If there was ever a time you needed the fish to respond, now would be that time. It is the perfect opportunity to

               get a newcomer interested in the sport of fishing.

                    

 

 

 

                   Hi folks,

                           Now is the time to take that person you have been trying to get

                  interested in fishing to the water. The Indian River Bay, Rehoboth Bay,

                  and Delaware Bay are just full of hard fighting croakers. These fish will

                  bite hard and are scrappy fighters on light tackle. Usually when you catch

                  one you are in for lots more action. A small hook, a small piece of bait and

                  you are ready for action. Bloodworms or small pieces of GULP! are the ticket

                  for lots and lots of action. Other cut baits will also produce results but those

                  choices will almost guarantee plenty of activity. Flounder are still being taken

                   in the back bays, and on the reefsites in Delaware Bay. Action at DB Buoy

                   in the ocean is continuing to improve. Striper action in Indian River Inlet is

                  proving successful for those who are targeting stripers using live spot or live

 eels. Offshore action is showing maybe just a bit of improvement as a few

 more fish are being caught at Massey’s Canyon and 19 Fathom Lump.

           Some successful fisherman this past week have been Mike Lombardi

      Jr. who weighed in an 8 Lb 6oz flattie he took from Indian River using live

Spot. Dillon Talley also used a live spot to take a 9 Lb 7oz flounder while

drifting Massey’s Ditch. Zachary Knight had a great day fishing the DB Buoy

area with his Dad Rick. Zachary boated three flounder from 20 to 25 inches.

           The results of the 2^nd Annual Sea Side Gas & Grill / Rick’s Bait &

Tackle Offshore Tournament ended up with the Predator taking the Marlin

Category with the release of a 62-inch white marlin. The Dolphin Category

 had :     1^st Place….Empty Hook….23.5  Pounds

            2^nd  Place…..Four Play…….20.5  Pounds

            3^rd  Place…….Preditor…….19     Pounds

 

Tuna Division Results:

             1^st  Place….Four Play…..122 Pound Bluefin

            2^nd  Place….Stacey……….62.75 Pound Yellowfin

            3^rd  Place…..Stacey………56    Pound Yellowfin

 

Thanks to all who made the Tournament a success!

 

         From Bill’s Sport Shop on RT# 1 in Lewes we received the following information. Flounder fishing has been a strong point with a large spread of fish in the area. Croaker fishing will continue to improve with this nice summer weather. Offshore fishing has shown some real good early season results. Bill Jr, of Bill's spent an afternoon after work at Massey's Landing and ended up catching a 23 inch flounder using Spec rig and Gulp swimming mullet in watermelon. Right next to Bill a man landed a 19-½ inch flounder. A customer came in this morning to replenish his stock of Fishbites bloodworm and reported catching hundreds of spot at the Pier overnight. Chuck Nagel of Bill's Sport Shop reports catching short stripers and croaker at Massey's Landing. A trip to the Teacup produced a really good catch for Billy Glide, Kyle Aiery, John L and Ron on the "Out of Line" catching a 20lb. dolphin, a 135lb. bluefin tuna and a 65lb. yellowfin. Paige Millis, age 12, from Millsboro, caught a 20" flounder at Massey’s on a minnow. Morris Pierce of Milton landed a citation large mouth bass weighing 7.89 lbs. and measuring 23.25" at Red Mill Pond on a Heddon Torpedo. A customer reported catching 11 flounder and 29 seabass at the "DB" Buoy yesterday, keeping 2 seabass. Captain Bill Baker, Joey Neely, Bill Jr. and Ellen fished an ocean wreck on Sunday and caught a mixed bag of fish including tautog, triggerfish, ling cod, seabass, blowfish, flounder, sand perch and a conger eel.
                        Captain Carey Evans of the "Grizzly" Charters reports "Frank Pogue had big fluke of the day honors with his 8lb 8oz flounder. We also caught a nice little mixed bag of tog and seabass. Alex Levantowsky had big fish of the day award releasing a 16lb 4oz tog. Jim Skymba and family had an excellent mixed bag catch in the ocean of both tog and flounder. Jim's 6lb14oz flounder took big fish of the day award. Don Yocum and friends had a nice little mixed bag catch of tog, triggerfish, and flounder.

