Fishing Report

Conditions allowed sea bassers to get to Ocean structure early in the week, but wind kept them at the dock again until Saturday. Captain Brent was able to make it off to where bass lived Monday and patrons aboard Katydid put together a limit of 150 chunky knotheads, including Bill Petka's citation 3 pounder. They also had several bluefish and flounder. Those flatties raised the total number of keeper fluke brought in aboard Katydid this season to over 1700! Brent got out again Tuesday before the wind blew, and his group returned with another limit of bass, plus more blues and flatfish. Boaters fishing for seabass Saturday told of success at Reef Site 11, as well as obstructions in 15 to 20 Fathoms and at Del Jersey Land. A load of life was reported in the Ocean between Site 11 and the upper end of the shipping lane. Numerous whales were spotted, and clouds of gannetts signaled baitfish below. Could be all that activity indicates a migratory movement. May be bluefin tuna, may be striped bass. If it's stripers, let's hope some of them end up inside the Three Mile Line. Blackfish action had started to shape up in Delaware Bay, but again, a relentless breeze and strong currents around the new moon made for murky water and tough togging. On days with clean water around the breakwaters, toggers picked at fish and ended up with fair catches. Jonathan Masten, Scott Jost and Ed Borys had an unusual experience while tautog fishing at the Inner Wall Monday. A four point buck swam from shore and made it's way up onto the rocks, then hung out near them for quite awhile. Hard to figure what was on that deer's mind. Captain Pete's toggers took home 27 keepers from their trip on Top Fin Monday. Merwyn Arms muscled in a 6.28 pounder as his first ever tautog, on that outing. Bandy Timmons Parker and friends fished with Captain Brian on Lil' Angler II Tuesday, and put 13 chunky tog in the cooler. Captain Pete had a group of tautog regulars Saturday aboard Top Fin, and they iced 18 plump keepers. Captain Brent looked for cleaner water in the Ocean Saturday, and managed 14 tog and two hefty triggers for his guys on Katydid. Captain Vince set up his anglers aboard Miss Kirstin over Bay structure Saturday, where they captured 13 tog and a triggerfish. Because of quite crappy conditions, Miss Kirstin was the lone boat to beat it's way to Bay structure Sunday, and the salty fishermen on board earned every one of their group limit of tautog. Jess Jamieson found out all the big black drum hadn't left Delaware Bay yet. He was togging near the Outer Wall Lighthouse Saturday when he hooked a 54.2 pound boomer on a piece of green crab. The Lewes Harbour Tog Tournament runs through October 31st, and the Leaderboard showed some changes when folks were finally able to get out on the water again Saturday. At this writing, Bob Meyers held First Place with a 7.94 pounder from the Outer Wall. Sean Whiteford was Second with a 7.17 pound tog he also pulled from the Wall. Charlie Breitenbach hung in at Third with his 5.94 pound tautog. The Lewes Harbour Striper Tournament began October 25th, and goes on through November 25th. The annual contest offers a cash pool that's split among the three heaviest striped bass checked in by pre registered anglers. The more people who enter, the bigger the prizes. Interested anglers can sign up at Lewes Harbour Marina in advance of fishing. Some of the season's largest stripers are among the first to show up, and that could happen soon.

