Hi Folks, The weather has finally changed in our favor and the fish are really liking it. Flounder fishing in the back bays has been pretty steady with a fair amount of keepers being caught. Reports from the DB Buoy area have finally gotten better. Keeper sea bass and keeper size flounder are now being taken. Offshore fisherman are still having to travel south to the Poorman’s Canyon are to score on yellowfin tuna and dolphin. In the Pot-Nets Flounder Tournament, Ron Soltes leads the pack with a 6 pound 2 oz flattie. This past week we weighed in catches by Ron Hildenbrand, Woody Jackson, Laurie Nickler and Lon Feltonberger. John Gunderman has been doing real well bagging flounder in the Lewes Canal, along the Inner Wall, and in Massey’s Ditch. GULP! has been the hot bait for the flounder. John Freese weighed in a 5 pound 11 oz flattie. Joe Vascuglia, Jeff mock, and Mike Moch took stripers to 14 pounds 10 oz. Using live spot in the inlet. Capt. Bob Smallwood of “Dana Lynn Charters” called and reported a super day of sea bass fishing on the Old Grounds. Don’t forget to get signed up for the Rick’s Bait and Tackle/Sea Side Gas and Grill Inshore Tournament held July 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th. The fee is $25.00 and includes a T-Shirt. Prize money will be paid out for heaviest

Flounder, bluefish, seabass, and tog. Don’t miss out on the fun! For those of you stopping in with a hungry belly we now have a hot dog vender in the lot serving fine hot dogs, cold sodas and water, chips and soon will be expanding the menu.

At Bill’s Sport Shop on RT #1 in Lewes, we received the following report. Brian Walsh reported that while fishing 3R's Rd, one guy next to him caught a 32" striper.  Later in the day, Brian saw a guy on the other side of him catch a 24" flounder. Bill Jr reported that while fishing at Massey's Landing, the person next to him caught a 27 1/2" flounder. Jason Young fished IRI from the south jetty and nailed a 35" striper that hit the scales at 17 lb. 13oz .We received an email from Steve Prestipino of Apple Electric who was fishing with his family on the sound side of Hatteras.  His son, Matthew, age 8, was jigging a 3" grey shrimp Gulp and nailed a 20" flounder on his new set up from Bill's.  Matthew supplied enough fish to make 8 fish fry sandwiches for the Prestipino gang. On Delivery’s fishing report with Captain Mike Rivera and mate Mike Davidson reads,  "this week has been great for fishing! Returned to the dock with a 350lb. thresher! A couple of days later, the crew landed 2 nice makos and 2 dusky sharks on an 8 hr trip.  On Tuesday, they had a good flounder bite at A Buoy bringing back 6 big flatties. "This past weekend was a busy one for Blue Collar Man charters out of IR.  They caught large sea bass and flounder to 23" at the Old Grounds.  The keeper ratio keeps improving daily as the doormat flounder continue hitting the box. The headboat Reliable II has been fishing the De. Bay and boating keeper flounder, ling, snapper blues and some nice size sand sharks. 
At Henelopen bait and Tackle on Savannah Rd in Lewes Dan tells us the flounder fishing continues to be fair and steady. Lewes Canal, Cape Henelopen Pier, Delaware Bay have producing flounder. The Anchorage has given up some real nice fish but rough water has been a problem. Along the beaches the bluefish have been plentiful along with sharks.

At Hookem’ and Cookem’ Bait and Tackle at North Shore Marina in Delaware State Park Burt tells us stripers have been plentiful in the Indian River Inlet on live spot, live eels, and storm lures. A few flounder are being taken in the inlet on GULP!

