Home  Fishing Report Back Bay Keeps Getting Better
|
Monday, 08 June 2009 12:08 |
Hi Folks,
Fishing remains pretty much the same. Flounder fishing continues to be better in the back bays rather than the ocean. Folks tell us they are catching plenty of fish but the keepers are tougher to come by. Squid, minnows, frozen shiners, and GULP! all continue to produce fish. Striper action in the Indian River Inlet seems to be best for those fishing the nighttime waters. Live eel, bucktails tipped with a white curtail worm, live spot, and Storm or Tsunami shads will do the trick. Shad are appearing in large numbers along with some large schools of bluefish on the flood tide. Small blues can also be found scattered around the back bays. If you are fishing the back bays, the outgoing tide seems to be the most productive due to warmer water temps. Steven Goff of Delmar fished Rehoboth Bay to bag a 7lb 7oz flattie while fishing with Bruce Lynch.
Sea bass are being taken on the reefsites and along the open bottom. Reefsite #11 is producing large numbers of fish with not so many keepers. The area near DA Buoy seems to be giving up some larger sea bass. A few flounder are also being taken along the shipping channel. Even though we have not weighed in any real big fish this week, action is fair to good and our biggest battle continues to be the weather. Bob McNamee took a 191/2lb Striper at Roosevelt Inlet using bucktail with GULP!. Thresher sharks have been a hot target lately but I have not had reports of any big catches. This year our annual Flounder Tournament will be held the weekend of June 27th and 28th . You must sign up in person by 8AM, June 27th. We will begin taking registrations on Saturday, June 20th.
The Thresher shark has gotten lots of attention lately and here is some info that may be of interest to you. Remember to be safe when fishing for these creatures, as their tail can be as dangerous as any other part of them. The thresher shark is characterized by its large upper caudal fin. This tail fin may often be 50 percent of the total length of the shark. It has a short snout and large eyes placed forward on the head. The second dorsal fin is much smaller than the first. The thresher is a strong swimmer and can leap clear of the water. The jaws are small with small, curved sharp teeth without basal cusps or serrations. Color varies from brown to black with metallic hues from above and irregular white markings on the underside. In Canadian waters sizes have ranged from 3.3 to 5.5 meters (10.8 to 18 feet) long. The maximum size recorded for this species is 6.1 meters (20 feet), however they generally are between 2 to 5 meters (10 to 16.5 feet) in length.
The thresher shark eats schooling fish, such as herring and mackerel and cephalopods such as squid. The large caudal fin is used to slap the surface of the water forcing fish to form tighter schools; the tail can then be used as a whip to stun or kill the prey. This shark is ovoviviparous, with the eggs being hatched inside the female, and 2 to 6 live pups being delivered at a size of 1.5 meters (5 feet) long. During development the young may cannibalize their siblings within the uterine chamber. This shark is ovoviviparous, with the eggs being hatched inside the female, and 2 to 6 live pups being delivered at a size of 1.5 meters (5 feet) long. During development the young may cannibalize their siblings within the uterine chamber the thresher shark is a summer visitor to the Canadian Atlantic region. They have been captured from July to November, but most frequently during August and September. The thresher ranges through all warm and temperate areas of the worlds oceans. Its northernmost range in the western Atlantic is eastern Newfoundland and it ranges all the way down the Atlantic to the West Indies and northern South America.
At Bill’s Sport Shop on RT# 1 in Lewes, De. we are reminded Bill’s Flounder Tournament is winding down and ends June 12th. The standings thus far are as follows; 1st Randy Jensen 7.87lbs, 26.75 inches, 2nd Ton Bailor 7.35lbs, 28 inches, 3rd Dillon Mitchell 6.1 lbs, 25.25 inches, 4th Michael Bott 6 lbs 25 inches, 5th Billy Rawlings 5.99lbs, 25.5 inches, 6th John Rupp 5.93lbs, 25 inches, 7th Robert Scharmer 5.91lbs, 24.5 inches, 8th Sharlene Flipping 5.81lbs, 25 inches, 9th Wesley Grove 5.31lbs, 24.5 inches, 10th Dillon Mitchell 5.18lbs, 24.5 inches. Louie Sartori caught a 168lb thresher while trolling a Stretch 30 east of the Lightship.Walt Wilson weighed in a 4.21lb flounder in our flounder tournament. Chad Tingle brought in two rockfish from IRI tipping the scales at 21.30lb and a 19.35lb caught on a Bomber while fishing at night. Capt. Kenny G. on the Just Right IV, and crew, Rob Fernandez, Dave Cook, Don and Joe Foley and Bernie, landed 11 blues between 10 and 12 lbs just outside the 19 Fathom Lump. A customer reported he saw a few black drum up to 25lb caught on clams south of IRI on the beach.
