Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
Delaware saw warm weather with a chance of storms that just didn't appear.
Down in Ocean City, big storms gave a relief to the heat and humidity, but just a short distance up north we got none. The ocean is still upside down with cold water inshore. Many boats are finding water temperatures around 57-61 degrees with the bottom even colder. Flounder fishing at the reefs and wrecks has been spotty at best. Big fish can be found but the normal numbers of hookups just are not there. Spanish mackerel, which was strong a few weeks ago, has all but shut down on the Fenwick Shoals. The good news is the back bays are warm and producing some nice doormats along with big stripers, and even some slammer blues. To say it's been a strange summer so far is an understatement. Many charters blame the constant south wind, others question the nearshore fissure dumping colder water into the area. Hopefully the wind will shift and fishing will return to normal.
Nearshore Wrecks & Coral
The nearshore reefs have been slow, with cold water present in most areas. A few big flounder have been caught but limits and good numbers of fish are hard to find.
Samantha Pietryak was out on the “Reel Runn’r” boat and landed an impressive 25.5 inch, 5.7 pound flatfish using pink shine Gulp on a Clacker rig. The big fish was her only bite of the day and hit in 62 degree water at 80 feet. “Bad Wind Charters” was out again using their Clacker rigs and helped John land his personal best flounder. The doormat measured 28.4 inches and weighed a whopping 8.84 lbs. Great job John, that's a fine catch! The crew stated that their clients had to fish hard and pay attention to every strike but managed to put a few in the boat for dinner. They also reported in some places the bottom temperature was below 50 degrees. They said that most of the bites they got resulted in keeper fish between 19 and 23 inches. Steve Kuhlman was out at the Old Grounds and found one spot that was a nursery for flounder. He reported catching at least 17 fish, but only had 2 keepers up to 19 inches. They also pulled in a few skates, no sea bass and saw a ton of Loggerhead turtles.
Back Bays & Inlet
The back bays and inlet have been steady in producing some quality fish.
Terry Abreau and Phoenix Lake each caught a few flounder while fishing the Indian River Inlet. They measured 18 and 19.5 inches. The fish were caught using minnows. Taquion Turner also fished the inlet and was happy to report the big slammer blues are still attacking baits in the early morning and late evening. The big blue was caught off the rocks using cut bait and bucktails. Charlie Grose was fishing the Indian River Inlet and landed a nice 24”, 5 lb. flounder. It was weighed in at Rick's Bait & Tackle.
Up in the Delaware Bay, Nick Garcia fished with his grandfather and found several short flounder along with a 19.5 inch keeper. After heading closer to the mouth of the bay he landed a few more keepers including a nice 22 incher. Nick reports his fish were caught in 18-22 feet of water with a water temperature of 78 degrees. Finding warmer water appears to be the key to catching fish both in the bay as well as the ocean. He also reports tons of croaker and spot in the bay along with a few bluefish. Thomas Vogel also fished the bay last week and found the fish ready to bite. The crew returned to the docks with a cooler full of flatties. Chris Smith stated that the Delaware Bay produced well on Wednesday yielding a good catch of big fluke. Greg Wheeler said it took him a while but at the top of the incoming tide the flounder began to bite. Gulp tipped with squid on the bay reef site did the trick to yield flounder up to 20 inches. The Delaware Bay has been alive with big croaker in the Broadkill Beach area along with spot and kingfish. The Cape Henlopen Pier is still the spot for croaker and weakfish up to 27”. The outer wall was a bit slow for sheepshead however it produced some big triggerfish. Fresh live sand fleas were the prime bait for hooking these hard fighting, great tasting fish. They have very tough skin and require a good sharp knife to fillet. The guys at Hook'Em & Cook’ Em Tackle do a great job if you are not sure about tackling it yourself.
Surf Fishing
Surf fishing has been a mix of spot, small croaker and kingfish. A few big skates have also being caught. Ken Myers was out and caught a few big skates stating that days like this are a gift. Small kingfish rigs tipped with bloodworms or Fishbites is your best option for catching fish in the surf. A few flounder have also come in on casted bucktails with long strips of squid.
Crabs & Clams
Crabbing is still steady with pots yielding between 8-14 keepers per pot. The closer to the inlet you get the more females appear to be. Near the power plant, mostly males are being caught including some jumbos up to 8 inches.
Clamming is the easiest it's been all year, with clams very close to the sands surface. Raking or simply digging in your feet will make locating the clams easy to find. Larger chowder clams are the main catch while going deeper into the water produces the smaller steamer clams.
Until next week...
Tight Lines and Fins Up §
