Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
This past week in Delaware we saw warm weather with heavy storms on Thursday evening into Friday. Strong storm surge caused closing of the drive on beaches and tons of beach erosion. Prior to the storms the fishing was very good, with mahi pot hopping being some of the best we have seen all summer. Big bull dolphins are on many of the pots in the 30 mile range from Indian River Inlet. Tossing squid chunks at the pot has worked well for targeting these fish however trolling is producing a better quality of fish.
Sea bass is still slow with a few keepers amongst the many short fish.
Flounder has really picked up with a lot more keepers being found on the coral grounds.
Nearshore Wrecks & Reefs
The Coral Grounds are teeming with life and producing better quantities of keeper flounder and sea bass than in previous weeks. There are still a lot of undersized fish around so be prepared to weed through a ton of throwbacks to find the ones you can invite home for dinner.
The DE/NJ Reef is the hotspot of the week. This area has been producing some big flounder along with nice catches of sea bass. Several cobia have been seen in the area as well but many of these fish are still very reluctant to strike at any offering that anglers make at them. Live eels would be your best bet if targeting cobia.
The Fenwick Shoals and other inshore humps have small bluefish and spanish mackerel on them which can be trolled up using bucktails and small trolled Clark spoons. These spoon rigs are also very productive at catching mahi off the pots.
Capt. John Whitman of “Patent Pending Charters” out of Deal, MD has produced a Spoonbrella rig which is an umbrella rig with teaser spoons and then a bucktail or larger Clark spoon trailer. I had a chance to accompany John on a charter last week and was shocked to see how these lures outfished every boat around us catching a limit of spanish and blues in less than 2 hours. Many times our hook-ups consisted of 2 fish at a time. You can find them at patentpendingcharters.com as well as at the boat shows in Ocean City and the Millville Fire Department this coming winter.
Dan Iacangelo stated there were a ton of boats out last weekend doing the pot hopping for mahi. He told us that the trolling method helped him to catch a cooler of these delicious pelagic fish along with several very big bonito tuna. The best way to catch these fish is to arrive at the pot balls at first light. As the morning rolls on, too many boats begin to charge up to the balls, sending the fish down deep due to all the activity near the surface. Trolling will help you catch the fish seeking a less targeted ball or area to find food.
Brad Soka got his first mahi of the year targeting the pots near NJ/DE Reef. Brad even managed a nice one just over ten pounds. “Bottom Line Sportfishing” has been hitting the pots with a ton of success. The captain stated we are finally seeing a nice class of bigger fish rather than the schoolies we saw the past few weeks. Closer inshore, Steve Dey was at site 11 and landed 2 nice triggerfish and 4 croaker. He stated he also caught around 50 sea bass with the biggest one being a tiny 11 inches. Bill Krug checked into Rick's Bait and Tackle with his limit of fluke that he caught at the old grounds using 6” Gulp. “Wreck Dog Sportfishing” checked into Fisherman's Wharf with a mixed bag of mahi, 4 flounder, triggerfish and a handful of sea bass. Nothing better than good fishing with good people. Linda Orr checked into Hook’Em and Cook’Em Tackle with her first ever mahi. Great job Linda!
Back Bays & Inlets
The inlet area as well as the back bays of Indian River have been steadily producing some big flounder along with small rockfish and trout. Kirk Kness finally caught a keeper fluke when he was out. He stated he has not had any trouble catching fish just finding keepers. While fishing the inlet rocks Kelly West managed to catch a big triggerfish which she promptly invited home for dinner. Michael Shmidt caught a few flounder while fishing the rocks of the inlet. Brandon Fenstermaker was able to pick up a nice 5 pound sheepshead at the ditch and then headed off to the Fenwick Shoals where he caught 12 flounder. Only one flounder made the limit to keep. He also caught around 30 short sea bass. Brandon used clams, minnows and mackerel on jigs to catch his fish. Tony Walls caught a nice 21 inch trout on the northside jetty wall using a swimbait. Tony also caught several bluefish off the rocks.
On the Delaware Bay, sheepshead are being caught off the ice breakers as well as a few flounder and croaker being caught off the reefs and Coral Grounds.
Bob Kennedy had a great time on the bay with tons of kingfish being chased by blues. Bob said add to that a flat calm day and you couldn't ask for a better time. Billy Humpleby hooked into a nice size dusky shark while chunking in the bay. Bruce Carlton got a triggerfish as well as a few small tog off the icebreakers. He also managed a big sheepshead. Rich McBride and his son caught a big sheepshead off the southside inlet on sand fleas. Vic Gross also landed a nice sheepshead while fishing sand fleas at Indian River Inlet. The fish weighed 8.8 pounds.
Surf Fishing
Surf fishing was a bit slow this past week with lots of small sharks and rays being caught. Gary Tanner had lots of action at 3 Rs drive on beach catching rays and undersized flounder providing him with a great day on the beach despite no keepers.This past week did produce a few ribbon fish blitzes on the beaches including one for Jeff Yohn who caught several this past Sunday. Michael A Spencer finally got a keeper trout off the beach last week. Seatrout and weakfish have been caught mainly in the back bays but this year several have been pulled out of the surf by beach fisherman. Andrew Anderson was fishing from shore at Bowers Beach and landed a nice 20 inch flounder. Ken Hayes was at 3 Rs and landed a few skates and 2 undersized flounder off the beach using cut bait.
Until next week...
Tight lines and Fins Up §
