Article by Larry Jock
What a horrible week for weather, but it looks like the season is starting to heat up with good drum and weakfish action inside and improved tuna and shark fishing for anglers heading into the Atlantic.
Before we get into the report, I want to alert our readers that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved a coastwide recreational summer flounder harvest limit that allows for changes in Delaware’s summer flounder regulations. Effective June 11th, the minimum size for flounder in Delaware dropped from 18-inches to 17-inches and anglers will be allowed to keep 4 fish per trip/day. This puts Delaware right in line with Maryland, and a 1/2-inch smaller than those in New Jersey.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said flounder continue to come from the Lewes Canal, Broadkill River and around the Cape Henlopen Pier, but those targeting flatfish should begin to find keepers on the deeper structure of Delaware Bay artificial reefs soon.
The weakfish resurgence has brought anglers back to their favorite trout spots from years past. The submerged Roosevelt jetties, the Ferry Wall and Inner Wall have all yielded nice fish. Gulp! and other soft artificials have been effective offerings. Francis Walsh weighed in a 4.05 pound trout that took a pink Ghost Bass Assassin at the Ferry Wall. Chris Huk had a 28-inch weakfish blast a topwater plug along the marsh bank on Lewes Canal.
In addition to trout, other bottomfish have been plentiful in the Bay. Kingfish, croakers, spot and blowfish were caught along Lewes Beach, in the Roosevelt Inlet, on The Shears and at the Coral Beds. Bloodworms and Fishbites on small hook rigs ensured plenty of action. Taylor Deemer had the unusual catch of a 4.72 pound spadefish at the Cape Henlopen Pier. He spotted the spadefish swimming around the pilings and tempted it with a small chunk of clam.
Black drum stuck around through the new moon. Some drum were caught on the Coral Beds, but most recent efforts of drummers were directed toward grounds on the other side of the Bay. Brandywine, the Pin Top, Tussey’s, the Horseshoe, Banana Peel and the channel edges between 14 and 19 Buoys were likely drum haunts. Captain Carey hosted Steve Henry and family aboard “Grizzly” for an evening trip, and they harvested 6 drum and released 4 others. Captain Brent took his Saturday afternoon group on “Katydid” northeast of Brandywine, where they boated six boomers weighing up to 42 pounds.
Sea bass were available to ocean bottom bouncers working Reef Site 11, the Del-Jersey-Land site and wrecks in 100 to 150 foot depths.
Sharkers found blue whalers, threshers and makos at Massey’s Canyon, the Fingers and other twenty fathom structure. Captain Jeff Stewart had hot fishing on Tuesday aboard the “Ocean City Girl”. His anglers hooked four makos weighing up to 200 pounds while drifting between the Hambone and Chicken Bone. Thirty fathoms outside the Hot Dog gave up some blackeyes too.
Further south, Capt. Bert at Hook’em & Cook’em reported a few flounder being caught in the Indian River Inlet, even though the recent bout of nasty, rainy weather created dirty water conditions. The flatties were being hooked by anglers using smaller spot, saving the larger ones for linesiders.
Striper fishing was slow, although it looks like it might be heating up again, especially at night in the Inlet. The morning hours mainly produced short stripers for those casting artificials or drifting live bait.
During the week, anglers fishing in the Inlet did get a few shots at some bluefish in the 2 to 3 lb. range.
Bert said that not much is happening in the back bays, except anglers who are having success catching some spot.
Although a few stripers are being caught in the surf, blowfish and kingfish created most of the action for surfcasters fishing with Fishbites orange clam strips.
The 1/2 day sea bass trips on the head boat, “Judy V.” have produced some good action for anglers who are looking to bend a rod. However, the bad weather kept the trips closer to shore, resulting in a lot of short fish being caught.
Shark fishing is definitely on the rise, although we didn’t see many coming in at the Indian River Marina. Anglers fishing out of Ocean City caught quite a few makos, mainly in the 125 lb. range, with some reaching to over 200 lbs. The Fingers, Sausages and even south at the Rockpile were the hot locations over the weekend. We also saw a pair of huge thresher sharks caught on Sunday. A 485 pounder was caught at the Sausages and one estimated at over 500 lbs. was boated at the Fingers, where anglers found 62-degree water.
Offshore, we saw the heaviest bluefin of the year brought into the Indian River Marina over the weekend when the “Boy’s Toy” arrived with a 107 pounder caught on the east wall of the Wilmington Canyon. We had heard about Jersey boats getting in on a good late-week bite in 200 fathoms at the northeast corner of the Wilmington, so this catch comes as no surprise.
Yellowfin tuna were also caught over the weekend on boats venturing deep into the Baltimore Canyon. On Monday, the bite moved south into 50 fathoms in the Washington Canyon, where some charter boats returned with double-digit catches.
Until next week, here’s hoping for better weather and tight lines!