Len and Dawn Tettle took 3 stripers of 17.5 pounds, 15.5 pounds, and 14.5 pounds using storm lures. Sam Bozothovic took 2 stripers of 19.5 and 17.5 pounds using live eel. Nine-year-old Zachery Zigler took a 9 pond striper in the inlet using sand fleas. Charlie Horning took a 6.8-pound flattie in the Inlet. Keeper flounder are being caught on the wrecks and snags. Sea bass are plentiful and the keeper ratio is slowly improving. There are still mostly throwbacks but hopefully there will be lots more keepers shortly. Bluefish are still in the surf and in the inlet. Shark fishing remains good for both threshers and makos. While fishing aboard “Sorry Charlie”, Jonathan Kazem boated a 376-pound thresher. Kenny Arnbt of Pottstown, Pa took a 105-pound mako. Rick Sank took a 170-pound mako while aboard the “Preditor” in the Poorman’s. Yellowfin tuna are also in the Poorman”s Canyon.

Ron at Rattle and Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road tells us blues and stripers are in the Indian River Inlet. Ron also says there is a large amount of flounder being caught but most are short.

Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said yellowfin action was hot during the week. Large numbers of small tuna were reported in South Poor Man’s Canyon, with catches generally taking place from the Triple 0’s to the 960 line between one hundred and two hundred fathoms. Double-digit days were common among crews pulling Green Machines, cedar plugs and spreader bars. Skirted ballyhoo were effective as well, but crews found it was easier to feed fish plastics when the bite was fast and furious. The majority of tuna were short of the 27 inch curved fork length minimum, but enough keepers to 40 pounds were mixed in to make culling through the little ones worthwhile. Trollers even encountered an occasional bigeye. Some guys made the most of abundant tuna by utilizing light tackle. The yellowfins responded eagerly to surface plugs and were a blast to battle on spinning gear. Jon Kitchen and family had fun trolling Poor Man’s. Carol Kitchen captured a 38.8-pound yellowfin that grabbed a green spreader bar. Maddie Kitchen reeled in her first yellowfin, a 20 pounder. The guys aboard Skipjack got into tuna during an afternoon bite in Poor Man’s, putting 14 yellowfins on ice, and releasing 17 others. They spent the night and returned with a nice mako caught by Randy Doyle. Good-sized makos were reported offshore feeding on plentiful small tuna. A new Maryland state record 876-pound mako was landed by Jim Hughes on the “Nontypical” in 500 fathoms between the Poor Man’s and Washington Canyons. Makos also continued to be prevalent on structure between twenty and thirty fathoms. Several blackeyes came from The Sausages and across The Fingers. Ed Sigda, Bill Fintel and Michael Fritz tangled with a pair of makos to 200 pounds in Massey’s Canyon Saturday.

Offshore bottom bouncers had success with tilefish. Bill Swords and friends deep dropped in Washington Canyon for six goldens to 35 pounds and a mess of big sea bass. Inshore bottom fishermen found flounder on Reef Sites #10 and #11, and the Old Grounds. Spro jigs tipped with cut bait or Gulp! were effective. Casey Taylor caught a 7.62 pound doormat and Bob Stauffer got a 6.53 pounder at Site #10 on the Lil’ Angler. Sea bass were mixed with fluke on ocean structure, but 12 ½ inch keepers were hard to come by. In Delaware Bay, croakers made their arrival this past week. Plenty of small hardheads were taken between the Star Site and The Shears using clams, squid, bloodworms and Fishbites. Bigger fish have been filtering in each day. The artificial reefs have yielded some good flounder. Charles Bruckner boated a 7.19-pound fluke at Site #8 on the Indian. Dion Bryan bested a 7.25-pound flattie on Site #8 aboard Martha Marie. Bert Long landed a 6.93 pounder, also at the Star Reef Site #8. Joe Walker, Tom Coyle and Joe Walker, Jr had their limit of 12 fine keepers at the Star Site Saturday. Flounder hung out too on Reefs #6 and 7 at Brown Shoal, in the crossover at the top of The Anchorage, and along the channel edges between #14 and #19 Buoys. Flounder continued to come from the Lewes Canal, Broadkill River and Roosevelt Inlet as well. The Cape Henlopen, Cape Shores and Port Lewes Piers also produced fluke, as did shallow water near the Ferry Jetty and along Broadkill Beach. Small jigs tipped with shiners or Gulp! were deadly in skinny water. Joey Fiorentino used a Gulp! grub to fool a 5.45-pound flatfish in the shallows near Broadkill.

‘Til next week, Have Fun and Be safe!!!!