Fishing Report

Surfcasters continued to have success along Broadkill Beach. Better bites have occurred on decent weather days when sunlight warms the shallow water. Baits such as bloodworms, clams, bunker and frozen peeler crabs were popular offerings. Anglers encountered stripers, black drum, bluefish and flounder. Roosevelt Inlet and the adjacent Lewes Beach also gave up some blues in the 2 pound range to those soaking cut baits. Gene Laskowski landed a 3 pound bluefish from the dock right in front of Lewes Harbour Marina. There was pretty good catching during Sunday's flood tide in the Cape Henlopen surf. Guys working the suds at Herring Point had a nice mix including stripers, drum, bluefish and blowfish. Curt Stephens captured a 17 pound striped bass and released many more using clams and sandfleas there. Judah Lynam beached a 17 pound black drum. He also had a bunch of blues, short stripers and blowfish. Jason Massey and Matt Weidman whacked the blowfish a little farther down the beach at Keybox Road. The focus area for toggers has shifted form the Ocean into Delaware Bay. Tog fishermen toggled into the Inner and Outer Walls did well with green crabs. Reef Sites 6 and 7 at Brown Shoal yielded good numbers of blackfish too. Captain Brent's Saturday group on Katydid limited out in short order on Bay structure. Captain Carey's guys on the Grizzly ended up with a real nice catch yesterday after culling through lots of shorts. Flounder are becoming active around the Cape Henlopen Pier. Cut fresh baits like bunker, shad or bluefish presented on small jigs are preferred offerings for fluke at the pier this time of year. A few keeper flatties came from Lewes Canal, and more will come with warming temps and clean water. John Mitchell kept 3 fluke to 3 pounds while drifting minnows and shiners in the Canal today. The annual Lewes Canal Flounder Tournament will take place Friday May 17th. Entry fee is $25 per angler, and $5 of that is donated to Camp Awareness Youth Programs. Participants must register at Lewes Harbour Marina before the Tourney.

Fish have become active in shallow water along Broadkill Beach over the past few days, and surf casters reported catches of Stripers and Black Drum. George Sharp stopped by the shop for bloodworms this morning and was back a couple hours later with a pretty 17.3 pound striper that fell for the bloods. George said he saw other stripers pulled from the wash at Broadkill as well. Mike Dittmann weighed in an 18 pound black drum that ate a clam at Beach Plum Island yesterday. Surf fishermen caught quite a few black drum along Broadkill Beach last spring, so maybe the bite will happen again this season. It's likely the first trout will be hooked by Broadkill surf casters soon. Anglers fishing the Ocean beach have had mostly skates and sharks, with an occasional rockfish. Bert Long released a 21 incher that bit a clam at Herring Point yesterday. Bert also beached an 18 pound black drum there. Lower Bay boaters haven't done much with stripers, but bass were taken in the northern section. Wayne Wilson reported crews anchored near 6L Buoy off Collins Beach got into good sized rockfish. Fresh bunker was the ticket. Tautog catching was good over the past week. Ocean Reef Sites 9 and 10 had been yielding tog, but blackfish began biting along the Inner and Outer Walls as water temps slowly rose into the 50's. Captain Brent on Katydid Brent ran tog trips Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday, all resulting in in limits of chunky tog to 7 pounds. Patrons on the Angler had good tautog action with Captain Don Saturday. Dick Yohe and family joined Captain Carey aboard Grizzly for a great outing Sunday. The group scored their limit of hefty tog, including an 8.5 pound citation winner for Adam Yohe. Flounder have been taken from Indian River Bay, and should start cooperating soon in shallow water around the Cape Henlopen Pier, and in Lewes Canal. Brett Jackson managed a keeper fluke in Broadkill River near Oyster Rocks. River fishermen also found white perch, catfish and small stripers while baiting with bloodworms. Petersfield Ditch was a good spot for perch. The annual Lewes Canal Flounder Tournament takes place Friday May 17th. Anglers may fish from boats or kayaks from 7am to 3pm within the confines of Lewes Canal, Roosevelt Inlet and Broadkill River. Entry fee is $25 per entrant, to be paid in cash before the Tournament at Lewes Harbour Marina. Five dollars of each entry will be donated to the Camp Awareness youth program.

Amanda and I have returned from our winter vacation in the Florida Keys, and we're getting ready for another season. Shipments of tackle, clothing and marine supplies have been arriving over the past two weeks, so we've been busy restocking and reorganizing the store in anticipation of a good fishing year. The weather finally broke, and warm days and nights this week caused water temps to rise, resulting in improved fish catching. Captain Brent's toggers aboard Katydid had a great trip yesterday, returning with a boat limit of 27 tautog. Brent himself boated the biggest blackfish of the day, a bruiser weighing 12.3 pounds. The guys also released numerous other tog while anchored over ocean reef site rubble. Green crabs worked well, but sometimes soft baits like clams and shrimp tempted tog when the bite slowed down. Just a reminder, tog season is open through May 11th, and anglers may keep 3 fish 15 inches or longer per day during that period. Ocean tog fishing has been pretty good, but tautog should also turn on around Bay structure such as the Inner and Outer Walls and artificial reefs as the water warms up. Lots of bunker have been roaming the mid and upper Bay. Net fishermen have had good success with menhaden, and have also caught numbers of stripers, along with some weakfish. It was encouraging to see as many trout as we had last year, and we're looking forward to more sea trout action this spring. The current weakfish limit remains one per day with a 13 inch minimum size. Trout should be taken by hook and line in shallow water along Broadkill Beach in the next couple weeks. Stripers have started to bite in the Upper Bay. Guys using fresh cut bunker near 6L Buoy off Collins Beach have caught big rockfish in recent days. Rockfish activity should pick up in other areas of the Bay soon. A few flounder were taken from Indian River Bay, and with increasing water temperatures, flatfish should come from Lewes Canal before long. The Annual CANAL FLOUNDER TOURNAMENT will take place Friday May 17th. Entry fee is $25, to be paid in cash at our store before the Tourney. Five dollars of the amount will be donated to Camp Awareness youth programs. Boats and kayaks may be used during the event, and fishing time is from 7am to 3pm. Fishing is limited to the Lewes Canal, from the Rehoboth Bay entrance to Roosevelt Inlet, and up Broadkill River to Oyster Rocks Road. Money will be awarded for the 6 heaviest flounder weighed in during the Tournament. The more entrants, the bigger the prizes. Last year, more than 300 anglers participated.