If the fishing would have heated up as the weather did we would all be in our glory. I’m not sure if the fish shut down as much as the anglers did. There is still a fair amount of fish being caught but as mid-summer always is, most fish are short of the legal size. I think our fisheries council and the chief flattie are conspirators in the setting of size limits each year. It just always seems to be that most fish are ¼ to ½ inch short. Somethin’s up! That is why I always say you need to be fishing for the enjoyment and not for the meat.

Back bay fishing has been providing plenty of flounder with just a few keeper-size fish mixed in. Croaker action has been spotty but should improve real soon. Lots of spot are to be had by both hook and line or the use of a spot trap. Blowfish are being caught in Rehoboth Bay and small blue fish are everywhere. Crabbing continues to be very good. Larger blues are being taken in Indian River Inlet on incoming tide. Some keeper stripers are also showing up at the end of a late night or early morning incoming tide. Capt. Aaron Hurd of “ Gale Force Charters” hosted the annual Family fishing competition of the Bullinger family where a Guys vs. Gals tournament was held with each team fishing a half-day in the Indian River Inlet area. This year the Guys won after a one-hour storm delay chased all the boat traffic away from their spot allowing them to make a strong finish in their last 50 minutes of fishing and overtake the Gals. Spot and shiners were the name of the game for the bait of the day.

Inshore fishermen are finding some bigger flounder at Site #10 and the DB Buoy areas. Jacob Klinger of Millsboro, De. fished Site #10 using a minnow/squid combo to score a 23-½ inch, 4.6-pound flattie. Capt. Chuck Cook of “First Light Charters” fished Site #10 with Gil Waddington and flounder to 5.8 pounds. Darrel Hawk and wife Sandy fished DB Buoy to trick flatties of 6.4 pounds and 5.0 pounds.

Offshore action has slowed a bit with chunkers scoring at first light and the switching to the troll mid morning. Cary Aughbaugh on “Empty Hook” trolled the Hambone with angler Tom Little scoring a 50-pound wahoo. Capt. Bill Burkhardt of “Toss Em Back” Charters took his crew on an overnighter to score 8 tuna.

Pat at Rattle and reel Sports Center on Long Neck Road said the heat kept many people from fishing. Those who could venture to the ocean did so mainly to cool off. Anglers fishing the Back Bays found croakers and short flounder.

Capt. Bill Baker at Bill’s Sport Shop on Rt.# 1 in Lewes said that at least 3 schools of blues have been seen just out of casting distance from the beach .but there are reports of some blues being taken in the 19" range from the beach.
Steven Warren and Jonathan Davis of Georgetown, DE. limited out on flounder to 20" at Roosevelt Inlet caught on nuclear chicken and white Gulp! Dylan Barbour, age 11, of Rehoboth Beach caught his first three mahi mahi to 44" at Massey's Canyon on trolled ballyhoo aboard the "This is it" with Capt. Skip Mojie and Rick Mahala. Austin Smith of Virginia landed a 4.10-pound,  22 ½ inch flounder taken with a black salty from Indian River Inlet. Dan and Matt Langdon on the "Ofishal" went to the Poorman’s this past weekend and went 1 for 2 on white marlin along with a gaffer dolphin using ballyhoo and artificials. Kevin Schultze and Joseph Schultze of Milton, DE,  caught an estimated 8', 260#  sand tiger shark off the surf near Herring Point at Cape Henlopen State Park.  They kayaked whole spot for bait 200 yards offshore using a 14/0 hook and braided 50# line. We received an email from Capt. Oak Thompson:  "Hey Capt. Bill, We had another great day of fishing in Indian River Bay, caught 25 flounder with 3 keepers, 20 inches,4.5 pounds for Mike Lynch, 18.5 inches, 2.75 pounds for Mike Thompson and  a 18.5 inch, 2.6 pound on live spot and minnows. Caught and released two 25" rockfish and lots of spot and blowfish on fish bite bloodworms. Lots of rod bending action. Good fishing to you!