     At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Ron informed me that there are

still lots of flounder in the back bays. Croaker and spot are also providing plenty of

action and loads of fun. Bluefish can be found in Indian River Inlet on incoming tide.

Stripers are being taken in the inlet on live eels and live spot. DB Buoy is giving up

plenty of fish and the sizes are slowly on the rise.

      Dan at Henlopen Bait & Tackle confirms that croakers are just about everywhere.

These critters are providing plenty of fun for everyone and besides giving a nice little

battle on light tackle they make for some tasty table fare. Dan says there are      croakers and spot on the beaches. Broadkill Beach has made home for some bluefish and the Delaware Reefsites are giving up plenty of flounder.

                 Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said Delaware Bay croakers are getting larger and more plentiful each day. Many nice catches of better-sized hardheads came from the Broadkill and Star Reef Sites, and also from Reefs #6 and #7 at Brown Shoal. Mussel beds west of G Buoy in the Anchorage yielded good croakers too. Shore fishermen at Roosevelt Inlet got into hardheads as well. Clams, bloodworms and Fishbites were favorites of the feisty panfish. Strong tidal currents around the new moon made for challenging drift conditions some days, but flounder action was generally good. Reef Sites #6, 7 and 8 remained productive, but fluke came from the open bottom too. Up and down contours in the hook of Brown Shoal gave up flatties, as did mussel beds west of G Buoy in the Anchorage. Channel edges between #19 and #25 Buoys also produced flounder. Flatties were still hanging out in shallow water also, and guys did well casting jigs tipped with Gulp! around the Inner Wall and Ferry Jetty. Sometimes when tides run too hard in the Bay, ocean structure offers a better option for fluke fishermen. Reef Site #10 proved to be a good spot. Last Sunday, Captain Chet’s group on the Lil’ Angler II returned with 26 keepers, including a 5.95 pounder for Paul Pergeorelis. Tony, Diana, and Shane Vansant, along with Larry Burkins and Joe Pisarski combined for a limit of twenty quality flatties from the reef. Diana outfished the boys with a fine pair of fluke weighing 7.64 and 5.67 pounds. Flounder sharpie Joe Walker pulled a 9.07-pound doormat from the rubble. The Old grounds between DB and DA Buoys held plenty of nice flounder. An effective way to catch those fish was to bounce a 2 to 4 ounce bucktail tipped with a Gulp Sand Eel and a shiner along the bottom. Guys working the rocks of the Outer Wall had tog and triggerfish using sand fleas. Nice sheepshead have shown up on the Ice Breakers. Joe Kossek checked in a 10.12-pound citation sheepshead he captured at the Haystacks. Spot have become more numerous and were caught in the Broadkill River and on the Cape Henlopen pier using bloodworms and Fishbites. Slot-sized stripers were taken casting plugs and jigs at the Ice Breakers and drifting eels near the drawbridge and railroad bridges on the Lewes Canal. On the tuna scene, big bluefins were scattered on structure between twenty and thirty fathoms, such as Massey’s Canyon, the Hambone, Chicken Bone, 19 Fathom Lump, Hot Dog and Tea Cup. Trolling ballyhoo with blue and white skirts way, way back or deep behind planers and Z-Wings accounted for many of the fish. However, guys chunking and fishing butters or sardines on the bottom hooked some bruisers too. The biggest brute of the week was a 163.4 pounder boated by Brian Ludwig and Jeff Snyder at the Hambone. Matt Purnell trolled up a 154.5 at the Elephant Trunk. Kili Gomez got a 118.5 pounder at the 19 Fathom Lump aboard Joint Venture. Angelo and Anna Delapo, along with Arnold Azamar and Michael Davidson, teamed up for a great trolling trip at the Tea Cup Saturday. They boated bluefins of 136.5 and 70 pounds, and had 4 gaffer dolphin aboard the Spoiled III. Ned Baumbach bested a 23.6-pound dolphin at the 19 Fathom Lump on Forever Young III. Captain Larry Coyle’s crew aboard Makai trolled ballyhoo in 40 fathoms between the Hot Dog and Poor Man’s for three yellowfins to 48 pounds and a 19.4-pound mahi for Brian Gardner. White marlin have shown up inshore in good numbers. Several boats reported sightings and hookups of billfish in thirty fathoms. Edward Bundy and Curtis Detwiler both recorded white marlin releases outside the Hot Dog Saturday on the Skipjack.

‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!!