Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
This past week in Delaware we saw cooler weather and scattered storms early in the week. There were also very heavy storms on Thursday evening into Friday morning. These storms kept many anglers at the docks and strongly impacted surf fishing. Quality keeper fish were still caught by anglers braving the conditions and fishing is continuing to get better. Sea bass and flounder are being caught at the NJ/DE reef as well as anglers finding them on the nearshore Old Grounds and inshore coral areas.
Nearshore Wrecks and Coral Grounds
The nearshore wrecks and reefs are coming alive as the water warms to its summer temperatures. Flounder were found on the coral grounds near the Old Grounds this past week along with scattered catches of sea bass. NJ/DE reef is still producing limits, but is becoming harder to fish with so many boats striking out to this spot. As the upcoming weeks arrive, finding smaller untouched areas will become the priority as the more common areas are stripped clean. Areas along the shipping channel and deeper snags and wrecks which sit alone will be the best chance of getting a limit of bass. Flounder on the Old Grounds are being caught using squid/minnow combinations as well as Gulp presentations. Hi-Lo, Klacker, AquaClear, and Deadly Double rigs remain the mainstay of fluke fisherman. “Action Jackson Sortfishing” had the Dave Ponn Group on board for a day of sea bassin' and although the day was filled with numerous shorts they managed a good haul of quality bass to the delight of anglers. The anglers braved rain showers to bring quality fish up to 16" onto the boat. “Wreck Dog Fishing” had a solid day of fishing out on the bass grounds bringing home a limit and even returning to the dock early. Jim Clark was the hot angler of the day catching multiple double keepers at a time. The “Angler” headboat weeded through the shorts to provide their clients with a decent amount of nice sea bass to bring home. Dale Owen Jr. was out on the Old Grounds and snagged a nice 24", 5½ lbs. fluke. It's good to see the flounder arriving on the coral grounds. John Ebgler reported the first trip for the “Reel Chaos" was a bit breezy, laying out in the afternoon, but provided anglers with a good number of quality bass and even a few big flounder. “Flip N Fins” was out at Fenwick and landed a nice flat fish using a white bucktail tipped with Gulp squid and a shiner.
Back Bays and Inlets
The Delaware Bay continues to produce big black drum on most of the shoals with fresh clam and Fishbites being the best baits. A 5-10 foot 40 lbs. leader ending in a 7/0 circle hook is the best rig. The late evening hours are the best time with anglers stating you can hear the fish drumming on the surface as evening approaches. I would venture to say we have maybe one more week left of this fishery before the spawn ends and warmer water filters into the bay driving the fish to their northern summer haunts. The DE Bay is also showing signs of flounder and sheepshead beginning to return. The past few summers have brought big sheepshead to the ice breakers as well as outer wall of the bay opening delighting anglers with sheephead over ten pounds. Small cut crab and sand fleas are the primary baits used to entice these hard to hook fish. The bait is fished on a sheep/tog stand up jig head or on a small knocker rig. Many local lure builders as well as all tackle shops in the area have a variety of these rigs to aid you in setting up to catch these hard fighting fish. As summer arrives and many of our larger fish, such as drum, move out of the area, sheephead remain a constant staple for anglers targeting larger fish. Many charter captains have begun adding this fishery to allow clients to target larger and more exotic fish. The back bays of Indian River have begun to show promise with a few big flounder being caught. In the evenings floating sand fleas or cut bait along the inlet rocks is producing nice size bluefish along with schoolie stripers. The main channel near the bridge as well as Massy’s ditch are producing the best catches of flounder with anglers using squid, Fishbites, Gulp, and minnows. Danny Petrone had a good weekend fishing the walkways of the inlet hooking some nice flounder up to 20 inches. “Gale Force Charters” had the Walters crew fishing on Tuesday and ended up with a dozen flounder and several schoolie rockfish. Christopher Dorey also fished the walkway on the south side of the IR Inlet and landed a huge overslot rockfish which was safely released after a quick photo. Deborah Viscuglia and Julie Stevenson pulled in a pair of 22 inch fluke while fishing the back bay on Wednesday. Carlos Ramirez got his first striper of the year fishing the rocks along the inlet with bucktails. The Cape Henlopen Fishing Pier was providing anglers with a variety of spot, croakers, blues, and dogfish.
Surf Fishing
Surf fishing was a little slow this past week due to storms and high seas but some anglers did manage to pull in a few nice drum and rockfish along with the ever present skates and sharks. Bluefish are also being caught but many are smaller than in past weeks and fewer in numbers. Chris Koper used diamond jigs just ahead of the storm fronts to catch big chomper blues from the surf. Niki Hickens had a good day on the beach catching undersized rockfish and blues from the surf. Director JR Griffith, DMS took advantage of a calm day last week to fish the surf, landing and releasing a huge 42 inch striper.
Crabs and Clams
Crabbing has improved with more keepers entering the pots and traps after the first few crab sheds. Larger male crabs are being found in water from 4-6 ft. Bunker remains the most consistent bait with trot lining the best way of scoring these tasty crustaceans. Clamming is steady with a good number of steamer clams close to the sandy bottom. Holts Landing and the VFW areas are the prime locations along with the nearshore areas of Rehoboth Bay.
Until next week,
Tight Lines and Fins Up