Deanna at Hookem’ and Cookem’ Bait and Tackle in North Shore Marina

hopes you all are trying to keep cool during these sweltering temperatures. One way to stay cooler is to go out on the water and get fishing. The fishing remains hot along with these temperatures. The off shore bite continues to be the best we have seen in years. As some would say it is back to a normal year. Charter boats as well as private boats continue to go out to the Poor Man's Canyon, Hot Dog and Hambone to get either Blue fin or Yellow fin tuna. The numbers may not be as many as when the season first started but they are still impressive. The biggest blue fin tuna of the year was brought in by private boat "Boy's Toy". This fish weighed in at 108lbs and was caught out at the Poor Man's Canyon.
The American Ambition and Capt. Ike II continue to be top charter tuna boats to date with numbers ranging from 5-7 fish per trip. They weigh anywhere from 30-40lbs. They were being caught on the troll, but now we are starting to hear more reports that they are being caught on the chunk with butterfish and sardines overnight and trolling during the day.
Along with the tuna we are seeing some wahoo hit the docks as well. Again, American Ambition brings in a top weight of 41lbs. Mahi are still coming in, some are nice large ones as well as a few peanuts here and there. We have had one sword fish brought in by Sandy Panik, of Frederick, MD. This 49.8lb sword was caught out at Poor Man's on an over night trip.
The Inlet fishing still remains good with just a little bit of a slow down with the heat.
The rockfish are still showing up with live spot and mostly in the evening to nighttime hours. However, there are the occasional stripers still brought in during the day. The weights are from 9lbs to 15lbs. Not huge, but nice keeper and eating size. The flounder still are coming to the dock, most are being brought in with live spot, but minnows still work too. A nice size 12lb flounder was brought in by Randy Colona, of Rehoboth, DE. He caught it using a fly in the Inlet.
Some inshore fishing has picked up with more keeper sea bass coming from the head boat Judy V. and other charter boats in the marina. #1 Hooker has brought in trigger fish, Capt. Ike II has brought in nice catches of spade fish, trigger fish, tautog and flounder too.
The Miss Ene II has had a couple of nice trips with, believe it or not, Atlantic cod in the mix.
The beach fishing remains ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. We have heard that there are small spot and kingfish. The best fishing on the beach is at night when the SHARKS come out.
They guys are hooking up with some fresh tuna belly on an 8/0 hook and bringing in some nice size toothy critters measuring 6-8'. Be careful, remember you are no longer allowed to beach and release a shark. This is supposed to be done in the water. Good way to lose a foot, don't ya think?!
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said catching over the weekend wasn’t quite as hot as the weather, but earlier in the week, bottom bouncers enjoyed decent action. Patrons on the Angler and Pirate King had a good mix of flounder and ling northwest of DB Buoy in the Ocean. In Delaware Bay, working the artificial reefs was productive for flounder. On Thursday, flukers aboard Katy Did connected with 12 keepers while pile hopping at Sites 5,6,7 and 8. Dave Walker used a bucktail to fool his 5.5-pound flatfish on that trip. In addition to flounder, blowfish, kingfish, snapper blues and a few croakers were found on Bay reefs. Despite rising water temperatures, fluke still hung out in Lewes Canal. Nick Psaroudakis and his buddies put 7 keepers in the box on an excursion to the Canal this past week. Slot size stripers were also pulled from the Canal, primarily at night, when heat and light levels dropped. Drifting eels around the drawbridge yielded linesiders, as did casting small artificials to the shadow line of the Roosevelt Coast Guard Station lights. Rockfish also responded to topwater plugs tossed at the Outer Wall in the evenings. At Roosevelt Inlet, increasing numbers of croakers and spot were hooked by casters using pieces of bloodworms, clam and FishBites on rigs with small hooks. Tautog catches cooled off some with the hot weather, but crews that put in their time managed a few keepers for the table. Captain Pete’s toggers on Top Fin took home 17 blackfish and a big trigger on Thursday. The offshore bite was slower, but the Hambone produced bluefins, yellowfins, wahoo, dolphin and white marlin for trollers working that area Friday. Chunking with butters and bunker resulted in tuna for boats at the Hot Dog Friday. Lex Robertson reported that he fished 77-degree water at the Dog aboard the Spectacle with Captain Doc Peoples, and his group boated six nice yellowfins to 53 pounds. Boats that beat up the Bight of the Washington Canyon found a few yellowfins, the occasional Bigeye and a fair number of billfish. Closer to the beach, Captain Jeff Hoepfl on Joint Venture trolled the 12 Fathom Lump southeast of Delaware Light for 3 gaffer dolphin, including an 18.6 pounder landed by Lewis Means, plus, a 51.6 pound bluefin decked by Donna Means. John Woodson weighed in a 19.3-pound mahi he caught on the Skipjack.

‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!