Flounder fishing in the Rehoboth and Indian River Bays remains
good although the keeper size flatties are more difficult to find. Fishing
near Indian River Inlet and the normal flounder holes will bring you are
real fair amount of fish, but most will be shorts. Try moving off to an area
where there is less boat traffic and you should increase your chances of
scoring a keeper size fish. Squid, minnow, shiner, smelt, and Berkley
Gulp! are still the magic baits. Croakers and are now moving in and numbers
should steadily increase. The croakers are on the small side for now but size
should also increase quickly. Bloodworms, FishBites, white or chartreuse GULP!
cut into small pieces on a #6 hook will all work. If you are targeting the spot, you
should probably use a #8 or #10 hook. Blowfish are being taken in Rehoboth Bay
and clams are the bait of choice. Capt. Eric Ludwig of “Hook & Cook Charters” has been providing his parties with plenty of Back Bay action on a variety of fish.
Capt. Chuck Cook of “First Light Charters” had the Bruce Betts party to the Indian River Inlet to score lots of bluefish, shad, and 2 ton of fun.
Inshore fishing continues to be quite slow with reports of a few sea bass
and a few flounder here and there between DB Buoy and DA Buoy. Bob Cleveland on “Deputy Dog” scored a half dozen or so keeper sea bass and 1 keeper flounder Saturday while heading south out of the inlet.
Offshore action has been hot and cold.A few bluefin tuna and plenty of
dolphin can be found at Massey’s Canyon, 19 Fathom Lump, Chicken Bone, Ham Bone, and Hot Dog. A few yellowfin where reported at the Ham Bone and Hot Dog. Baltimore Canyon has been producing some yellowfin and good numbers of white marlin. Some real nice blue marlin have also been mixed in.
Capt. John Ratlif and Donnie Culver trolled the Baltimore and raised the billfish.
They released 1 white marlin, a 400 pound blue marlin, caught 3 yellowfin, and
fought a blue marlin that they estimated to be between 7 and 8 hundred pounds
for I hour before breaking off.
At Rattle & Reel Sports Center on Long Neck Road, Eric tells us flounder are still active in the Indian River Inlet and the Back Bays. Shiners,
Squid, and chartreuse GULP! are the baits to use. The outer wall at Lewes
Is still holding plenty of triggerfish.
From Bill’s Sport Shop on RT# 1 in Lewes we hear that Todd East, Chris and Jay fished the Hambone and caught a bluefin on cedar plugs and a dolphin on a green spreader bar. Dave Thatch, with his father and son, were 3 miles south of B Buoy and caught 4 flounder to 4 lbs and 5 sea bass to 15" on green Gulp, white Gulp, shiners, and sand fleas. Dustin Schell, his father, Brad Schell and friend Bill Lux fished a few miles past Site 11 and landed a 6' brown shark and a 7' blacktip. Received an email from John Moran "Hi guys, just a quick thank you for the bait (ballyhoo) and suggestion to use the brine. The brine is awesome!!! I'm definitely a believer in it now. Last Fri we fished out at Poorman's and put 2 of the 4 yellowfin we hooked in the boat, a 46 and a 49 pounder. The blue and white skirt w/ the orange head (I did not notice it had a "lead head" when I purchased them) was the ticket. Thanks again!” Jim Jones went Massey's Canyon and boated 4 gaffers and 1 peanut dolphin. Chase Moyer and Blake Kreider caught two flounder up to 3 3/4 lbs using live minnows in the south bay. Matt Langdon went 6 for 8 on white marlin and 2 yellowfin tuna in the 50 to 60 lb range in the Baltimore Canyon. John Truesdell of Lewes, DE, used clams to pull a 12 lb, 35" striper from the IRI. Joshua Greenberg, age 13, and Jake Franklin, age 8, from Richmond, VA, fished the Pier and came away with 24 croaker up to 14" and 4 spot using bloodworms and squid combo. Jon and Austin Kitchen of Lewes, DE aboard the "Finology" nailed a bluefin tuna at the 19-fathom line on spreader bars. Capt. Oak Thompson reports: "We had a good week fishing in IR Bay last week, caught over 200 flounder, but only 12 keepers. Mike Thompson's 6.8 pounder was the largest, caught on minnows and Fish Bite bloodworms. Blues and a few keeper rockfish were caught in the inlet on bucktails and Kast Masters. Customers fishing the "Gypsum Prince" are reporting catches of tog and triggerfish at the IRI. Puppy drum are starting to show up at Massey's Ditch. Along with tog in the rocks at the Outer Wall, lots of triggerfish are being taken. Flounder, croaker and spot are being reported at the Pier.