Article by Capt. BJ Pietryak
This past week in Delaware saw calm seas and pleasant weather. The fishing remains slow with keeper flounder being hard to find. Sea bass have started to get better and the keeper ratio is around 8 fish to one keeper. The end of the week saw strong northeast winds keeping many boats at the dock for the weekend. The back bays are still producing keeper fish better than their ocean counterpart. Surf fishing is beginning to show a few more larger size fish moving back into the area for the fall run south. Mahi are on the pots about 30 miles out but in smaller size and quality.
Nearshore Wrecks & Coral
As the summer draws to a close many anglers have reported one of the worst summers for inshore fishing in years. The south wind kept our water colder than normal resulting in less fish and fewer keepers when the fish were found. Flounder has picked up a little bit last week with more fish caught. Many of the fish being caught were undersized and needed to be returned. “Bad Wind Charters” had Bill and Cathy and his crew out hopping pots nearshore. It was a slow start but they managed a nice cooler full when they found the right pots. Bill even managed a couple nice gaffers. On a trip later in the week they had Ed, Art and Vido who crushed the mahi, easily limiting out until a big hammerhead shark crashed the surface sending the mahi running. David Johnson, Beau Fibelkorn, and a couple others had a good day and caught nearly a full limit of sea bass. Fresh clams and jigs accounted for their success. Ted Proseus stated that the water has stabilized a little this past week allowing his crew to hit the wrecks with their ocean arsenal orange crush jigs to land limits of sea bass.
The 2 oz. jigs kept many of the pesky smaller fish away allowing them to target the bigger keeper bass. The jigs are available at Rick's Bait & Tackle as well as All Tackle in West Ocean City. Timothy Bingnear had a great day fishing on the “Bottom Line Sportfishing” out of Lewes, landing a cooler full of mahi and sea bass. William Krug had a tough day out at the Old Grounds with only one keeper at 22.5 inches along with a few shorts. He reported the water was very green and dirty. “Skipjack Sportfishing” had the DJ’s Lawn Service crew on board last week. They reported as fast as they could reach the bottom they were hooked up. Many of the fish were undersized however, they did manage a nice cooler of fish for dinner. The “Shooter Dog” charter landed several big flounder along with knothead sea bass while fishing the Old Grounds. Great job Captain Chris! Jacob Webb and crew had a great day catching sea bass up to 2.7 pounds along with a few mahi and triggerfish.
Bays & Inlets
The bays and inlets are holding warmer water than the ocean and continue to give up a nicer quality of fish.
The Delaware Bay has been producing large flounder along with spot and spanish mackerel. Indian River bay and inlet continue to produce nice flatfish along with blues, small rockfish and spot. The inlets have been showing some big sheepshead and trout along with a few tog. Masseys Ditch and Roosevelt Inlet are the hotspots for last week with both producing good catches of flounder and sheepshead. Vincent Guy Lee was out early in the morning and nabbed a keeper rockfish off the inlet rocks. Jeff Webb was up in Delaware Bay and managed to catch 9 rockfish on swim jigs and glide baits. Mark Evans caught a nice 20”, 3.6 pound flounder while using drop traps for crabs and ended up pulling in the big flounder in one of his traps. Taiwan Meeks caught his first sheepshead at the inlet. The bite was slow but still managed a nice size one to bring home for dinner. Greg Allen caught a nice sheepshead along with seven tog using a number 3 split shot weight and a No.2 hook tipped with sand fleas. He fished the southside of Indian River Inlet.
On the outer wall, Frank De Oliveira finally found a few sheepshead willing to take his offer. Khang Huynh and Phat Nguyen had a blast catching tons of tog near the wall, however, none of the fish made the size limit. They reported despite no keepers they still had a great day on the bay. Dorey Zimmerman and Jennifer Whaley of Ocean View fished the wall using sand fleas and caught 2 black drum along with a bunch of croaker. Further up the bay Mattius Vialva landed a nice size sand shark late Thursday night. Greg Allen fished the incoming tide at IR inlet and caught a keeper tog using a #2 hook and sand fleas. Bowers Beach Bait reports that the beach had decent flounder bite along with tons of croaker, and of course spot fish. Brandon Fenstermaker was using a sabiki rig for bait when he hooked and landed a stud 5 pound sheepshead. That fish must have put up one heck of a fight on the light line bait rod. Campy checked into Lewes Harbour Marina with his personal best sheepshead weighing 11.7 pounds. Mike Garcia fished the inlet Thursday night and landed a keeper rockfish using swim plugs. Martin Smith and son fished the inlet over the weekend and caught several small blues and rockfish using swim plugs.
Surf Fishing
We are seeing a better quality of fish coming off of the surf with a few rockfish, blues and even a few drum thrown in. The majority of keepers are still kingfish but as the water cools with the night temps in the 50s we are seeing the fall migration starting to begin. Joseph R Griffith was out on the Bethany Fenwick surf and reeled in a citation kingfish/sea mullet. The fish weighed 1.38 pounds. The fish was checked in at Old Inlet Tackle. Lloyd Meeks fished 3Rs and using shrimp managed to bring home 2 flat fish for dinner. Douglass Scott had the unique catch this past week landing an almaco jack while fishing the inlet. James Schiffner had a bunch of small bluefish while fishing the beach near the inlet. Team Salty Bones, with all members from Delaware, took first in the Little Hatteras Tournament. Great job guys, there is usually tough competition down in NC.
Clams & Crabs
Clamming is good at the VFW and surrounding areas with big soup clams making up most of the harvest.
Crabbing was a little slow with the big storms of the last 2 weeks churning up the water and spreading the crabs around. The average pot yield is 6-8 crabs per pot on a three day soak.
Until next year...
Tight Lines and Fins Up. §
