It’s the final issue of The Coastal Fisherman for 2011 and I hope you have enjoyed the reading and found the reports informative. Even though the paper is finished for the season, fishing certainly is not. There are still plenty of doormat flounder, big sea bass, bluefish, and the upcoming stripers looking for a plate to be served on. If you are a catch and release kind of guy, these fish will be happy to see the topside of your boat for a few seconds. Don’t forget to get involved in one or all of the local striper tournaments going on this fall. The Rick’s Bait and Tackle/ Sea Side Gas and Grill Tournament and The Bill’s Sport Shop Tournament will fill your fall with plenty of excitement.
Fishing lately has been hit or miss. Dirty water or bad weather has been the main culprit. In the back bays fisherman have found the flounder, croaker, and bluefish are biting in areas where the water is a bit cleaner. A few stripers are being taken in the Indian River Inlet and short linesiders are being found in Massey’s Ditch. The north end of Massey’s has produced some nice flounder.
Denny Stetz and Jim Pyle fished Massey’s Ditch to score flounder of 4 to over 7 pounds. Denny took a 7-pound 2oz flattie using GULP! to earn his citation. Tiny and Kathy Heimbach of Bechtelsville, Pa. fished Massey’s where Kathy scored a really nice 15 inch croaker and an 18 ½ inch flounder using salted clam. For the folks fishing Massey’s looking for puppy drum I will remind you the regulations are 3 fish at 16 inches in the Delaware Bay. The waters in the back bays have no size and no creel limits for the puppy drum. If you find yourself in the middle of one of those unbelievable days when you can’t keep them off the hook, use common sense and only keep a sensible amount. Everyone wants to fish another day.
Inshore fishing has been kind of slow due to weather conditions. On days you can fish there are sea bass, flounder, and croaker being taken between DB Buoy and DA Buoy as well as the Old Grounds. Sites #10 #11 are also producing fish.
Capt. Bill Baker of Bill’s Sport Shop on Rt #1 in Lewes reported that
Arthur Lodge of Lewes caught a citation sea bass at Site 11 weighing in at 3.81 pounds and 21 ¼ inches on Gulp! and squid. Skip Mosiej, Luther Marks and John Janewsio on the "This is It" went to the Old Grounds and came away with 5 keeper flounder to 9.25 pounds, 28 inches and 9 knot head sea bass on squid and minnows. Mike Perry, Dover, DE, called to report that he caught a 29-inch striper on the beach at 3 R's Rd. in a rainstorm. He caught it on a 3" Berkley shad on a bass fishing rod. He also reported catching several blues up to 17 inches. Puppy Drum are being reported at Massey's Landing.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said bottom fishermen have had to deal with their share of adversity over the past couple weeks. Dirty water and debris from rain runoff, ground swells from offshore storms, and strong currents surrounding the full moon all caused problems. However, on days with decent conditions, anglers still picked at flounder on the Old Grounds. There haven’t been many flatties, but it seems most caught were keepers. Some were real quality specimens, like the impressive 11.39-pound doormat landed by Gary Ebling, south of DB Buoy on Saturday. There may still be a considerable number of fluke around, but it’s probable that they’re on the move and recent weather events have kept them from grouping up in certain areas like they normally do at this time of year. There has been some pretty good sea bass action between DB and DA Buoys, and that should hold up until the season closure from October 12 to 31. After that, bassers will start checking out wrecks and reefs in deeper water as fish stage during movement offshore. Croakers were hard to come by this past week, but snapper blues have been plentiful. Snappers were also abundant in the surf, and casters at Cape Henlopen caught blues using fresh mullet. Small blues were taken around the Outer Wall and on Delaware Bay reef sites too. Bay reefs also gave up a few flounder, kingfish, blowfish and triggerfish. One encouraging sign is the increased number of weakfish. Several anglers reported catching spike trout in the Bay, and maybe they’re on the verge of a comeback. Spot continue to be decked from the Cape Henlopen Pier by folks using bloodworms and FishBites. Tautog season reopens September 29, and toggers expect to find tog and some lingering triggerfish and sheepshead around the rocks of the Inner and Outer Walls and Ice Breakers. Keeper stripers were pulled from Lewes Canal. Joe said he had a pair of fishermen stop by the shop for eels, which they used to capture two 30-inch rockfish near the drawbridge. They released 15 other bass as well, and had a bonus keeper trout they caught near the boat ramp on Broadkill River, just before they hauled out for the day.
Getting back to the fall fishing, there really is a lot of good fishing yet to come. Indian River Inlet is always a hot spot for targeting stripers. The Inlet is also a spot where big flounder stack up before heading to the deeps of the ocean. When the water temp starts to make a fast drop the fishing activity will surely increase. Big stripers, big flounder, big bluefish all getting ready for a big move. These fish will be ready to eat and you just need to be the one serving them a platter. Live eels, live spot, black salties all work well to entice the stripers and trolling along the coastline is another way to target them.
No matter how you fish this fall just be sure to have fun, be safe, and only keep what you need. I hope everyone has a great fall and winter with very Happy Holdays and be sure to check back with the Coastal Fisherman in January for the winter issue.
Fishing Report 