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said nice yellowfin tuna were caught between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons. Crews pulling a mix of skirted ballyhoos, Green Machines and spreader bars found fish ranging 40 to 70 pounds. Much of the action took place between the 150 and 175 lines, from 75 to 100 fathoms. White marlin were reported in the same area. Even other billfish came from warm water in 500 fathoms of the Baltimore. Anglers aboard the boat “Lil’ Man” released 3 sailfish and 3 white marlin Friday, in addition to 3 yellowfins they put in the box. Bluefin tuna were caught at the Hambone during the week. Boats trolling the structure at first light hooked some impressive specimens while towing ballyhoos way back. Unfortunately, most were larger than the 59-inch upper size limit and had to be released. Some fish were estimated in the 200-pound class. Bluefins popped up on other lumps too. Julie Nelson decked a 55.8 pounder Saturday at the Chicken Bone. That tuna grabbed a Green Machine spreader bar trolled behind the “Spoiled III”. Trollers also encountered dolphin inshore. Vince Sheivert and the boys on “Black Bart” got into mahi along the thirty-fathom line northeast of the Hot Dog Saturday. Back in Delaware Bay, croakers were the big news. Schools of hardheads took up residence on Reef 8, the Star Site, and boaters enjoyed good catches of feisty panfish in the 8-to12 inch range. The big golden, “Cadillac” size croakers should show up soon. Clams, bloodworms, shrimp and FishBites worked well as baits. Numerous spot showed up in the Lewes Canal this past week as well. Bits of bloodworms or FishBites on sabiki rigs attracted spot that varied from a few inches to hand-sized. Spot were also caught from the Cape Henlopen pier. The flounder bite was fair during the week, with tough drift conditions and dirty water causing trouble most days. Often, anglers had only a small window when they could properly present baits to fluke before hard running currents made it too difficult. However, some nice catches were recorded. Eric Burnley stopped by Monday with three flatties to 5.3 pounds. He said he and his fishing buddy Mike P. had made the rounds, taking one fluke at site 6, one at site 7, and another at G Buoy. Captain Pete’s Friday group on Top Fin had 5 keepers, including Larry McDonald’s 5.06 pounder, while rubble bouncing the Brown Shoal reefs. The guys fishing with Captain Les on the Martha Marie had 3 keeper flatties and 50 croakers at the Star Site Saturday morning. The flatfish of the week was an awesome 10.7 pounder, landed by Edwin Maxwell while drifting an artificial reef with Captain Ricky Yakimowicz. The big doormat ate a teaser tipped with a bluefish strip, rigged ahead of a 3-ounce bucktail. Fresh meat is the downfall of many flounder, and in addition to bluefish, strips of fresh croaker, spot, bunker, sea robin and shark are very attractive to fluke. Tautog action cooled off somewhat in the hot weather. A few blackfish continue to be taken along the Inner and Outer Walls and Ice Breakers by toggers using sand fleas, green crabs and box crabs. Herbie Shorthose celebrated his birthday on Wednesday by bringing back a 7.32-pound citation tog from the Ice Breakers. Triggerfish were common on the rock piles too. Slot sized striped bass were pulled from the Haystacks by guys tossing RatLTraps and Storm shads around the structure. Fishermen using clams near the Drawbridge in the Lewes Canal got legal stripers too, and also told of having to release oversized bass.
At Hookem’ & Cookem’ Bait & Tackle located at North Shore Marina
in Delaware State Park Capt. Bert tells us there are plenty of flounder in and
around the Inlet. Bert says the keeper ratio is slowly improving. Minnows and
live spot are working well. White Spro bucktails tipped with GULP! are also
attracting some flatties. A few stripers are being taken in the inlet as well as a
few tog. Bluefish are making their appearance known just about every day.
In the surf the kingfish are plentiful off South Bethany. Bloodworms,
Bunker, or FishBites will work well. The kingfish have been staying south due
To some cold water that keeps traveling from Delaware Bay. Inshore fishing
Shows Capt. Bert’s half-day boat finding improved fishing for both seabass and
Flounder. The full-day boat is picking up more seabass. Offshore action along the 20 line is showing lots of dolphin and some bluefin mixed in. Baltimore and
Wilmington Canyons show slowed action on the yellowfin but plenty of white
