Dirty water and floating debris was not enough to keep local fishermen off the water. Those fishermen who got their boats back in the water and ventured out did so with a fair amount of success. Scott Fluharty and crew fished the Baltimore Canyon to score some nice yellowfin and dolphin to near 30 pounds.
Hunter Culver got his first white marlin release while fishing the Baltimore with his father Donnie.
Inshore fishermen have started to score more keeper sea bass while fishing the DA and DB Buoy areas. Boyd Lord on the “Capt Snooze” fished between B and A and got into some nice sea bass, croaker, and a few flounder.
Bob Cleveland on “Deputy Dog” took Denny Reber to his hot spots to score a dozen real nice sea bass and some croakers that the sharks didn’t get on the way up. Capt. Barry “Matey” Brittingham had his brother Alan, and their dad Wayne just southeast of DB Buoy to score 10 keeper sea bass, I big croaker and 10 throwback flounder. They were fishing aboard Barry’s boat “Reel Allure”.
Back bay action has been a bit slow since the storm and probably is due mostly to dirty water. Most successful folks have been scoring just inside the Indian River Inlet. The water there seems to have cleared up a bit more therefore providing more activity. Crabbing continues to be good to great even with the dirty water. Eleven-year-old Noah Tuohey of Middletown, De. caught his first keeper flounder while fishing Massey’s Ditch using minnows.
Some of the best fishing of the season should be getting underway anytime soon. Normally some of the largest flounder of the year are taken in September to Thanksgiving. This year the season closes October 24, so now is the time to get that big flattie on the deck of your boat. Striper season will be getting underway real soon and now is the time to gear up! Offshore fishing should continue to improve if Mother Nature does not send us too many storms.
Capt. Bill Baker of Bill’s Sport shop on Rt. #1 in Lewes reports that Deacon Dave McDowell and his son, Vince, along with Captain Bill and his grandson, Joey Neely, aboard the Slicker III, fished the Old Grounds and B Buoy, and caught a 19" flounder along with a few throw backs. The party also managed some lingcod. We received an email from Ray Hibbs of Long Neck, De. that read; " I realize this report may be a little late but believe it or not it was not only my first keeper flounder of the season but more importantly it was the first keeper aboard my new boat the "Lumikko" (the Weasle in Finnish). Fishing with my buddy Ray Long, the day became quite windy and Indian River Bay’s water became a little sloppy, pretty slow all in all. Along with the 18 inch keeper flounder, a few tiny sea bass, small sand sharks, and a few other throw-back flounder. Sorry to ramble on, but it was just a memorable day for me. Thanks for listening." Jim Mahony of “Blue Collar Man Charters reported that while trolling the East wall of the Baltimore Canyon, Capt. Neil Brosnahan, had a great day in glass smooth seas electrifying his (Rocky Wilkerson) charter party with a great White Marlin bite releasing 4 whites and landing one to document the first marlin for angler Brandon "Beaner" Germer of Elizabethtown PA. The white was caught on trolled ballyhoo. "Beaner" was excited about earning himself a marlin piece of hard ware to be displayed proudly around his neck on his next charter." A 28-inch, 8-pound flattie was pulled from the Old Grounds by Captain Joe Huk. The party also caught about 20 more flounder, only 3 keepers, blues and croaker. A fun day aboard the "Fish Huk II" with sidekick Al Joseph. Brett Hamstead and Bill Weiss fished Herring Point using fresh spot on green top and bottom rigs. In close was the place for plenty of bluefish action with the largest being 14 to 15 inches.
Capt. Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina informed us that after the passage of Hurricane Irene, inshore fishing action slowed down considerably. By week’s end, catching began to improve, with best reports coming from the ocean, on live bottom surrounding DB Buoy. Big croakers made up most of the take, with fair numbers of legal sea bass mixed in. Keeper flounder were hard to come by, but Mike Shockley managed a near citation 6.9-pound doormat while casting a Gulp! from Lewes Beach Saturday evening. Bottom fish in Delaware Bay were affected by the storm as well. Hardheads and flounder were uncooperative in their usual haunts for the most part. Captain Ted on the Pirate King did find some willing croakers Saturday at the red and green DF Buoy, outside the mouth of the Bay. Snapper bluefish didn’t seem to mind the blow, and were caught on the Star Site and around the Outer Wall. Finger mullet have begun moving through near shore tidal areas, and schools were seen inside Cape Henlopen and in Roosevelt Inlet and Canary Creek. Spot are still around in good numbers, and anglers at the rails of Cape Henlopen Pier pulled in plenty using bloodworms and FishBites. Bunker remain in the Bay. The combination of baitfish here now should attract and hold gamefish for some time. The major influx of fresh water due to rain and runoff from Irene has stirred things up in the Bay for a while, but it’s unlikely that catching won’t bounce back. During the last few days of tautog season, toggers at the Outer Wall had good success with blackfish during parts of the tide with clean water. This bodes well for the reopening of tog season on September 29th. Slot stripers were taken around the Lewes Drawbridge and Roosevelt Coast Guard Station before the minimum size changed back to 28 inches on September 1st. Boats running offshore encountered yellowfin tuna between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons after the Hurricane. There was a pretty good bite the first half of the week in 50 fathoms along the 42100 line. Some nice wahoo mingled with tuna. Those fish scattered as the week wore on, but crews picked a few tuna among masses of false albacore in south moving current near the tip of the Baltimore over the weekend. Normally, the period leading up to the August full moon kicks off some good swordfish action. Squid and tinker mackerel bunch up in the deep and are available for swords to work over by the moonlight. Wes Olson found that to be true Friday night when he and his son hooked four swords aboard his “Bad Habit”, while drifting live squids through the Bight of Baltimore Canyon. They put one nice swordy in the box to take home, and released the others. Crews chasing other billfish released a few scattered white and blue marlin. Richard Fischer and his crew had a good trip to the 461 Lump Saturday. They went 3 for 5 on white marlin, and filled the box with 37 dolphin. Some additional boats trolling southern canyons had multiple fish releases, but any big concentration of tailing and cutting whites working bait, like the past couple seasons, has yet to materialize. Deep-water bottom fishing was productive for the Saturday group aboard Skipjack. Captain Chris Thurman had a decent drift on the edge of the Baltimore, despite strong current, and got into some nice tilefish. The guys ended up with 20 golden tiles, several in the 20-pound class. Patti Schneider earned a citation for the 3.45-pound knot head sea bass she wrestled from the Triple Wrecks aboard “Patient Lady”.
Fishing Report 
