Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
The storms coming up from the south have given us some much needed rain for our plants while helping to drop some of the humidity.
The nearshore water is still very cool for this time of year due to the south wind, but fishing is continuing to get better.
Flounder fishing has been producing better quality fish despite the lack of numbers.
Sea bass are still being caught off the deeper wrecks with tons of throwbacks in between some big keepers.
The back bays are alive with flounder while the inlet is still producing good catches of big bluefish and rockfish in the evening hours.
Back Bay & Inlet Areas
The back bay areas of Indian River have been producing a few big flounder along with a ton of throwbacks. The channel along the south marina area is the hot spot of the week with Massey’s Ditch a close second. The main inlet area is also showing signs of life with big blues coming off the rocks on both the south side as well as north side rock jetties. John Porter got a keeper slot striper while fishing the inlet along with a few big spot fish. David Law, Garrett Ernst and Sam Stonesifer fished the south jetty of the inlet and caught a 25.5 inch, 7.2 lb. rock. The crew was using white bucktails with white Gulp baits as trailers. Rich Morgan told me the inlet was on fire the day he went. Rich caught 5 short tog as well as a 16 inch flounder in the short time he was there. Juan Hocker was fishing the Indian River Bay and caught a quality keeper fluke using squid.
Nick Garcia was up in the Delaware Bay again last week and scored a nice 23.5 inch flattie. He and his partner also scored a few smaller keepers as well as some throwbacks.
Nearshore Wrecks & Coral
Although fishing is still sporadic with the colder bottom temperatures, anglers are finding the flounder much more willing to bite the hook than in past weeks. Many anglers are having trouble putting together boat limits of fish but are at least catching a few to bring home for dinner. Sea bass have made a surprise surge with the colder inshore water. David Quigley managed to bring home 16 sea bass for his crew while fishing the Old Grounds. He said they also pulled in a decent size cod fish.
The “Captain Bob” had several good trips, landing some big flounder for their clients. The “Judy V” also reports good catches of both bass and fluke on their half day trips. Drew Eckman fished Site 11 and landed 8 big keeper sea bass along with several short fish. Ocean Arsenal reports they have been putting a hurting on the bass population using their orange crush rigs with no bait. They are using a light rod with 10-15 lb. braid to get the light lures down to the bottom. “Bad Wind Charters” was out on the coral adding to their already impressive season of flounder and bass. The group headed out originally for pot hopping but found the water too cold for the mahi, so switched to bottom fishing. While bottom fishing, a big cobia swam near the boat, and using their bad wind jig they managed to hook and land the monster cobia making everyone's day.
Cobia are being spotted more regularly in the nearshore areas and anglers should have a bucktail or pitch bait ready to throw when one of these fish swims by. Cobia tend to cruise through and leave quickly, so anglers not prepared won't have time to set a rod up and target these fish. Be Ready! “Mob Squad Fishing” stated they have been doing pretty good, fishing the pots nearshore. They stated the fish are a little further out than usual but can be found in warmer water on many of the pots. Tossing cut bait and squid on a circle hook has been the best method for targeting these pelagic fish however, trolling small plugs and lures past the pots will also work. The crew reports that they also had more sea bass than they could count, with many smaller fish hanging around the structure.
The Delaware Bay has been loaded with croaker as well as lots of weakfish . Broadkill Beach is the hot spot for the bay. Cape Henlopen Pier produced spot and croaker along with a nice 27 inch weakfish taken off the end piling. The inlet has rockfish as well as bluefish being taken off the rocks in the evening hours. The fish are striking bucktails as well as cut bait chunks on a circle hook. Spec rigs are also catching a good number of these fish.
Barry Oxenrider states he has been catching lots of flounder but can’t seem to get past the small ones. My advice to anglers struggling with smaller fish is to try areas that are less frequented by numerous boats along with deeper channels, like those near the Coast Guard Station or those further up the bay. Jules and Bill Mister fished bay structure and landed several flatties, including a massive 26.5”, 6.04 pounder. Great job!
Darren Sargo went fishing with Capt. Jack Stewart and landed a 4.06 lb fluke.
Surf Fishing
Many anglers are reporting this has been the best year for kingfish over the past several years.
Jacob Glotzbach was out all week fishing the surf and ended up with 152 fish. Out of these fish only 55 were spot bait fish and the rest were kingfish, along with a few rays. He said they ate a lot of fish balls and cakes making the most of the fresh fish.
Kevin Mason fished near Bowers Beach and landed a couple of weakfish and spot the biggest fish was 2.38 lbs and 18 inches.
Phoenix Lake was fishing the beach and landed one of the smallest redfish he has ever seen. The fish was around 7 inches and took a small piece of bait intended for kingfish. This year has produced more redfish than have been seen off our beaches in quite some time. Many larger over slot fish are still being caught off the beach despite the warmer water along the coast.
Kim Carpenter released a big ray while fishing Broadkill Beach. The fish was returned to the water unharmed after a great fight.
Ending on a sad note, the passing of Captain Dale Parsons of Fisherman's Wharf was relayed to me this past week. If you knew Dale you knew you had met a true captain of the sea. He will be missed by many. Fair winds and following seas skipper.
Until next week...
Tight Lines and Fins Up §
