It’s pretty much the same old summertime fishing. Offshore action has slowed down except for dolphin action.Back bay activity remains to be throwback flounder with the occasional keeper. Some good news is that the croakers have appeared in greater numbers and providing anglers with plenty of action and fun. The best way to tangle with the croakers is to use light tackle and bloodworms or FishBites artificial bloodworms. Just a small piece on a #6 or #8 long shank hook will open the door to lots of fun. If the croakers are of any size over 12 or 13 inches, they make for some great table fare. The Old Grounds and the DB Buoy areas are producing a few more keeper flatties. Indian River Inlet is still giving up some stripers on the end of an incoming tide. Late night or early morning seems to be the best times.
Youngster Fischer Edmondson was fishing Massey’s Canyon with his Dad aboard the “Miss Five-O” with Capt. Keith Orndorff at the helm when Fischer bagged his first dolphin. It was a 2.2 pounder. Then his father Josh combined with Shawn Gallagher to score a 30-pound wahoo and 3 dolphins to 15 pounds. Another neat event this past week involved Joe Hasselhan scoring a lost Gag Grouper in Indian River using GULP!. Jessica Boyer of Frederica, De. used squid and a strip of sea robin to trick a 4-pound 8oz flounder at DB Buoy. Rine Duncan used live spot to score a 12-pound 6oz bluefish in Indian River Inlet. Wyatt Shatzer of Shippensburg, Pa. used minnow and GULP! to fool a 5 pound 9 oz. flattie.
At Rattle & Reel Sports Center on Long Neck Rd. Mickey reports of things being pretty much the norm in the Back Bays. There may be a slight increase in the number of keeper flounder being taken. Scott Swarther took his 22 foot “Reelentless” to Baltimore Canyon to score 5 white marlin releases.
Capt. Bill Baker at Bill’s Sport Shop on RT.#1 in Lewes reported of the sinking of the “Radford”. On board the Ferry yesterday, were the men who served on the "Radford", DNREC employees and many invited guests. A presentation was given by Jeff Tinsman, Reef Coordinator, who gave us a history of the ship, the reason it was chosen, and the many steps necessary to arrive at its final destination, which is 26 miles equidistant from the Indian River, Ocean City and Cape May inlets. Lunch was served on the way to the Reef. We arrived at the Del-Jersey-Land Artificial Reef around noon and witnessed the workers cutting holes in the hull with a torch. It took a couple of hours for that to happen. After the workers were taken away on a tug, the waiting game started. As we stood at the rail, cameras in tow, we waited for the stubborn lady to decide her fate. Suddenly she plunged fore, and then aft and in one minute (3:36 to 3:37) she took her last breath. Her new role will be a great fishing habitat for us. In securing title to the Radford for reef deployment, Delaware spearheaded the country's first multi-state reefing collaboration, teaming with Maryland and New Jersey for the new reef bearing the names of all three states- Del-Jersey-Land. Many thanks to The US Navy and the DNREC coordinators from each of the states especially to Jeff Tinsman for his perseverance over the years to achieve this great result along with his many other accomplishments on the reefing program.
In fishing news we had Ellie Stull, age 7, of Newark DE, was fishing at Port Lewes with squid and came away with 6 croakers. Ellie and her sister Amanda were rewarded with a couple of new poles from their dad. Don Coffin of New Castle, De, used spec rigs for the first time tipped with Gulp! Shrimp. He caught a 19" flounder at Massey's Landing. We received an email from Frank: "Thanks for the great fishing reports. "I fished at Site 6&7 with my brother and his friend and did pretty good. We got 9 keeper flounder, 33 croakers, 19 blues, 5 sea bass, 2 trout and 3 fish that we were told were barjacks. I have been fishing the Delaware Bay for over 40 years and have never seen a barjack. I'll stop in and see ya in your store again soon and show you a pic. THANKS again!!!" James Nolt, age 8, from Leola, PA, caught a 2.83 pound, 20" flounder while fishing at IRI. using minnows. Tom Bailor called in to say he took his nephew, 11-year-old Frank Bailor, IV, out to catch spot with FishBites on Sabiki rigs. They were just outside of Massey's Ditch and wound up with over 50 croakers and 2 keeper trout, they never did get to fish for the spot! Aaron Tharp, age 23, caught a 21" pickerel, at Red Mill Pond on a green and white jig.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said if you can’t catch a croaker in Delaware Bay now, you better take up golf! Boats fishing Site 8, the Star Reef, had all the hardheads they could handle. Croakers were also found in Roosevelt Inlet, along the Ferry Jetty, around the Inner and Outer Walls, and in Broadkill Slough. Some larger specimens have been showing, with more over 12 inches mixed in. Clams, bloodworms, shrimp and FishBites have been favorite baits for the scrappy panfish. Hardheads are fun to catch and great table fare. They’re quite tasty fried, or can be turned into delicious fish cakes. When the bite is good, it’s easy to get caught up in the catching, so try to keep only what you can use. Patrons on the Angler, Indian and Pirate King had hot hardhead fishing all through the week. The Hawkeye, Miss Kirstin, Top Fin and Martha Marie got in on the croaker action too. Bottom bouncers also found spot, kingfish, blowfish, porgies and snapper blues with hardheads, making for a nice summertime mixed bag. Despite tidal effects from the full moon, flounder fishing was good for guys working the rubble of Bay reef sites. Captain Carey’s flukers on Grizzly got 10 keepers at Site 7 on Friday. The largest was a 6.25 pounder decked by Dennis Fish. Flounder specialist Joe Walker checked in an 8.77-pound doormat he also hooked at Site 7 on Friday. Ocean flattie fishermen had success as well. The rocky, live bottom between DB and DA Buoys held plenty of fluke. On Thursday, Edwin “Max” Maxwell scored his limit of quality flounder while jigging with Captain Ricky Yakimowicz. “Beaver” Ruff, Barney Gallagher and Wes Olson iced their limit of fine flatties and some nice sea bass southeast of DB Thursday aboard Bad Habit. The Friday gang aboard Katy Did caught 136 flatfish, putting 19 keepers to 6.8 pounds in the box. Jigging was highly effective, and the majority of flounder fell for bucktails. The Lil’ Angler returned from Saturday’s fishing with 7 keeper fluke out of many caught. Wayne Wilson and his buddies on Reel Passion had 8 for the box Saturday, along with some chunky ling. Surface water over the Old Grounds is pretty warm, and several fishermen encountered small dolphin, which made a nice addition to the day’s catch. Reef Site 11 also produced good numbers of flounder for boaters who located fish staging on underwater structure there. Inshore trollers had scattered catches of mahi and wahoo between 20 and 30 fathoms. On Thursday, Captains Brent and Dave on Katy Did found a floating tire in the Baltimore Canyon. The growth encrusted chunk of flotsam yielded 15 dolphin, including Brandon Border’s 17 pounder, and 31 triggerfish. They topped the trip off with 10 tilefish to 33 pounds. Captain John Schneider and his crew aboard Patient Lady had some fun deep dropping in the Norfolk Canyon. Among their take was 15 pound gray tile for Andrew Schneider, and a 17.1-pound gray for Bill Quirk. The highlight of the day was Bill’s 28.8 pound snowy grouper.
Fishing Report 
