There seems to a lot more throwbacks being caught than
keepers for the time being. I am sure that will change many times
thru the season. The fish are scattered now and it may be a good
idea to try areas where there is less boat traffic but still good bottom
to hold the flatties. Bluefish are still roaming the Indian River Inlet and
and the back bays. Chris Hunter and Hillard Head posted flounder of
2.5 lbs. and 3.3lbs in the RSHOA Flounder Tournament.Steve Marando,
Marilyn Baranyi, Phyllis Dinger, Tim Maurer, Julie Hildenbrand, Ron Hildenbrand,
And Justin Marando all but flounder catches on the board in the Pot-Nets Home
Owners Assn. Tournament. Ocean fishing has not heated up yet as the sea bass
Seem to be holding out on us and the flounder are still being a bit uncooperative.
Shark fishing is fairly good as Theresa King weighed in a 91 lb mako
taken at the Hambone. Richard Cordy took a 280lb thresher while fishing the
Old Grounds aboard “Renegade”. Dennis Davidheiser, along with his father
Charles took a 120Lb thresher while fishing near A Buoy.
Don’t forget to sign up for the Rick’s Bait & Tackle / Sea Side Gas &
Grill Flounder Tournament. Sign up deadline is Friday, June 18th. Tournament
runs from June 19th thru June 24th. Final weigh-in is June 24th at 4:00 PM.
Awarding of the cash prizes will follow at Sea Side Gas & Grill and music will
Be provided for the evening. Food is available and soda and frozen drinks will
Available also. (BYOB)!
From Bill’s Sport Shop on RT #1 in Lewes will get the standings of their
Flounder Tournament. In First place is William Rawlings with a 9.45 Lber, Don Ruth is second with a 9.12Lb flattie. John Goethe is third at 8.05 pounds and Don Ruth is fourth with a 6.66-pound flounder.
In other fishing news, Shane Townsend, Clarksville DE, caught 5 keeper flounder to 4.40 lbs, 23" at the Roosevelt Inlet on a green bucktail and shiner. A customer stopped in yesterday and told us he was drifting along the Outer Wall fishing for stripers with live spot. On his first drop he got a fish on. Turned out to be a 9 lb 12oz tog, which he released! Joe Cangianelli was fishing on the "Raven" with Capt. Randy and picked up a 199.8 lb thresher at the Jacks pot on a blue fillet. Captain Trey Parker, "Playin' Hooke" Charters, out of Indian River Marina entered the Mako Mania Tournament, Bahia Marina, in OC. On Saturday, he went to the Baltimore Canyon at the 500-fathom line where he hooked a huge shark that took three hours and six miles to land. His mate, Kevin, was the angler and when they weighed it in it was a 626.7 lb thresher with a 13' tail. The fish is just 15 lbs shy of the Md. state record. The team won first place in the thresher division taking home $5,020. Julianna Wilson, age 8, of Severna Park, MD, caught a 20", 2.6 lb flounder at Roosevelt Inlet on squid and shad. Nolan Cooper landed a 19", 2.40 lb flounder while fishing the Roosevelt Inlet using minnows for bait. Capt. Brian Waslevek out of Anglers Fishing Center, Delaware fishing family, on the Pirate King II, was out at B buoy using a squid/ mackerel sandwich and hooked up with a 190lb thresher.
Ron at Rattle & Reel Sports Center on Long Neck Road tells us
flounder are being taken in the Back Bays using GULP! on jig heads, minnows
and squid, shiners, and smelt. Hickory shad and blues are in the Indian River
Inlet and can be taken using jigs. At Massey’s landing they are scoring stripers
and shad at night using anything black. Flounder are being caught during the day
on minnows and squid or white GULP!.
From Hookem’ & Cookem’ Bait & Tackle at North Shore Marina we received the following information. This week had a slow start but finished with a bang. Reports in the surf are that there are a few king fish showing up, but very few. If you are going to try your hand at this use a king fish rig with the artificial bait FishBites Bloodworm or the live bloodworms. And if you are looking for skates and sharks you are in luck. That seems to be what everyone is reporting back. Fishing out in the ocean for black sea bass and flounder started the week very slow and finally turned around on Friday and Saturday. The headboat Judy V. has been getting out during the week but had been reporting just a few bites with no keepers at times. But Saturday that all changed with customers bringing home about 2-3 per person. Now that doesn't sound like a lot but it is a big improvement from what has been going on. A few flounder have been coming in from out at D-B buoy. A nice one that weighed in at 5.25lbs. The inlet fishing has slowed for the rockfishing but has improved for the flounder fishing. There are some still being caught in the inlet, but you will only see the keepers being reeled in at night. Frank Clark, of Ocean View, caught a 28.2lb rockfish while using a Wind Cheater plug on the end of the incoming tide. Bluefish are running on the tides so throw out a bucktail with or without a worm and have some fun. There have been flounder brought in while fishing in the inlet. Most people are using either minnow and squid combo or "Gulp" on a jig head. Tom Hargreaves, of Bethany Beach, caught a 7.8lb flounder using a Gulp eel. And John Lindsay, of Ocean View, caught a 3.3lb flounder on a "Gulp" bait while also fishing in the inlet. Most fishermen are fishing on the north side of the inlet anywhere from the Coast Guard wall and westward to the bay. Now lets move on to the offshore report....the week started slow for this fishing too. But with the IRBA having a shark tournament this past week we saw some nice action with the Makos and Thresher sharks. The excitement started on Friday when a 560lb Thresher Shark was caught by Jay Richwine off of the "Saltwater Cowboy" This shark was a female and when she was cut open to start the cleaning process 3 pups were pulled out. The pups appeared to be very weak and we were unsure if they were going to live. So they were put in our bait tank to try to get them a little healthier. After about an hour or so they were let go in the marina. When they first entered the water they seemed