Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
The Delaware waters saw warmer days with nice cool evenings. The amount of fish in our back bays has also greatly increased. Several big pods of spot and mullet are being observed bringing in a plethora of fish to both the back bay areas as well as the nearshore reefs. Large flounder are being caught along Massey's Ditch and in the Delaware Bay, along with the inlet at Indian River. Cobia are showing up in our nearshore waters. Big black drum are still being found, although not in the numbers of past weeks along the coral grounds of the DE Bay. Surf fishing has slowed, with kingfish and spot being the main catches.
Nearshore Coral & Wrecks
The nearshore wrecks and coral grounds are alive with baitfish. Big schools of spot and bunker are being seen along the coast bringing with it big spanish mackerel along with flounder and kingfish. Closer to the inlet the cobia are beginning to show up. Slowly trolling around the shoals just south of the inlet is a great way to target these big fish. Using a bucktail or eel type lure casted forward of the fish will likely entice a strike. Anchoring up on the shallow shoals and chumming is another good method. This approach works great but will also bring in sharks, which can become a nuisance. Live spot freelined away from the boat is the best bait however, bucktails and eels also work well. On the coral grounds the flounder have become consistent with many fish easily making the new 17.5” regulations.
Sea bass was a little better last week but still not great. Many anglers are at least getting a few keepers for dinner.
Andy Merendino had his first triple header while fishing out of IR with two out of the three being keepers. White flounder rigs did the trick. Site 11 along the redbird reef was also good for the flatfish. Steve Kuhlman reports the morning bite was slow due to a lack of drift, but as the current began to move steadier in the afternoon the bite picked up delivering some quality fluke along with a few big sea bass. Sharon Martin had the family out with “MandaLu Sportfishing” for an inshore trip on Wednesday and the group caught sharks, skates and rays along with the normal bass and flatfish.
“Bad Wind Charters” was back on the water using their newest Ball Clacker rigs to pull in some big flounder and a few sea bass. These rigs are a version of a Hi-Lo rig that makes noise to simulate fish actively feeding. I started using these rigs the past two years as opposed to the longer leader flounder rigs and found that the hook-up ratios were actually much better than using the longer leader rigs. Clacker rigs are available at Rick's Bait and Tackle along with other tackle shops in the area. The beaded hooks really seem to entice the fish to bite better. John Spence caught six fluke with the biggest being 18.5 inches.
The “Katydid” hauled in 18 fat flounder. When I say fat flounder I mean FAT! The largest one measured 29.5 inches long and weighed 9.06 lbs. Although not the 10 pound trophy that anglers always shoot for, it is still a better fish than most anglers will catch in a lifetime. Dante Williams was also on the ocean last week catching the elusive flatfish. Using a squid rig he caught a bunch of short fish but managed a cooler full for the table.
The “Judy V” out of Indian River Marina had a good week of fishing with many of their clients catching keeper flounder as well as a few sea bass. The crew reports each day gets better with bigger flatfish being caught.
Mike Newcolm checked into Lewes Harbour Marina with two big flounder. The largest one was 9.6 lbs.
Captain Foreman of “Bottom Bouncer Fishing” was out catching fluke and bass using a double tandem diamond minnow rig. The crew had a few family groups last week that had a blast reeling in fish after fish. Although many were smaller than regulations require, the crew said the kids were worn out reeling all the fish in.
Dan Sanders was fishing an ocean structure and used sand fleas to entice his citation 27 inch 10.8 lb. sheepshead to bite the line. The big sheep was weighed in at Rick's Bait and Tackle.
Back Bays & Inlet
Back bays and inlets are producing quality fish. The area of Massey's Ditch as well as the Ice Breakers of the DE Bay are the top areas. Derek Sherman caught a nice 23” sea trout off the wall near the ferry entrance. Claude Davis also pulled in a nice 11 lb. 6 oz. trout measuring 36”. The fish was weighed in at Old Inlet Tackle.
Marrick Strickland was fishing the northside of the inlet and reeled in 2 keeper fluke measuring in at 18 and 21 inches.
Surf Fishing
Cobia alert!! Once again another cobia was taken off our DE beaches from the surf. Mark Lettieri was fishing 3R's Beach using Fishbites bloodworms when the big 37" cobia snatched up his bait and made its long fight to try and escape. Despite the light line he was using, he managed to bring in the fish for pictures and measurements. Although these fish stay close to the beach, catching one from shore is not a common occurrence. Well done Mark!
Tina Kent stated that the surf at 3R's is full of kingfish that are easily caught using bloodworms and pompano rigs.
Crabs & Clams
Crabs are yielding about 10 keepers per pot using bunker and about 7 per pot using chicken.
While clamming at Holts landing I raked up 67 clams in about 45 minutes. Many large chowder clams were found however, I also scored several littlenecks for clam casino. §
Till next week,
Tight Lines and Fins Up
