet.
The big catch this week is black drum. As the drum come into Delaware Bay to spawn, many big fish are caught each year. Joanne and Maurice Miskovitz caught a nice black drum weighing 77.5 lbs. weighed in at Lewes Harbour Marina.Kevin and Hunter Hine boasted 30 and 50 pounders while fishing aboard the Strike Zone charter boat with Captain Chris. Captain Mark took out Hunter Bluto from Millsboro on the Savannah Lynn and caught a nice 30 lb. drum on clams. Slaughter Beach got Joe Calvert a 23.3 lb. drum also caught on clam. This is the time of year to catch a trophy drum so get some fresh sand fleas, clam or crabs and get out and catch some. Lewes Harbour reports they have fresh sand fleas and peeler crab as well as frozen bait. Tog this week has also been pretty good. I spoke with the crew of the Judy V at Indian River who reported on one trip they had 8 anglers and ended up with 20+ keepers on the inshore wrecks. Clam and peeler crabs seem to be the hot baits. Al Manning was on the Go Fish and caught a 8.26 lb. tog on green crab. Tog fishing should remain strong for the next couple of weeks until the water warms up. The shallow wrecks and areas near A buoy are the top producer. Most tackle shops have green crabs as well as clams.
I received a few reports of sea bass being caught on the wrecks while fishing for tog. Sea bass season opens on the 15th of May with a creel limit of 15 at 12.5”. Be advised the 15th is next Saturday so expect the wrecks to be very crowded with anglers looking to fill a cooler. This week also saw a surge in bluefish catches. Several slammer bluefish were caught on near shore wrecks on both cut bait as well as clams and squid. Indian River reported a nice blitz of bluefish on Wednesday evening along the wall of the Coast Guard station. Many fish were taken on top water plugs. Although many do not consider bluefish a good eating fish they are a blast to catch. Bluefish are hard fighters and will slam a top water plug.
Along with bluefish, stripers have also been showing up. I know of several anglers trolling along the rips of the Delaware Bay entrance, but reports were that few keepers were being caught. Unlike the bay areas, the Delaware ocean is still one striped bass at a size of 28”-35”. All other fish must be released. Several school fish are being caught in the surf with an occasional keeper. Surf clam is the bait of choice, however, I have reports from Rich King of Delaware Surf Fishing that sand fleas are also landing a lot of fish. Sand fleas are hard to come by this year. Rich reports many of the blitzes came on the usual spots such as the point, 3Rs, Key Box and Inlet areas.
Blowfish and small blues are being caught in the surf along with a random flounder. Spiny dogfish are also showing up both in the surf as well as on the wrecks. Not many other reports of sharks have been received. The cooler water this year may be delaying the return of our inshore sharks. The arrival of bluefish is a good sign that sharks will be close behind.
Crabbing, which started out slow, has really begun to turn on. A week ago I was averaging about 5-7 keepers per pot. This week I averaged 10-13 crabs per pot on a three day soak. Baiting half my pots with chicken and half with bunker showed that bunker will produce much better pots. This week also brought our first sponge crabs of the year. Sponge crabs with the orange egg sacks must be returned to the water unharmed. These crabs are the breeding stock and future of the fishery so take care when returning them to water. The area of Vines Creek and the power plant were the top areas. The upper Assawoman Bay by Fenwick has also started to produce some nice crabs.
As for clams I have a few reports of clams being caught from the Rehoboth Bay as well as the area of Holts Landing. The clams are reported as very deep and require a lot of work to get your dinner. As things continue to heat up so should the fishing, so get out and enjoy the outdoors and maybe catch a nice dinner!
Tight Lines and Fins Up!
