Hi folks,

What a beautiful weekend. The weather was great and the fishing was trying real hard to match the sunny skies. Back bay flounder action continues to be the most productive. Striper action in the Indian River Inlet is also hot when it is hot. Some really nice fish have come out of the inlet. Ocean activity has been mainly sea bass with a few reports of keeper flounder. Big blues have been taken on the troll between DA Buoy and the Delaware Lightship.

A few threshers have been reported near the shipping channel. Julie Stevenson of Lewes, De. fished Indian River with her Dad, Joe Viscuglia to boat a citation flattie of 7 pounds 12 ounces. Don Montgomery came all the way from Myrtle Beach, , S.C. to boat a 5 pound 6 oz Indian River flattie using a minnow. Bill Taylor of Kennett Square, Pa. used a minnow to fool his 5 pound 13 ounce Indian River flounder. Jim Beam of Palmyra, Pa. fished the DB Buoy area to trick a 4-pound 6ounce flattie using a squid and minnow combo. Mickey Payne of Georgetown, De. had a great day in the Indian River Inlet boating his limit “and then some” stripers to 23 ¼ pounds.

Capt. Eric Ludwig of “Hook & Cook Charters had a great day shark fishing the 20 fathom line to release 2 threshers 250 pounds and had a mako at the boat.       

At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road Ron reports good flounder action in Rehoboth Bay and Indian River on minnows and squid along with GULP! Spec rigs tipped with GULP! have also been working well. Striper action in the Indian River Inlet is also improving.

At Henelopen Bait and Tackle on Savannah Road in Lewes, De., Dan tells us stripers to 38 inches have come from the surf at Cape Henelopen to those soaking fresh bunker. Flounder action continues to be good in all the usual spots such as the Lewes Canal.

Bert at Hook Em” and Cook Em” Bait and Tackle in the Delaware State Park in North Shore Marina tells us striper fishing in Indian River Inlet has been good. Shad have also been plentiful in the inlet. Josh Mummert of   New London, Pa. took a 12-pound striper from the inlet. Blues have also been invading the inlet along with flounder to 22 inches. The Headboat fishing has been fair to good bottom fishing the ocean. Capt. John Nedelka on the charter boat “Karen Sue” has been putting his parties on some nice sea bass. Sharks and short stripers have been coming out of the surf. Thresher sharks are starting to be to be taken. The #1 Hooker brought in a 156-pound thresher taken by the party of Josh Bentz, John Bentz, John Swietzer, Mike Drobick, and Vince Skimski, of Gettysburg, Pa. A 201-pound thresher was brought in by Jack and Mike Barrow along with Drew Jones and Sean Fisher. They used a live bluefish to fool their catch. On the “Rock On”, Tim Tribbitt and Josh Moran of Ocean View, De fished the Poormans’ Canyon to bring the 1st bluefin of the year. It weighed in at 25.5 pounds. The “Stresss Relief” had a great day of dolphin fishing with 7 year old Colby Hook taking a 13.1 and 11.6 pounder.

Bill’s Sport Shop on RT# 1 in Lewes gives the standings in his Ongoing flounder tournament.

1st Tom Bailor 7.34lbs.  28in., 2nd Dillon Mitchell 6.1lbs.  25.25in., 3rd Michael Bott 6lbs  25in., 4th Billy Rawlings 5.99lbs 25.5in., 5th John Rupp 5.93lbs 25in., 6th Robert Scharmer 5.91lbs 24.5in., 7th Sharlene Flipping 5.81lbs 25in., 8th Wesley Grove 5.31lbs  24.5in., 9th Dillon Mitchell 5.18lbs 24.5in., 10th Michael Lee 5.11lbs 24in.. Bill also reports, Bob Watson of Millsboro got a tournament flounder at 5.07 lb. Bill Keyser of Rehoboth caught a 14.90lb striper at Herring Point on fresh bunker. Victor Thao of Lititz, Pa caught a citation striper at IRI on Storm Lure weighing 23.52 lbs. and measured 39". Eddie Kim of Silver Spring, Md caught a 24", 6.78 lb flounder at IRI on a Storm Shad. Keith Tolley reported catching 2 drum, 20lb and 40lb, at the Broadkill Slough on clams. Lee Conklin of Lewes caught a 6.85 lb, 26.5" flounder at Massey's Landing while drifting with a spoon. Dan Fair of Lewes nailed a 34", 11.86lb striper on mullet at Cape Henlopen State Park. Mike Johnson of Lewes was fishing the Pier and brought a 22.5", 5.14 lb flounder over the rails. Tommy Barnett of Dover caught a 2.83lb., 20" flounder at the Pier on a jig head with Chartreuse Gulp. Deborah Wilson weighed in a 3.38lb tournament flounder. Taylor Parisi of Wilmington boated a 5.5lb, 24.5" flounder at the Anchorage on a squid and minnow combo. Don Parrett was fishing the suds at 3R's Rd and beached blues on mullet up to 18". Trey Parker, Jim Larson, Ches Hendrick, and Kevin Taylor caught 22 blue's, the biggest of which was 13.8lbs. Their boat, the "Playin' Hooky", was in first place in the IRBA bluefish tourney after the first day with a total of 217lbs of fish.  Roger Guiderian of Claymont caught a 35", 12.83 lb striper in the Broadkill on bloodworms.

Kerry Lodsh was fishing the rocks at IRI and landed a citation 24.20lb striper, 40" long and 24" girth on a storm lure. Tim Han caught a 19 3/4" flounder on gulp at Cape Henelopen.  Isaiah Ross beached trout up to 27", 6.49 lb. on peeler crab at the Broadkill.  Art Lodge was fishing an ocean wreck and boated a citation sea bass--19.25" long, 13" girth and weighed 3.81 lb. Andrew and John Snyder, and Matt Hamilton caught 20 blueline tilefish and 12 cod up to 20lbs on clams and squid in 2000ft of water. Matt Lambert fished the Pier and brought keeper flounder over the rails using white Gulp. Jim Turc entered a 4.30lb tournament flounder. Captain Mike Rivera, of the ON Delivery Charters out of Indian River Inlet, brought in the first thresher of this year. The shark weighed in at 158lbs. and was caught on light tackle while trolling for blue fish off the N.J. coast. He reported that it took more than 4 hours to boat.  On other trips he is doing very well on sea bass. Captain Carey Evans of the Grizzley sport fishing charters reported that drum fishing has been excellent this Memorial Day weekend. Black drum fishing should remain good thru early June. Drum, up to 65lbs., have been caught. Capt Ted, who runs three boats out of Lewes, reports 8 keeper flounder at the anchorage on the Indian and 17 keepers on the Angler at the Anchorage. Saturday night, 13 drum were taken between 2 of Capt. Ted's boats. Kwan Chon caught 2 keeper flounder at 2.77 lb., 19.25" and 2.74lb,  20" CHSP Pier on Gulp! Ted Proseus from Millsboro was fishing shallow water and had 7 flatties from 17.5" to 18.25" and a total of 17 fish over 16". Ted reported catching one keeper that measured 19.5" and weighed 3.2lbs.

‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!