Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks! The Indian River Bay and Rehoboth Bay continue to produce their fair share of flounder. There certainly are more throwbacks than keepers, but overall there are good amounts of nice fish being taken.
One major key to scoring your keepers may be to try to stay away from the crowds. Reports show the flounder are scattered up and down the Indian River and throughout the Rehoboth Bay. The increased boat traffic seems to move plenty of fish away from the early season hideouts. If you find a drop-off of slough and little or no boat traffic, that would probably be a great place to try your skills.
Bluefish are still being taken in the Indian River Inlet and stripers of good size are also coming from the Inlet.
Bottom fishing in the ocean is still a bit slow but should pick up as soon as the sea bass are through their spawning period.
Offshore action has bluefin tuna at Massey’s Canyon and sharks at the Hot Dog, Jackspot and Triple Wrecks. Yellowfin tuna are in abundance at Poor Man’s Canyon. Let’s hope that continues and moves in a bit closer to home.
In the Rick’s Bait & Tackle/Sea Side Gas & Grill Flounder Tournament we have Bill Weist leading the pack with a 4 lb. 14 oz. and a 4 lb. 9 oz. flounder. In second is Bob Gormsen at 3 lbs. 10 oz., and Capt. Oaks Thompson is in third with a 3 lb. fish.
Other catches this past week included 6-year-old Alyssa Bortner of York, PA with a 2 lb. 8 oz. flattie for her first fish ever. Joe Lombardo fooled a 7 lb. doormat using a Spro bucktail. Bob Felix tricked a 3 lb. flattie and Paul Baranyi scored a 2 lb. 11 oz. flounder. Julie Hildenbrand landed a 3 lb. 7 oz. fish and Justin Marando took a 4 lb. 10 oz. flattie. Jackie Raber of Dover, PA showed the boys how it’s done with her 6 lb. 8 oz. flounder she snagged from the Little Ditch using a minnow/squid combo.
Capt. Bob Smallwood on the “Dana Lynn” fished Poor Man’s Canyon to score big on yellowfin tuna. Capt. Bob also reported “pretty water” and lots of life at Poor Man’s and at Massey’s. Bobby and Greg Haas took Larry Finkbinder and Mike Binder to the Hot Dog on their boat the “Deep Passion”, where Larry scored a 100 lb. mako. Capt. John Dolmetche on the “Hooked-Up” had Bruce Furry, Tim Strathmayer, Brian Hart, Tyler Dolmetche and John Muran to Poor Man’s to score 2 yellowfin, 6 bluefish and 5 dolphin.
At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road, Ron tells us the flounder fishing in the Roosevelt Inlet has been good for those using jigs tipped with minnows or shiners. The Indian River is also giving up flounder on jigs tipped with shiners, smelt or GULP!. Stripers can be taken at night in the Inlet.
From Bill’s Sport Shop in Lewes, we find that Bill Rawlings of Laurel won the top prize of $1,000 in the flounder tournament with a 9.45 lb. fish caught in the Delaware Bay. Don Ruth of Longneck came in both second and fifth place with 9.12 lb. and 6.66 lb. flounder. Paul Caras of Milton nailed a 7.16 lb. tournament flounder with 2 hours to spare, putting him in 4th place. Trevor McCarthy of Landenberg, PA brought in a 23-inch, 4.20 lb. flounder. Dylan Englehart, age 10, used finger mullet to entice 24-inch, 4.9 lb. flounder at Massey's Landing. More flounder catches include: Dan Mattio with a 4 lb., 22-inch flattie caught at the Inlet, Symantha Kerns caught a 4 1/2 lb., 24–inch flounder near the #9 Buoy and Bill Dorey landed a 4.30 lb., 23-inch fish. Ellen White of Millsboro tossed a Gulp! bait on a Spec rig to deck both a 19-inch and a 19 ¼-inch flounder while fishing the VFW Slough. Bill Jr. from Bill’s Sport Shop used a bucktail with Gulp! to capture a 23 ¾-inch flounder also in the VFW Slough.
Matt and Dan Langdon, Jen, Steve and Joe caught 1 bluefin tuna in the 30 lb. range and 7 bluefish while trolling the Hot Dog with ballyhoo on the "Offishal". Austin Kitchen, age 14 of Lewes, caught his first-ever bluefin tuna weighing 20 lbs. and measuring 31-inches on a green machine trolling the Dumpsite. The crew also caught 5 blues up to 14.5 lbs.
On Sunday, Trey Parker of Georgetown and crew on the "Play-n Hook-e" went to the Rock Pile and released 5 makos including one over 200 lbs. They then ran north of the 461 Lump and caught 4 yellowfin tuna, 2 over 40 lbs., on spreader bars. Capt. Angelo Dellapo of the "Spoiled Three" ran to the 1000 fathom line and hooked 13 dolphin using ballyhoo, as well as a 500 lb. + blue marlin with angler Chris Dispoto that was tagged and released. The crew also captured 2 yellowfin at the Rock Pile. We have reports of bluefin tuna to 70 lbs. at Massey’s Canyon and the Hot Dog to the 19 Fathom Lump.
