Fishing Report
Fishing Report
05/12/08

Hi Folks! Mother Nature seems to be up to her old tricks and I sure hope she does not plan on this type of weather much longer. Even though the weather has left room for improvement we have had spurts of good catches. Flounder fishing in the back bays continues to be fair to good when wind and rain does not have the water dirtied. I have not yet heard of any flounder action from the ocean. This past week showed a huge surge in the striper action in Indian River Inlet. The stripers have been hitting big bucktails,Storm lures, and live eels. A few sea bass have been taken from the B Buoy and Site#11 areas. Tog fishing remained hot right up to the close on Sunday.
With the rising fuel costs a fish that may receive quite a bit of attention again might be the bluefish. The mighty blue is a great fight and can be fished by the use of various fishing methods. You can troll up the blues, drift with a bucket of chum, cast a variety of lures or just fish with cut bait. No matter which method you choose, you could encounter the battle that could quickly wear you out! People who would normally fish for tuna may choose to save fuel and stay nearer to shore a fish for blues. Blues can be found up and down the east coast and the average weight is between 3 and 15 pounds. When fishing for these toothy critters beware of the business end as the take out a piece of you in a flash. Even the small snapper blue can produce a painful gash if given the opportunity. Most people shy away from the blues for table fare but if prepared properly they are quite tasty and certainly make great chowder. When filleting your bluefish be sure to cut away all the bloodline (dark meat) before cooking. This will greatly improve the taste. On the grill with salt, pepper, garlic powder, slice of onion, and just a spritz of lemon juice is pretty tasty. Some of our reports had Dave McArthur on “Bonita Irene”
Picking up 11 flatties with 2 of them being keepers. They fished the incoming tide on the backside of Burrton’s Island. Remember, flounder limits are now 4 fish per day at 19.5 inches. Dennis Stetz fished the VFW Slough to take flounder of 7 pounds 14 ounces and another nice flattie of 5 pounds 10 ounces. Dennis was fishing a ¼ ounce jig head tipped with GULP! J.R. Tijering took a 19 ½ inch flounder using a piece of shad at Massey’s Ditch.
Capt. Brian Wirts on “Producer” took Chad LaCates to the Ice Breakers where they took their limit of tog to 6 pounds, 13ounces. They used green crabs for bait. Dan Haraczka on “Josephine” took Stanley Epright and Frank Kast to Site #10 for a day tog picking to 7 pounds. Mike Mock fished the Lewes Canal and picked up 3 flounder at 15 inches and 2 stripers at 20 inches.
At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road I talked to Rich and he reported plenty of small flounder being taken in the back bays. One of the flounder hot spots was out from the gazebo at Pots Nets Seaside. Rich also said that the weather was factor in a fairly unproductive week. He did say that bluefish to 3 pounds had been taken from Indian river Inlet.
At Hookem’ and Cookem’ Bait and Tackle at Indian River Marina, Burt told me big stripers are being taken during incoming tide using bucktails or live shad. Last Wednesday night 100 keepers were taken from the rocks. Flounder continue to come in from the back bays with a 24 incher brought in on Saturday. On the Capt Bob Headboat, trips to Site # 11 produced nice catches of tog and sea bass. Ron Rowles of Wilmington took a 10-pound tog.
John at Henlopen Bait & Tackle on Savannah Road in Lewes reported stripers of 41 and 43 inches at the Henlopen Point using fresh bunker. Lewes Canal is still giving up flounder to folks drifting minnows and squid or shiners and squid. Blues can be found upon and down the beaches on cut bait or whole finger mullet.
Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said black drum came on this week. Boomers were taken by drummers soaking clam baits in 15 to 18 feet of water on the Coral Beds off Slaughter Beach. Daytime action seemed as good as that after dark, and afternoon outgoing tide was productive. Dave Morris, Margo Pietras, Tom Pietras and Marty Evans fished Saturday aboard the Joint Venture with Captain Jeff and Mark Hoepfl. The crew boated six drum to 35 pounds. Tommy Dukes and friends decked three to 82 pounds earlier in the week. After harvesting a limit of tautog Saturday, the gang aboard Grizzly put in a little time drumming to capture a pair of fish to 41 pounds. The tog season is currently shut down until July 1, but prior to the closure, catching was good along the Outer Wall and on Reef Site 7. Paul Hazzard had an 11.18 pound citation blackfish, Tom Roberts caught a 10.73, William Humphreys had a 10.05 pounder, Ivan Purcell landed a 9.83, Linda Greeley got a 9.01, and Hobby Isaacs decked a 7.61 pound tautog. Big stripers also made an appearance. Daniel Kline and Justin Hallacher were casting Storm Shads and live eels along the Outer Wall when they hooked into striped bass scaling 27.1, 22.1 and 20.4 pounds. Dan Caras was surprised by a 21.9 pounder that ate a minnow in seven feet of water along Broadkill Beach. Tom Hengst and Dave Hoang fished from their canoe after dark near the Cape Henlopen pier to capture three linesiders to 16.5 pounds. They also had some keeper flounder. White Gulp! and Fishbites Xtreme Release were the key to success. Surf fishermen got in on the bass bite too. Darren Purcell had a 15 pound rockfish from the beach at Cape Henlopen on cut bunker. Other stripers were reported on lures like Bomber Plugs and Slug-Gos. Flounder continue to be pulled from the Lewes Canal. Joe reminds anglers of the increased 19 ½ inch minimum size as of May 12. Fishermen caught plenty of fluke, however the keeper ratio remained low. Although, some nice specimens have been taken. John Gardner checked in a 6.85 pound doormat that grabbed a Gulp! Swimming Mullet near the Cape Henlopen Pier. Flatties were also found at Roosevelt Inlet, and in the Broadkill River. Speck rigs and other small jigs tipped with shiners worked well, as did minnows and Gulp! The Annual Lewes Harbour Canal Flounder Tournament will take place Friday, May 16. Cash prizes will be offered for the three heaviest flounder. Anglers must register in advance of Friday’s fishing time, beginning at 7 am and ending at 3 pm.
Calm Seas and Screeeeeeemin’ Reels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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