Hi Folks,

                     Back bay fishing remains fair to real good depending on your perspective.

            If you are looking for plenty of action, then fishing is real good. If you feel you

            must put a flounder fillet on the table, then you may be disappointed. The keeper

            ratio on the flounder has gone down a bit but there are plenty of flatties out there.

            Croakers are providing plenty of activity and some days there seems to be more      

            Good-sized fish. Blues continue to set up camp in the Indian River Inlet on the

incoming tide. The Berkley GULP! baits still seem to be the most consistent offering for any fishing in the back bays. Ocean bottom fishing is still on the

upswing for those looking for keeper flounder. Finding keeper sea bass continues

to be tough although there are a few being caught. The Old Grounds and DA Buoy areas seem to be best areas for the sea bass. Reef Site #10, DB Buoy, and

the Old Grounds seem to be the spots for flounder.

          Some of the recent catches have been from Tim King fishing Rehoboth

Bay for a limit of flounder to 23 inches on minnows on a bucktail. Bill Burkhart

also fished Rehoboth Bay for a limit of flatties to 20 inches using pink GULP!  A couple days later Bill fished the area again with his son Bill Jr. and they both took their limit of flounder to 24 inches. Once again GULP! was the ticket. Francis March of Manheim, Pa. used “Zoom” and a minnow to fool a 6-pound 12-ounce flattie at Gull Island. Bonnie Schildt used a live spot to take a 6 Lb. 5oz flounder from Massey’s Ditch. Jordan Price, age 7, was fishing the Old Grounds with his Gram pop, John King, and boated a 22-inch flattie. Mike Riniker fished

Reef site #11 to boat a 9 pound 4 ounce citation flounder. Bill Hamilton on the

“RY-TE-KA” fished the Old Grounds to trick his citation flounder of 7 pounds

13 ounces. Bob Cleveland, on “Deputy Dawg” fished near DA Buoy for a limit

of flounder using minnow and cut bait.

            Offshore fishing continues to be real slow other than dolphin action and some shark activity. Scott Riniker was fishing on “That’s Right” with John Oughten and got his first white marlin. Scott released a 64-inch white. With any

luck at all, “Hurricane Bill” will stir things up and the offshore action will start

to heat up.

             From Bill’s Sport Shop on RT #1 in Lewes we are told the flounder are

just about everywhere. Some of the catches and reports coming into Bill’s have

been consistent in the fact that there are plenty of fish but you have to work hard to take the keepers.

              Jesse Kegley of Townsend DE caught a 35.80 lb, 41” golden tilefish while fishing the Norfolk Canyon aboard the "Patient Lady" with John Schneider at the helm. Shawn Bielert caught a 4 lb. flounder on Gulp at Roosevelt Inlet.
Jack Cael, age 8, weighed in a 4.75 lb. flounder that he boated in DE Bay with a squid-minnow sandwich.
              Savage's Ditch produced kingfish up to 12", blues up to 14" and flounder to 17", for Mark and Carol Stiegler and Bill Weiss.  The group used top and bottom rigs for the kings and flatties, and whole mullet rigs for the larger blues.  The preferred bait was fresh mullet. Bob Adams of Bill's Sport Shop, Gordon, Tom, Tomas, & Ritchie caught between 125 and 150 flounder at a Reef Site, with all fish being between 17 and 24 inches. Catching was non-stop from the time we got there till we left due to threatening weather. Captain Mike Rivera of "On Delivery" charters reports that his anglers have been tearing up flounder.
                  Dan at Henelopen Bait & Tackle on Savannah Rd in Lewes told

things are pretty much the same as the past few weeks. The flounder are still

hiding out on the reef sites and the croakers are just about everywhere. Sot and croaker are being brought onto the Cape Henelopen Pier along with a few flounder. For those fishing the surf it has been a few blues mixed with some

croaker and kingfish action. Of course this past weekend was a bust due to “Hurricane Bill”. Dan was fishing Reef Site #11 and said it was loaded up with

flounder but it was tough finding a keeper. The strip of squid never got a chance

to hit the bottom and a fish was on.

                  At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Rd Ron reports of

great flounder action at DB Buoy and the Old Grounds. The hot baits seem to be the Berkley GULP! belly strips tipped with a minnow. Good ole minnow and squid combo has also been getting a good share of attention. Folks fishing the

Massey’s Ditch have been scoring well on croakers and stripers at night. The

Indian River Inlet is also giving up stripers mostly at night.

                               Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said the passage of Hurricane Bill over the weekend hampered the efforts of ocean anglers. Even though the storm was far offshore, big swells and nearshore rip currents made for tough conditions. However, boaters were still able to fish Delaware Bay. Flounder came from reefs 6, 7 and 8. Earlier in the week, Captain Les Clemmer checked in a 6-pound flounder he added to his group’s catch aboard the Martha Marie. Joe Walker and his granddaughters Kaela and Krysta Gray enjoyed good flounder fishing on the Brown Shoal reefs. The girls were quick learners and returned with 4 nice keepers to 4.13 pounds. Nathan Harding had a 7.41-pound citation fluke on the Top Fin. Croakers continued to be found many places in Delaware Bay. The biggest fish oriented themselves to the structure of reefs 5 and 8. Crews did report some large hardheads outside the Outer Wall, and this is the time of year when “Cadillac” size croakers congregate on bottom contour changes leading out of the Bay. Surf fishermen along the Bay shoreline caught croakers from Broadkill Beach. Snapper blues, spot and a few spike trout were mixed in. Bloodworms, Fishbites and cut mullet did the trick. The slot striper season is winding down, but Lewes Canal anglers had success while casting Rat-L-Traps and Storm Shads near the drawbridge at night. Tuna remained elusive to offshore anglers. Sometimes a hurricane helps the action by moving in new water containing a fresh shot of baitfish and game fish. Billfish catches were good early in the week between the Spencer and Wilmington Canyons. Scott Stapleford and crew released 5 white marlin and 1 blue marlin while trolling a weed line there in fifty fathoms. They also put 7-gaffer dolphin in the box.

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