Joyce Allbrook beached a 12.65 lb, 35" striper on bunker at Cape Henlopen. George Walton of Havertown, Pa used a Storm Lure to bring a 34", 15.22 lb striper over the rails at IRI. Julie Stevenson went out on Julie's Joy and boated 2 flounder up to 28", 7.75 lb in the IR Bay. Dennis Chidester, from Newark, DE. fished the rocks at IRI with a rigged > eel and nailed a 28.75 lb striper. Captain Steve Peterson of Pandemonium Charters reports that he had some very successful trips. Steve fished a few inshore O.C. wrecks with Jeff Boyd and crew caught close to 300 sea bass with 80 of them being keepers. On another charter, the Pandemonium went sharking at the Tea Cup and ended up with 14 blue sharks and 1 mako. Another trip he went blue fishing at Massey's yielding 52 chopper blues in the 8 to 14 pound range. Capt Ryan Marshall of the Miss Rilee fished the Coral Beds in De. Bay and boated 2 drum up to 79 lbs. Capt Mike Rivera, On Delivery, reported that sea bass fishing continues to improve on the buoy line. Makos and blue sharks are being taken from the 20 fathom line out past the 100.Trey Parker and Kevin Taylor of Playn’ Hooke weighed in the first mako of the season at Indian River Marina. The shark was hooked by Jim Larson at the 500 line in the Baltimore Canyon and weighed in at 98 lbs.
At Hookem’ and Cookem’ Bait and Tackle at North Shore Marina we got reports of fantastic striper in the Indian River Inlet. Blues are plentiful on the incoming tide. Flounder action has been good in the Inlet to the back bays. Ocean fishing has been producing lots of sea bass but there are lots of small fish. Thresher fishing has been pretty good between DA Buoy and DA Buoy.
Dan at Henelopen Bait & Tackle tells us the word is flounder, flounder, flounder! All the usual spots are producing with the Anchorage in Delaware Bay giving up some nice fish. Blues have been coming from the beaches at Cape Henelopen and stripers from the beach at Gordon’s Pond.
Ron at Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road reports lots of blues in Indian River Inlet. Plenty of flounder in the back bays caught using minnows or spec rigs tipped with GULP!. Live spot have been the ticket for stripers in the inlet.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said Delaware Bay flounder action has been good. Flatfish made a strong showing in the Anchorage, with mussel bottom in 60 to 70 foot depths near G Buoy being the popular spot. Captain Ted’s group on the Indian returned with 10 plump keepers from there Saturday. Paul Elwood checked in a 6.05 pound flattie he captured at G Buoy. Bruce Buckhalter and family came back with nine good keepers. Ashley Oland outfished the rest of Judge Jack Henriksen’s crew by putting a pair of flounder weighing 5.04 and 5.42 pounds in the box. Other productive areas included bottom changes at A and D Buoys. Fluke came from the reef sites too. Captain Pete Haines, Mike Junck, Bob Witte and Allen Quillen scored a limit of 16 fluke to 4.9 pounds while drifting the Brown Shoal reefs aboard Top Fin. Evan Falgowski weighed in a 5.41 pounder he pulled from reef #6. Bait choices among Bay fishermen included squid, minnows, shiners, smelt, strips of mackerel, shark and bluefish, and Berkley Gulp! Flounder also continued to come from the Lewes Canal, Broadkill River, and Roosevelt Inlet. Butch Emmert nailed a 6.52 doormat using a Gulp! Swimming Mullet in the Canal. Jeff Purdy got one 5.17 pounds while drifting minnows and shiners. Flatties also remained active in shallow water along Broadkill and Lewes Beaches, and around the Cape Shores, Port Lewes and Cape Henlopen Piers. Shad darts, speck rigs, 2 and 3 inch Storm Shads and Gulp! baits worked well in the shallows. The black drum bite slowed after several weeks of good catches. Some nice fish were taken early in the week, like Charlie Goodermuth’s 70 pounder, but the numbers of drum dwindled as days went by.
The June full moon usually marks the end of the run. Striped bass have taken up residence along the Outer Breakwater off Lewes. Boaters drifting the rocks at night caught nice bass while casting Bomber Plugs, bucktails, and Storm Shads. Striper slayers, the Falgowski brothers, have been putting a hurtin’ on rockfish. Evan checked in a 21.7 pounder, Cory caught a 22.8 pounder, and Ryan landed a 31.3 pound lunker. Captain Alan Steele bucktailed the Wall Sunday morning for a 42 inch 24.5 pound bass. Rockfish were also beached from the surf at Herring Point by casters using clams and bunker. Todd Diener was surprised when a 20.5 pound linesider grabbed a small piece of Fishbites on his rig in the wash at Herring Point. Shark fishermen reported sighting threshers between DB and DA Buoys, and some big longtails were taken in the Fingers. Large numbers of blue sharks have been hanging out on twenty fathom structure this spring. Blue whalers haven’t been prevalent inshore for several years, so maybe this is a good sign regarding forage and water quality being favorable for pelagics. According to Captain Jeff Stewart, bluefish were plentiful on the northeast corner of the Hambone, and he had good catches of slammers trolling Hoochies and Pony Tails there during the week. Bottom bouncers encountered lots of sea bass at reef site #11, but only a small percentage met the 12 ½ inch minimum. The Old Grounds gave up some bass too. The Skipjack had 25 keepers Saturday.
‘Til next week, Have Fun and Be Safe!!!!!!!!
|
|
Your Cart is currently empty.
|
