Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Last week in Delaware the wind blew out of the west most of the week and storms both north and south of us charged up on many evenings. This has turned over our ocean water making it dirty and a lot cooler. The surface temperature has dropped almost ten degrees back in the upper 50s. The change in water temps has really shut fishing down. Flounder can still be found on the reefs however, they are far less anxious to bite a hook.
Captain Chris on the “Judy V” reports they dropped a temperature gauge down to the bottom and found the water close to 50 degrees. With a surface temperature of 57-61 degrees and a cold bottom temp, we are displaying a water closer to April than the first week in July. Despite the water turning over, several nice fish have been caught.
I also received reports that mahi are around the pots nearshore mainly in the Massey’s Canyon area. These fish are still very small but definitely making an early appearance.
Nearshore Wrecks & Coral Grounds
The nearshore grounds were hit or miss for most anglers. With cooler bottom temps and windy days, fishing was tough for most.
Sandy Hawk caught a nice 24.25 inch, 4.6 pound flattie while fishing on an ocean structure.
Lexi Zeigler also got in on the girl power landing a nice 22.5”, 3 lb flounder on white Gulp.
“Bad Wind Charters” reported a first for them. After getting hung up in the bottom structure, they freed the line only to find that a large lobster had released its claw. Catching lobster off our wrecks does not happen often in my experience running head boats in Ocean City. I have only seen one lobster brought in by hook and line. The crew reported flounder fishing has been good, with anglers bringing home fish for dinner, just not the limits they are used to seeing.
The “Katydid” charter had a few good trips bringing home flounder as well as sea bass for their clients.
“Bottom Line Sportfishing” reports the mahi are getting closer to the beach with each passing day. The pots are showing signs of life and it shouldn’t be long until the bigger fish arrive. For many anglers this pot hopping for mahi is the best alternative to going far offshore and still being able to catch these pelagic beauties.
Steve Kuhlman had a good day last Tuesday fishing the Old Grounds between A & B buoys, catching twin keeper fluke, several throwback sea bass and even 6 Mylar balloons.
Please remember, do not release balloons as they are often the play targets of turtles that get tangled in the string and end up dying. Great job bringing them in guys!
Back Bays & Inlets
The bays and inlets have been fairly consistent of late. Several flounder are being caught both at the inlet areas as well as the Delaware Bay and Indian River Bay.
With the 4th of July crowds arriving the boat traffic on the water has been some of the heaviest I've seen in years. Try targeting less traveled areas to have a better chance of catching that keeper you're looking for.
At night, small rockfish and blues can still be found at the inlet near the Coast Guard station. Sea trout and flounder are being caught near the Henlopen Pier.
Randy Padfield and his son Reid checked into Old Inlet Tackle with a 22 inch, 4.8 lb. flounder that Reid caught at the inlet on live minnows. That's a nice size flounder for the bay area.
Tony Walls caught a 24” rockfish along with a smaller one while fishing the rocks at the inlet. Although these fish did not make the slot limits, they are still a great catch for this time of year.
Lewes Tog Club’s Jim Osborne put a few keeper tog in the cooler last week. Fresh sand fleas and crab were the bait of choice for these hard to catch fish. The following trip he went on to catch 4 tog, a 7 lb. sheepshead, two nice triggerfish and a 41 lb. black drum. The black drum are hanging around late this year probably due to the cooling off of the water.
Little Finley caught her first keeper flounder along with her second keeper while fishing with her parents at Indian River Inlet. The fish were 20.5 and 21 inches. Great job young lady! The fish were checked in at Rick's Bait & Tackle.
Miguel Denisar caught his limit of weakfish with the biggest being a 16” fish. William Petry fished the inlet rocks at night and was rewarded with a few nice sized bluefish as well as a striper and flounder. Nice trifecta William.
Kenny Cooper wanted to thank the guys at “Flip N Fins” for helping his daughter catch her biggest bluefish to date. The fish was 34 inches and weighed 11.5 lbs. Melanie Trzcinski Burridge also fished with “Flip N Fins” and was rewarded with a huge bluefish. She said the instructions and advice they gave her was second to none. Great job showing off the girl power!
Bob Trento caught several nice keeper flounder in the bay, making sure to invite a few home for dinner.
Nick Garcia was out on Delaware Bay with his grand pop and cousin Caleb Wednesday. He reported temperature changes made fishing tough, however, they did manage a few flounder keepers with the biggest at 22.5 inches. The fish were caught in 18-24 feet of water.
Surf Fishing
Surf fishing in DE is producing tons of kingfish along with sharks and rays.
Clint Colyer must have thought he hooked a truck when he pulled in a huge ray from Gordon’s Pond. The fight took 40 minutes to land the beast. Denis Lackner landed a cobia from the Fenwick surf on Wednesday. There have been more cobia caught off the beach than I can ever remember in past years. Brent Douglass had a good morning at Faithful Steward catching a bunch of kingfish for dinner.
Clams & Crabs
Clamming remains about the same with big chowder clams being the most consistently caught. Raking in water deeper than your knees is still producing some little necks, however, many areas are picked over leaving only big clams behind. Rehoboth Bay and Holt's Landing are the 2 hot spots of the week.
Crabbing is average with 8-10 keepers per pot. Due to the high heat expected over the next several days, be sure to pull your pots as often as you can. Allowing the pots to remain in the water for the full 3 days will likely result in dead crabs from lack of oxygen and deteriorated food in bait bins.
Till next week...
Tight Lines and Fins Up §
