Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Spring has sprung and many anglers look to the new season with anticipation after a cold long winter. Black drum are beginning to show up on our beaches along with rockfish and blues. The back bays have granted anglers the first keeper flounder of the year. The rocks at Indian River as well as the outer wall of the Delaware Bay are producing some big tog. Surf fishing has been the main focus of many early anglers with the beaches showing signs of life as the big stripers and drum make their journey north for the beginning of the year. The back bays have begun to warm and are producing a few flounder, however water remains colder than normal making both flounder, crabs, and clams hard to find.
Surf Fishing
Surf fishing has really started to come alive with rockfish and drum being pulled out of the surf on a daily basis. An evening high tide appears to be the best time when targeting these fish. Charlie Gardner hooked a nice 47 inch black drum from the beach early in the morning. Alex Ramos landed a 49 inch monster drum while fishing Cape Point. Chase Haugh took the day off work and hit the beach pulling in a few nice size drum to take home for dinner. David Humphries had a good evening on the beach reeling in a nice size black drum. Rand Singer was on the Fenwick beach using sand fleas and was rewarded with a big black drum. Cesar Perez pulled a 21” flounder off the beach back on 21 April. Mark Morton found the bluefish ready to strike while fishing the beach with mullet. Glen stopped in at Henlopen Bait and Tackle to show off his two drum he pulled out of the surf. Justin Brady also got in on the surf bite at 3R’s catching his first black drum of the season. Bob Golley used his new ballistic rod to pull in 2 nice blacks. Bryan Lilly had a good start to his surf fishing trip pulling in a healthy drum from the beach using sand fleas. Michael Spencer was at broadkill fishing with his daughter when she landed her personal best rockfish. Elena Spencer is 6 yrs old and her father, Michael states she loves fishing the surf with him. It's great to see such an accomplished young fisherman! Great job to both dad and young angler.
The Old Inlet Spring Surf Fishing Tournament was held on Saturday with the following results:
Open Division: first place was Karen Alexander with 56 points ,2nd place was Dan Termini with 42 points, 3rd was Darren Hooks with 33 points, and 4th was Jeff Zukowski with 21 points. In the Kids Division Owen Alexander captured first place with 20 points and Everet Hal came in second with 12 points. Dan Termini had the largest fish which was a 41 inch striped bass and Jeff Zukowski had the biggest bluefish at 20 inches. These are your winners out of a field of 209 participants. Congrats to all!
Back Bays & Inlets
The back bays and inlets are beginning to show life with rockfish and blues arriving at the inlet along with tog on the rocks and wall and a few flounder near the inlet in deeper water. Jim Osborne of the Lewes Tog Club Had a good day on the river back on March 30th catching 8 stripers and 16 catfish in 3 hours. He caught two big rock out of the 8. Bruce Carlton also of Lewes Tog Club fished IR Inlet and ended his day with 33 tog and 5 keepers. Steve Stafford stated things are beginning to turn on at the inlet as he showed off his 2 keeper tog while using shrimp. The fish were brought into Hook’Em and Cook’Em Tackle. Drew Holladay landed the first flounder for Delaware catching a nice 17 inch flatfish at IR Inlet. Dylan Dylan used live eels at the inlet to fool a keeper rockfish. Tony Walls caught two tog off the rockson April 10th measuring 134 and 15”. Although the fish were not keepers he was glad to see the fish showing up. He further stated all the fish appeared to be pregnant females. Nick Hopkins reports the tog were biting at the inlet and managed to catch 2 just over 16”. Mick Owens fished the outer wall keeping one and releasing one tog. Monica and Travis Rust fished the Lewes Canal and Monica caught their first keeper flounder of the year. Great job Monica! Matthew Soden had a nice afternoon on the Lewes Canal and put two keepers in the ice box along with a few throwbacks. Wiker Restoration stated keepers are finally showing up at the inlet. The big 19” fish came on high tide using minnows and Gulp. Terry Baldwin of Wiker Restoration also stated big bluefish are being caught in the river along with tons of small rockfish. Thomas cline got his first fluke keeper on April 22nd. Larry Eastman had his first keeper fluke of the year at 17.5” fishing the mid bay of Indian River. Greg Allen fished the southside of the inlet and using shrimp and a No2 hook caught a nice 16.5 inch keeper tog. Delaware DNREC reports some large stripers have been caught both from the beach as well as the inlets. Bluefish and rock are being caught mostly in the evening and at night from the inlet. Tog have been caught at the inlets on sand fleas.
Nearshore Wrecks & Reefs
It is still a little too cold for nearshore fishing with water in the low 50s however a few tog are being caught off the wrecks along with some bluefish close to shore. Chris Simpson had a good day tautoging on the wrecks managing to put 4 in the box with over 20 released. Great job Chris! Dennis Fleetwood caught over 100 fish on his day out at the wrecks. His crew brought home 7 keeper togs, two of which had tags. Marie Rickenbacker had an amazing day on the water catching eight beauties to bring home for dinner. Nothing beats the taste of fresh fish after a long cold winter.
Clams & Crabs
Clamming has been very slow due to the 50 degree water temps. Many anglers are not yet willing to wade out in the cold water to rake for the clams. For those willing to don waders and brave the cold, clams can be found deep in the sand and large numbers can be caught. Crabs have been up and down so far this year. Samantha and I found on a pot pull in mid April we were averaging 4-6 keepers per pot. Then as the cold front returned the following week we got 4 crabs total from 4 pots. The past weeks have produced a total haul of between 15-35 keepers per our 4 pots. on a side note, Old Inlet Tackle has some big fresh and frozen bunker looking very fresh and clean.
Until next week...
Tight lines and fins up
