Hi folks,

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend and thank goodness

we were spared the wrath of Mother Nature. Fishing activity was slow due to the threat of the storm and rough water after the storm. Hopefully one result will be an increase in the bottom fishing due to the water being churned up. We were seeing an upturn in the bottom fishing prior to the storm and hopeful things will improve even more. Tog season is closed until the end of the month but there should be plenty of flounder and sea bass action to come. It should not be long before the water starts to cool and the bigger fish should start turning on. Now is the time to start gearing

up for the upcoming striper season. Be sure your equipment is ready to due battle with fiesty linesiders. Bucktails, worms, Stretch 25’s, and plenty of bait rigs need to be in the tackle box ready to go to work. Back Bay action is still producing flounder, croaker, spot and blowfish. There are still more throwbacks than keepers, but some nice fish are being taken. Captain Chuck of First Light Charters fly fished at the outer wall and caught several stripers on dark colored bunker imitation flies. On another trip he took out Rich Seagraves of Milford DE. and scored on keeper sea bass and large flounder. First Light Charters took Bruce McClay of Havertown Pa. and company out on an evening trip in Indian River Inlet; the group caught a boatload of healthy blues and shad and had not stop action all night. Michael Silar of Georgetown took his boat “Screamn” to Site #10 and scored a 7 pound 12 ounce citation flattie. Offshore action has been spotty other than dolphin action. Capt. Cory Waddington was at the helm of “Another Bill” trolling the 30 line near the Tea Cup when Ron Campbell took his 49-pound wahoo. A few days later Capt. Dan Waddington took the helm of the same boat and Jay Tucci scored a 20.5-pound wahoo.

In other news from Bill’s Sport Shop on RT #1 in Lewes Capt. Bill tell us the” Wharf Restaurant” in Lewes is the location this year for the striper tournament Friday night weekly buffet.  The 2010 Striper Tournament will be held from Oct. 15^th till Dec. 10^th. First place this year will be $3000.00, 2^nd place, $2000.00 and third, $1000.00. More information will follow. The “Billfisher” caught 26 white marlin outside the Baltimore Canyon in 1000 fathoms. Christina Butchko, age 10, of Annandale, Va. caught an 18” largemouth bass in Silver Lake in Rehoboth on nightcrawlers. Jim Jones was fishing at the 400 Fathom Line at the Poormans’ Canyon and caught a 70 lb white and a gaffer dolphin. On Saturday, Jeremy Woolsey & Taylor Evans with grand pop Tom Bailor once again caught their two bushel limit of nice big fat crabs near Gull Point using a trot line & chicken necks. Captain Chris Thurmon of “Skipjack Charters” out of Lewes Harbor Marina reported an overnighter in the canyon where the crew landed 6 yellowfin tuna, a bunch of dolphin and a wahoo. Capt Oak Thompson reported:  “He had a good day fishing IRI on Saturday. Phil O’Connor and I caught and released 40 plus flounder, the only keeper was my 23 “4.4 lb caught on minnows and cut spot. We also had bluefish, croaker, sea bass, spot and blowfish on clams and fish bite bloods”. Jonathon Thompson, Mike Thompson, Jeff and Matt Sherwood and crew went on a charter out of IRI to the Baltimore Canyon where they released 4 whites, landed 2 tuna and 10 gaffer dolphin. It was a good day inshore and offshore. Chris Wagner, bartender at Fish On! landed a 109 lb YFT, after it circled the boat 12 times while trolling between the Chicken Bone and the Hambone. Also while trolling, he found a bucket floating and picked up several gaffer and peanut dolphin. Heard from Capt. Steve Peterson, “Pandamonium" Charters” who had a great few days of fishing out in the deep. They took Frank Perna and crew out to the Portman’s Canyon and ended up with a 63 and 68 lb yellowfin. They also caught and got to the boat a 425 lb blue marlin, which was released. On another trip, they took Jamie Greer and crew back to the same area and went 3 for 3 on the white marlin which were released and 6 gaffer dolphin that made a few great meals. Flyabout Smith of the Saltwater Fly Anglers of De. fished the Canal and had 12 stripers between 16” & 20”. They were caught on a #2 Kevins Killer, olive body and white tail. He had one small flounder about 15” then he moved out to the Ice Breakers and caught a couple of small sea bass and another small flounder.

At Rattle & Reel Sports Center on Long Neck Rd., Eric tells us there are still lots of throwback flounder being taken in the Back Bays. Minnow/squid combo or GULP! seem to be the ticket. Stripers are being taken in Indian River Inlet at night. Dolphin are anywhere from the Lightship to the Tea Cup.

Capt. Burt at Hookem’ & Cookem’ Bait & Tackle in North Shore Marina reports inshore ocean action holds a mix of sea bass, flounder, blues, croaker, and triggerfish. Before the blow the headboats were providing customers with a mix of all. Bluefish and stripers are being taken in Indian River. A 744 Lb. blue marlin was taken near the Poorman’s Canyon. Capt. Bert said things have been slow for surfishermen.

Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said the white marlin bite offshore has probably been the best that many anglers will ever experience. Large packs of whites roamed the Washington Canyon, balling and cutting baitfish, and boaters that encountered the feeding billfish were treated to some wild action. Those who went Monday saw spectacular fishing, with a small fleet in 700 fathoms of the Washington releasing more than 300 white marlin. The crew of the Billfisher had a record setting total of 57 releases that day. The previous record was 27 by the Cerveza in September 2007, and anglers on that boat eclipsed their own mark Monday by releasing 33. Monday’s fishing was the hottest, but marlin were caught all week leading up to the passage of Hurricane Earl on Friday. Whites were reported from the deep of the Washington, inshore of Poor Man’s, and in the Baltimore. Some days, marlin were more difficult to entice because they were keyed in on small bait. Crews that were able to locate fish away from the crowds of boats usually had better results. Traditionally, September has been the choice month for marlin fishing, and it was encouraging to see such numbers of billfish in August. It will be interesting to see what develops in the next few weeks. Inshore tuna trolling showed promise this week as well. Decent numbers of yellowfins came from twenty-fathom structure of the Hot Dog and Hambone. Skipjack returned from the Hambone with 5 yellowfins to 42 pounds, 3 dolphin to 21 pounds and a 35-pound wahoo. On Monday, guys on the Grizzly trolled the Dog for 4 yellowfins and David Wilson’s 52.5-pound wahoo. On Tuesday, Captain Jeff’s anglers aboard Ocean City Girl put 14 yellowfins in the box at the Hot Dog. Jeff said he pulled a mix of ballyhoo and plastics, and it was tough to keep hoards of hungry false albacore away from baits. Inshore bottom bouncers had a mix of sea bass, croakers, snapper blues and a few keeper flounder on the Old Grounds and at Site 11. Croakers remained elusive in Delaware Bay. Boaters concentrating on the rubble of reef sites 4, 6, 7 and 8 found some legal flounder prior to windy weather at the end of the week. Mara Danoff decked a 7.58-pound doormat Wednesday while drifting a reef on the Top Fin. After Earl went by, Captain Brent on the Katy Did made it out for a half-day trip Saturday morning and managed a bucketful of 28 blowfish while anchored at the Star Site. Puffers have been plentiful on reef junk, and the eating quality of the odd looking “sea squab” is excellent.

Until next week, have fun and be safe!