Anglers had to deal with more wind last week, but during days when conditions allowed boaters to get out on Delaware Bay, they found better blackfishing than in past weeks. Water temperatures remained in the 60's, however, tog seemed more active, and crews recorded some decent catches. Captain Pete on Top Fin hosted Mr. Hong and his group for a trip to structure, where they put 28 tautog and a big sheepshead in the box. Mr. Jin and his toggers joined Pete Saturday for some fine togging, and retuned with a 35 fish limit, plus a 10 pound black drum. Captain Ted said there was a good tog bite at the Inner Wall when he was there Saturday morning with the Indian. Captain Vince togged Bay structure Saturday, and his gang aboard Miss Kirstin rounded up 29 tautog, 2 triggerfish and a keeper sea bass. Friday, Captain Brent's patrons on the Katydid put together a batch of 33 blackfish and one trigger. Randy Jensen, Billy Lantz, Mike Ditton and Charlie Breitenbach have become pretty proficient at working the Outer Wall, and showed their skill Friday with a limit of 20 chunky tog. Randy offered an observation that helped their take. He said when the fish didn't bite in close to the rocks, they dropped back a fair distance away from the Wall and found tautog feeding where scattered boulders off the main breakwater met the sand bottom. At this writing, Charlie was holding First and Third Places in the Lewes Harbour Tog Tournament with fish of 5.94 and 5.88 pounds. Randy had Second with his 5.89 pounder. The Tourney runs through October 31st, and offers cash prizes. Colin Boteler wished he had signed up for the Tournament before he went to the Wall Saturday morning. He boated a citation earning 7.72 pound blackfish that would have put him in the lead. Larry Hughes also missed a shot at placing since he hadn't entered before he landed his 6.4 pounder. There's still plenty of time, and last year's Contest was won on October 30th with a massive 20 pounder! In addition to blustery weather, boaters had to contend with area closures on Delaware Bay. The Coast Guard established safety zones where Naval exercises were scheduled October 16th through 24th, and the regions were closed to boat traffic from 8am until 8pm on those days. Reefs 6 and 7 fell within the zone, so fishing those sites was off limits. Sea bass season reopened over the weekend, but stiff breezes prevented most boats from getting out to the Ocean grounds. Reef Site 11, Del Jersey Land and wrecks in 90 to 120 feet should offer good bassing on days when sea conditions permit getting there. The season is set to stay open until the end of December. There still have been no reports of migratory striped bass showing up at the mouth of Delaware Bay, but resident backwater rockfish have been around. Lewes Canal, Broadkill River and creeks emptying out of the Great Marsh held good numbers of small to medium sized stripers. They could be tempted into striking 3 to 4 inch swim shads and other soft plastics, along with swimming and topwater plugs. Keepers were available too. Dave Walker and Robert Karpovich drifted eels around the Drawbridge for three legal bass between 29 and 31 inches. Greg Wagner fished near the Bridge one night during the week, and told of a 33 inch rock. Surf casters continue to encounter small blues at Cape Henlopen Point. The mullet run is about done, so fresh bait has become hard to come by, but frozen still produces. An occasional short striper, kingfish or blowfish mingled with snappers in the suds.

We've enjoyed a fantastic summer of flounder fishing, but the bulk of flatties in the area have moved out. Before they got too far away, Captain Brent made one last long run southeast and intercepted batch of fluke on their way offshore. Tuesday's group of fluke fanatics aboard Katydid returned with their limit of 40 fish to finish off the season. Many anglers have now shifted their efforts toward tautog. Tog action has been shaping up along the rocks and reefs, but wind and dirty water has often presented problems. Toggers report windows of catching with clean water, but once it gets murky, the blackfish get lockjaw. Captain Pete was able to locate some clean water along the Wall Saturday, and his toggers on Top Fin took a limit of 35 keepers. They capped the box off with a bonus 14.6 pound sheepshead. Several big sheepshead have been caught recently, probably since more anglers are working rockpiles and other hard structure in search of tog, and that's where the big porgies hang out. Craig Moore captured a 15.5 pound trophy sheepshead aboard the Grizzly Sunday. Charlie Breitenbach's 16.7 pound bruiser would have broken the State Record had Dave Walker not caught his 17.1 pound monster last Monday. That fish has been verified, and declared as the new Delaware State Record. Triggerfish and black drum continue to mix with sheepshead and tog on Bay structure. Some of the drum have been quite sizeable. Todd Garman was togging near the Lighthouse of the Outer Wall when he hooked behemoth boomers of 65.4 and 67.1 pounds using fiddler crabs the size of a thumbnail! Just goes to show, elephants do eat peanuts! Drew Williams and his buddies joined Captain Brent on Katydid Thursday and put a pair of drum, a nice mess of tog, triggers, trout and croakers in the box. Trout are still hanging around in fair numbers and it's great to see their resurgence in Delaware Bay. Captain Brent's anglers had their limit of weakfish during a short afternoon run to reef rubble Friday afternoon. On Monday, Captain Brent's three man group had 14 tog and 15 triggers. Triggers will start to thin out with cooling temps, but tog should become more active. The Inner and Outer Walls, Ice Breakers, reef sites and Lighthouses should all give up increasing numbers of blackfish in coming weeks. Keep in mind, if you fish Brandywine Light, you must adhere to New Jersey size and creel limits, since the structure sits in that state's waters. Anglers are limited to one tog at a 15 inch minimum until November 15th. The Annual Lewes Harbour Tog Tournament is on now through October 31st. The event offers cash prizes for the three heaviest tautog weighed in by registered contestants. Entry fee is $25 per angler, allowing you to fish as many days as you want through the Tourney. Or, you can pay $3 each day you fish. You must pay in advance of fishing. All entry monies collect in a pool and the top three tog split it 50%, 30% and 20%. So, the more entries, the bigger the prizes. As of this writing, the standings show Randy Jensen in First and Third Places with tog weighing 5.89 and 5.49 pounds. Mike Ditton has Second with his 5.58 pounder. Things will likely change as the month goes on and bigger fish are on the move. "Yul" Benner ended up winning last year at the very end of the Tournament with an enormous 20 pounder! Surf casters have been picking at snapper bluefish all along the Ocean beaches. Sue Sokira stopped by with a nice catch of blues and kingfish takaen with mullet in front of the radar tower at Cape Henlopen.