Article by Larry Jock
Welcome back to another season of fishing in Delaware. The action is off to a slow start but it probably is attributable to the weather more than anything else. We just haven’t strung enough nice days together to get folks excited about bending a rod, but you can feel it in the air. Nice weather and good fishing are right around the corner.
The news that had everyone excited this spring came on April 21st when anglers on the “Reel Life” returned with the first bluefin tuna of the season. The bluefin was caught in 500 fathoms between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons where the trio also released some small yellowfins and skippies during their trip. Throughout the spring, there have been shots of good looking water spinning into the canyons, but unfortunately, rough seas prevented boats from getting out there to capitalize on the opportunity.
We had a good run of chopper bluefish heading up the coast, but at this time, the best action has already moved up into New Jersey. However, good size bluefish are still being caught along the Delaware coast from Fenwick Island up to Herring Point. Whole mullet on mullet rigs are doing the trick, but choppers will snap at almost everything.
Reports have come in about acres and acres of rolling bluefish in 20 fathoms, but the weather has been snotty enough to keep folks from heading out there to get in on the bite. We have seen a few nice gators caught by anglers tossing lures off the South Jetty in the Indian River Inlet where a 12 pounder was caught the other day in addition to several fish weighing over 9 lbs.
The best bluefish action in Delaware looks to be from around the Henlopen Pier. Andrew Stuchlik from Millsboro, DE hooked into a 17.7 pounder while walking the beach near the Pier on Sunday. Quite a few anglers have been having success on the stroll while tossing cut bait or spoons from the sand. Bill at Lewes Harbour Marina did say that the bluefish action around the Pier has only been for an hour or two each day and has not been tide driven.
Surfcasters are also reporting good numbers of nice size puffers, up to 14-inches, being caught on bloodworms.
We haven’t seen the large schools of migrating linesiders heading up our coastline yet, but with reports of fish being caught in the surf off Virginia lately, the historically good spring bite shouldn’t be far off.
Not many stripers have been landed off the rocks in the Indian River Inlet, but there was a 40-incher caught and released on Saturday night. Other than that, short stripers have dominated the action from anglers tossing small plugs and swim shads. The upper reaches of the DE Bay have seen stripers on the move, particularly north of Slaughter Beach.
Tautog fishing has been the savior this spring with nice size fish being caught on various ocean reefs and wrecks. Site 10 has been particularly productive, but again, weather has kept most from getting out there. In the bay, tog are being hooked around the Inner and Outer Walls. Tog season closes on the 11th, so when the weather is nice enough to get out on ocean structure, carpe diem!
A few black drum are being fooled by anglers fishing with clams along the beach from Fenwick Island up to around the bend at Cape Henlopen.
One last note, if you would like to submit a picture for publication in the Coastal Fisherman, all you need to do is email it to [email protected]. Include the anglers name, town, species, length and/or weight, location of the catch and any other information of interest. Because of the way newspapers are laid out, vertical pictures have a better chance of being published and please make sure you send the picture at the highest resolution possible. Usually, when you email a picture it gives you a size option. Always select the largest size possible!
I’m looking forward to the 2016 season. The inshore action of ocean structure keeps getting better and better, so I am expecting to see a lot of big tog, flounder and sea bass coming in from off the rubble.
Until next week, tight lines!