to twist and turn in circles in the water and then they took a dive and came back up. After about 30 seconds or so they appeared to be doing well as we watched them swim around in the marina. Saturday morning we had a report that one had been spotted still swimming around in the marina by the fuel dock. Back to the tournament fishing...the heaviest mako was 172lb and caught by David Cropper while fishing on the "Gummy Bear”. The heaviest blue fish weighed 11.2lbs and was brought in by Joe Nobel on the Miss Donna. And for the tuna report, Charlie Horning and his gang on the "Fish Whistle" brought in the first yellow fin tuna of the season with 7 tuna coming in to the dock. The heaviest one weighed in at 41lbs. Capt Charlie reported that they were fishing out at the Poor Man's Canyon. They were fishing with spreader bars with ballyhoo. People are still bringing in some blue fin tuna also. We have been told that they have been caught out at Massey’s Canyon.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said the offshore season kicked into gear, and he had the first reports of tuna, dolphin and billfish from shop customers. Jimmy Reed and Mike Cannon trolled one hundred to three hundred fathoms of South Poorman’s Friday, and scored six yellowfins in the 40 pound class. The bites came while pulling spreader bars and other plastics behind birds in 66 degree water. Rainbow and pink were the most effective colors. Charlie Horning, Walt Schrade and the guys on “Fish Whistle” found yellowfins along the 862 line between 75 and 95 fathoms Friday afternoon. They boated 7 tuna from 25 to 42 pounds. Towing spreader bars and small squid daisy chains on flat lines was the winning technique. The gang aboard “Spoiled III” had a fantastic trip to 1000 fathoms of the Washington Canyon Saturday. Captain Angelo Delapo came across acres of wooden boards floating in cobalt blue, warm water. He commented that the area looked like a lumberyard, and that’s where the crew concentrated their efforts. The decision paid off, and they were rewarded with 13 gaffer dolphin in the 15-pound class, including a 16.9-pound mahi for Julie Nelson. They also iced a pair of 30-pound yellowfins while trolling skirted ballyhoos. The highlight of the day was an estimated 500-pound blue marlin that charged in and grabbed a horse ballyhoo with pink and white Illander combo on the shotgun line. Chris Dispoto was in the chair, and after a lengthy battle, the crew released their first blue one of the year.Ed Sigda and the boys aboard “Snow Goose” put out a spread of lures when they arrived at the 19 Fathom Lump Friday morning, and shortly thereafter hooked a 32 inch bluefin on a cedar plug. Ed mentioned that the structure was covered with clouds of sand eels in water that ranged from 67 to 69 degrees. Sometimes the baitfish were so thick, they could be seen right at the surface. After they had their single bluefin limit, the anglers set up for sharking in the same area. While chumming, they released two makos and a sandbar. They also had a big thresher on that managed to get unhooked. Ocean bottom fishing was fair with strong currents surrounding the new moon. Sea bass remained elusive. Boats that made multiple anchor stops on small pieces of structure ended up with some decent bass, but crews drifting broader areas had few keepers. Fluke have been showing on the Old Grounds. Anglers working strip baits on Spro bucktail jigs got some legal size flatties. Scott Ayars scored his limit of four quality flatfish while fluking with Captain Ricky Yakimowicz Saturday. In Delaware Bay, flounder were found around artificial reefs 6 and 7 near Brown Shoal. There were no big numbers of keepers, but Captain Pete on the “Top Fin” returned with a few quality fish while rubble bouncing this past week. George Slick scored a 7.34-pound citation doormat. Scott Peterson pulled in a 5.04 pounder, and Art Shapiro landed a 4.63-pound flatfish. Jeremy Scott had a 4.94 pounder aboard the Martha Marie. Scattered reports of flatties also came from boats drifting the eastern edge of The Anchorage and structure changes near 19 Buoy. The best flounder game in town continues to take place in shallow water. Gulp! artificials in chartreuse, white and pink have been the hot lick. The soft baits by themselves on a leadhead, speck rig or bucktail jig have been highly effective, but some anglers combined them with minnows or shiners for extra punch. Plenty of fish came from the Lewes Canal, Broadkill River and Roosevelt Inlet. The keeper ratio was slim, but anglers who put in their time ended up with some decent fluke. Alan Herr and Tim Craley stopped by with seven keepers from 3 to 4.5 pounds they pulled from the Canal by using Gulp! Alan checked back in Thursday with a 6.28 pounder that nailed a chartreuse Gulp! Jerk Shad. Tristin Sowers got a 4.15-pound flattie in Broadkill River. Aaron Strausbaugh was drifting the Broadkill when he boated his 7.09-pound citation winner. Flatfish were also spread out in skinny water close to Broadkill and Lewes Beaches, and on the Henlopen Flats, but numerous big rays grabbed offerings intended for flatties. Fly fishermen wading the shoreline either side of the Cape Henlopen fishing pier hooked flounder while casting Clousers and other small weighted patterns. Patrons on the pier had flounder too, along with the first few small croakers and spot. The panfish preferred bloodworms and FishBites. Striped bass have taken up residence along the Outer Wall. Boaters casting lures in the evening and after dark got into good bass. Bombers and RatLTraps were popular hard baits. Spear fishermen encountered nice stripers as well. Nate Landis was swimming the Wall when he shot a 36.4-pound trophy linesider. Rock were also active in the Lewes Canal. Guys drifting eels around the drawbridge had success with keepers. Anchoring and baiting with clams on the bottom also resulted in rockfish. The July and August slot season will offer anglers the chance to keep two stripers between 20 and 26 inches per day from Delaware Bay and it’s tributaries.