Deanna from Hook’em & Cook’em Bait & Tackle at North Shore Marina tells us that if you like tuna fishing then you are in luck. The yellowfin are here, so get in your boat and get out to Poor Man's. It all began on Friday afternoon around 2 pm and never stopped until around 9 pm that night. The “Four Play” brought in 4 fish weighing in at 156.5 lbs. total, the “Fish Whistle” brought in 10 tuna weighing in at 356 lbs. and the “No Worries” had 221 lbs. of fish. To mix it up a bit, Capt. Doug Krisher on the "Unbelievable" brought in the heaviest mako of the season weighing in at 180 lbs. Todd Buchanan brought in a 120 lb. mako while out at Poor Man's. The Saturday bite was a bit slower with boats still bringing in about 2-5 fish, and one boat released a white marlin.
The inlet fishing has slowed down, with fewer keeper stripers being caught during the day and only a few being caught at night. Most are using live spot, live eels or artificial lures such as the Tsunami and Storm Lures. John Shaffer of York, PA caught a 37.6 lb. rockfish while fishing with a rigged eel.
The flounder have also slowed but there are still nice ones coming in with Kayla Speece of PA bringing in a 2.8 lb. flounder on squid and minnow. John Lindsay of Dagsboro caught one that weighed 8.4 lbs. while fishing on a fly; and Phillip Chandler caught 2 weighing in at 7.5 lbs. These were caught in the Inlet. We also have had some bluefish caught in the Inlet; one weighing 6.5 lbs., which was caught by Chris Hey of Pittsburg, PA. The sea bass bite is still slower than it should be with a few keepers being brought in on the boat and an occasional flounder coming in from the ocean. Boats have to go off to wrecks further out to get more keepers in the boat.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said yellowfin tuna continued to be the buzz among offshore fishermen. Good numbers of yellowfins were located between the Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons. Crews trolling spreader bars and ballyhoos skirted with witches, Iland Trackers and other small lures hooked tuna averaging 25 to 45 lbs. Most action took place along the inside of the hundred fathom line, from the 800 square to the triple zeros. Water temps were in the upper 60’s. Tuna worked their way up along the edge by the weekend, and Captain Alan Steele and the boys aboard the “Big Herring” got into yellowfins on the 030 line on Saturday. They trolled up eight fish in the 35 lb. class while pulling ballyhoos. When tuna were bunched up, some boats racked up pretty good numbers. Billy Hein and the guys on the “Stacey” had 14 yellowfins on Friday on the hundred fathom line south of Poor Man’s. The largest weighed 51 lbs.
Inshore trollers found scattered bluefins and bluefish mixed in Massey’s Canyon, at the Dumpsite, Chicken Bone and Sausages. Sharkers had a few makos near Massey’s Canyon, at the Hambone, outside the Hot Dog and on the Sausages. Some nice threshers were also landed. Kevin McCoy was sharking near the DB Buoy aboard the “Pirate King II” with Capt. Terry Murray when he hooked a big thresher on Saturday. Back at the dock, the longtail weighed 196.7 lbs. Chopper bluefish cruised shark chumslicks as well. Jordan Flaherty checked in a 10.1 pounder that he caught at the Triple Wrecks. Deep-water bottom fishing produced some good catches. Bill Swords and his buddies on the “Swords Fish” dropped offshore for 7 golden tilefish to 35 lbs. and a pair of blueline tilefish. They moved into 300 feet and set up on sea bass, putting 38 knotheads in the box, including a 4.33 pounder for Jake Knox, and a 3.61 pounder for Brian Murray. Inshore bottom fishing was fair. Boats working bass concentrated in small areas on reef site 11 culled decent numbers of keepers from numerous short fish. Bobby Warfield boated a 5.04 lb. sea bass at site 11 aboard the “Lil’ Angler II”. Flounder were pulled from the Old Grounds, and Spro jigs tipped with strip baits were effective for flatfish. In the Delaware Bay, boats drifting reefs 6 and 7 near the Brown Shoal picked a few keeper flatties. The group aboard the “Top Fin” returned with 6 keepers on Saturday. The most consistent flounder catching continues to happen in shallow water. Numerous flatties came from the Lewes Canal, the Broadkill River and the Roosevelt Inlet, although most were shy of the 18 ½-inch minimum. However, those who persevered ended up with keepers. Larry Taylor checked in with his limit of fluke, the largest weighing 5.61 lbs. Those fish fell for pearl white Gulp!. George Miller managed a 5.79 lb. flounder while using minnows at the Canary Creek Bridge. Anglers walking Lewes Beach and casting jigs tipped with minnows or Gulp! found flatfish right in the wash. Often, flatties would strike just as the lure was being lifted from the water at their feet. Stripers of varying sizes roamed the Lewes Canal. Drifting eels around the drawbridge produced legal sized bass. Rockfish were also caught while bottom fishing with clams and bunker. The slot striper season opens July 1st, when anglers will be allowed to keep two fish between 20 and 26 inches from Delaware Bay and its tributaries.
Until next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
