Hi folks,

It is summertime and the fishing is pretty much following

the normal pattern. Plenty of small flounder with a few keepers

in the bunch. Croakers are starting to appear in great numbers

and the crabbing is good. Minnows, squid, GULP!, and cut bait

are still doing the trick. Spot are plentiful and bloodworms or the

FishBites artificial bloodworms will get you plenty of spot to use

for bait. Some nice flounder can be found along the rocks on the

south side of the inlet at the condos. The deeper holes throughout

the back bays also hold better-sized fish. Five-year-old Ticen Willey

of Milton fished Massey’s Ditch and fooled a 21 ½ inch flounder onto

the boat. Chuck Dougharty fished Indian river Inlet and score a 27-inch,

7 pound 6 oz flattie. Capt Dave Carroll took Lennie Farrall to the inlet

to score a 7.8 pound 28 ½ inch flounder. Capt. Chuck Cook of “First

Light Charters” had Clayton Horuath of Lewis Center, Ohio in Indian

River Bay to boat his 7.6-pound flounder. Cheyenne Peet fished Indian

River with George Harvey to score a 7Lb 7oz flattie.

Offshore action continues to be fair to good with anglers scoring

A mix of tuna, dolphin, white marlin and wahoo. Most action is still on

the troll with a few having success chunking and jigging. Mike Duval

took Charles Hodgson to the Wilmington Canyon to troll up a 16 Lb 8oz

dolphin that measured 45 inches. Most of the inshore areas are providing

bluefin tuna and dolphin.

In close on the various wrecks and piles of rubble you will find

A mixed bag of flounder, sea bass, tog, and some ling. There seems to

Be plenty of fish but finding fish of legal size is a task. Site #10 and the

Old Grounds seem to be providing the most activity.

At Rattle and Reel Sports Center on Long Neck Road we talked

to Pat and he informed me there are lots of croakers in the back bays. Lots of short flounder and a few keepers seems to be the norm. Pat told

me about 11 year-old Gianna Abbott of Havertown, Pa. who was not

going to give up on landing a keeper flounder. She was fishing Massey’s

Ditch using minnow when she hooked a 20-inch flattie. While reeling it

In her reel failed and she brought in by hand. Great job Gianna!

From Bill’s Sport Shop on Rt. #1 in Lewes we find that Ed Lewandowski reported an offshore trip aboard the "Reel Dreams" with his father (Ed Lewandowski, Sr.), Capt. Ron Savidge and his son Steve to Massey's Canyon where they put a 45-pound bluefin in the box within the first 30 minutes. They picked up just as the rain started and ran southeast towards the tip of the Baltimore and found 75 degree water on the west wall and had a couple of knockdowns soon after they got the baits in the water, but lost the fish. They eventually hooked up on a couple skipjack tuna and a small yellowfin within the first 20 minutes.
Tom Costa of Pa caught a 3.5 pound, 23 inch flounder using a spec rig and Gulp! at Roosevelt Inlet. Bucktail Bob nailed 2 slot stripers on sand fleas and 5 keeper tog at the Outer Wall using green crabs. Michael Davidson aboard the "Outlet" fished the Baltimore Canyon and limited out on yellowfin, five white marlin and a bunch of dolphin. He also released a large shark. Richie Goodman, two Tony's and David went to the Inner Wall and came away with 20 tog in 2 hours. The largest weighed in at 6.25 pounds and 23 inches long. All were caught on green crabs. Captain Aaron Hurd runs "Gale Force Charters" at the Indian River Inlet and he reported that a Lancaster Pa family caught 6 keeper flounder on one trip and that the Weingold family landed 5 keeper flounder on another trip. Capt Aaron also runs "In Shore Charters" and will also be targeting tautog and striper trips at the near shore reef sites.
John Mutz & Tom Bailor filled two large bushels baskets with fat male crabs at Gull Point on a trot line with chicken necks. Mike Rivera, "On Delivery Charters", called to report 3 white marlin at Poorman's, 3 yellowfin tuna to 50 pounds, 2 mako releases and 1 hammerhead.
Bill Jr. fished Massey's Landing prior to the fireworks on Monday night and caught a short flounder and a 14" croaker. Capt. Oak Thompson, Mike Thompson, Jeff and Matt Sherwood and I caught over 30 flounder, keeping 5. The largest keeper was 23 inches, weighing in at 4. 8 pounds. They also released 7 rockfish up to 25 inches and several 3 pound blue fish using cut eel and minnows.

Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said although few keeper flounder were taken on open bottom, catches have been pretty good for guys who know how to work rough structure. The rocks, coral and sea trees of the Old Grounds between DB and DA Buoys, and the rubble of Reef Sites 9 and 10 have been holding fluke, and savvy fishermen have found that modifications to standard rigging helps them catch more flatties amongst that kind of cover. Shorter leaders are the key. A 3 to 4 ounce bucktail with a hair teaser on a 4-inch dropper about a foot above the jig works well. Flukers also had success employing a rig with a sinker heavy as necessary to maintain contact with the bottom and a hair teaser hook on a short leader about 6 to 8 inches above the weight. The jigs or hooks get sweetened with a strip of squid, shark or bluefish, shiners, smelt, finger mullet, Gulp! or any combination of these. Anglers should constantly bounce the rigs as they drift through the chunky bottom, and be alert for the quick strike of a flatfish lying in ambush. The jigging action seems to provoke more aggressive strikes than when baits are drug casually across the bottom, and flounder just hang on, deciding whether to swallow or not. The short leadered setups are also less likely to get snagged. Some days when the drift was too fast or in a bad direction, crews that anchored and cast offerings up current so they walked across the structure did well. Jigging produced some nice specimens, like Dave Walker’s 6.21 pounder bucktailed at Site 10 on the Katy Did. Jim Woods wound in a 6.97-pound doormat on Katy Did. Guys on the Grizzly culled 11 nice keepers out of 53 they hooked Saturday on the Old Grounds. Flounder came from Delaware Bay artificial reefs as well. Lisa DiVincenzo and Laura Kemper used Gulp! at the Star Site for 3 flatties to 22 inches. Jamie Moore managed a 3.92 pounder with minnow and shark sandwich at the Star Site. Harriet Paul put a 5 pounder in the box aboard Lil’ Angler. Curtis Hawkins captured a 6.02-pound trophy on the Angler. Clayton Horvath had a 7.6-pound welcome mat while working a wreck with Captain Chuck Cook of First Light Charters. Joe Walker and his crew scored 8 quality keepers Wednesday on the Star Site. Among the catch was a 5.39-pound beauty boated by Joe’s granddaughter, Candace Way. Wade Bondrowski boxed his limit of fine flatties to 4.17 pounds at Site 7 on Thursday. Flounder continue to bite in Lewes Canal. Garrett Shipley checked in a 4.09-pound fluke from there. Dillon Peden got a 20 incher at Roosevelt Inlet using Gulp! Slot sized stripers ate eels and clams near the drawbridge on the Canal. Boaters tossing Rat-L-Traps, Storm Shads or live spot to the Ice Breakers and Wall in the evenings got into rockfish too. Tautog fishermen had decent catches at the Ice Breakers and Outer Wall using green crabs, sand fleas, shrimp and box crabs. Triggerfish were mixed in. Faith Roth reeled in a 7.29-pound citation tog at the Wall. Fishermen at the rails of Cape Henlopen Pier had plenty of spot on bloodworms and FishBites. Tuna action between the Baltimore and Poor Man’s Canyons was spotty, but a good bite developed in the Washington Canyon. Captains Brent Wiest and Dave Walker took Katy Did on a long ride from Lewes to the Washington Saturday, and it was worth it. They found schools of bait, birds and many whales in Canyon’s Bight, and trolled up 19 yellowfins in just an hour’s time. The guys put seven fish to 52 pounds in the bag, and released the others. Billfishing was good offshore. “Doc” Roberts released two blue marlin and had shots at a couple other whites in 70 fathoms of Poor Man’s on Wednesday. Warm water has also attracted dolphin. Craig Lester landed a 28.2-pound mahi in the Baltimore aboard Swords Fish.

‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!