Fishing Report

The dogwoods are beginning to bloom, the Laughing Gulls have returned, and normally those events signal that weakfish will be caught on hook and line. Commercial netters have had sea trout in shallow water near Delaware Bay's shoreline the past couple weeks, but true to form, we had the first trout taken by surf fishermen brought in this week. Chris Burke and his nephew 8 year old Tom Burke were casting from Broadkill Beach just before dark Monday evening when they connected with a pair of beautiful tiderunners that weighed 6.1 and 6.2 pounds. Hopefully that's a sign of what to look forward to when the water finally warms up. Broadkill Beach fishermen also found a few stripers willing to bite bloodworms, bunker and clams. Small stripers have been active at night around the Cape Henlopen Pier. Anglers on the rail caught rock ranging 12 to 22 inches while working a variety of artificials, including speck rigs, Fin-S-Fish and Gulp! Short striped bass were also caught along the Lewes Canal marsh bank by tossing 3 and 4 inch Storm Shads during early morning tide changes. Some decent flounder were pulled from Lewes Canal on days when the water was clean. Jesse Billings brought in a pair of nice flatties he hooked using pink Gulp! Rod Ross reeled in a 3.5 pounder that also fell for a pink Gulp! Anglers on the rail at Cape Henlopen Pier also had flounder while working speck rigs and other small jigs tipped with fresh cut bunker or shad at night. The Canal Flounder Tournament takes place Friday May 16th. Check the Lewes Harbour Marina Facebook page or call 302-645-6227 for complete details. Tautog action has been pretty good at Reef Site 10 in the Ocean, but Delaware Bay toggers have started to enjoy success over the past week. Reef Site 6 at Brown Shoal was productive, but blackfish have finally started to bite along the Breakwaters too. Captain Brent's toggers on Katydid captured a 21 fish limit in short order at the Wall this morning. The largest was Ken Seltzer's citation 7.1 pounder. Larry Frati landed a 10.34 pound brute of a tautog on a recent trip board Katydid.

Winter just will not let go. It's been cold and blustery in recent days, and we even had sleet and snow night before last. However, there are signs of hope. Following some warm days at the end of last week, Dave Chappell checked in the first flounder of the season. He caught the 19 incher Saturday while drifting a Gulp! lure in Lewes Canal. A few other short flounder were reported by fishermen working Cape Henlopen Pier at night. Some anglers have gotten a jump on flattie action while fishing to the south, on Virginia's eastern shore. Brett Jackson brought in a 6.83 pound doormat he took from Folly Creek Sunday morning. Local water temps remain in the 40's, but flatfish should become active once things warm up. Stripers should also begin to cooperate with rising temps. Bunker have been plentiful in the mid and upper bay, so there's plenty of forage available for migrating rockfish. Anglers fishing out of Collins Beach told of a good striper bite over the past weekend along the channel near 6L Buoy while soaking cut bunker. Perhaps rockfish will come on for surfcasters at Broadkill Beach soon. Commercial netters had good sized trout near there, so there's a possibility of some hook and line caught weakfish in that area soon too. Ocean bottom bouncers had success with tautog at Reef Site 10. Ernie Stone scored a 7.23 pound citation tog there aboard Katydid. Mr. Jin's group togged Saturday on Top Fin, and put 16 quality blackfish in the box. The largest was a 12 pound bruiser boated by Cho Seunghyun. Captain Carey's toggers on the Grizzly got limits of tautog to 8 pounds both Saturday and Sunday. No tog have come from the Outer Wall yet, but fish will likely bite on Delaware Bay structure soon with rising temperatures.

Happy Spring to all! We're back in the store full time, and this marks the start of regular weekly reports. Water temps have been slowly rising after the harsh winter, and are now in the mid 40's. Anglers trying Broadkill River this past weekend hooked white perch and short stripers using bloodworms. Catfish were plentiful, and took clams or cut bunker. Popular spots included the mouth of Petersfield Ditch, Oyster Rocks and the Route One bridge. Not much hs been happening in Delaware Bay, but Ocean bottom bouncers connected with tautog on reef sites 9 and 10. Captain Carey anchored Grizzly over reef structure Sunday where his patrons put 15 keeper blackfish in the box, and released 35 others. We're carrying green crabs for tog bait throughout the spring season, that runs until May 11th. We also have clams and shrimp, and some days, especially with cold water, tautog respond better to soft baits such as those. The current daily creel limit for tog is three per person with a 15 inch minimum size. Flounder should become active in shallow water around Cape Henlopen Pier and Lewes Canal soon. This year's annual Canal Flounder Tournament is set for Friday May 16th. Entry fee is $25 per angler, payable in cash, in advance, at Lewes Harbour Marina. Five dollars of each entry will be donated to the Camp Awareness youth program. Last year's Tourney had the largest number of participants so far, and we're taking signups already at the store for the 2014 event. Stripers and black drum should be showing along the Broadkill Beach surf in coming weeks, and possibly some weakfish too. I recently spoke with Dewayne Fox, who's been conducting sturgeon research in the Ocean off Bethany Beach. A few days ago, he released three very large striped bass from his net, the heaviest weighing 68 pounds. Wow, what a rockfish! He said the fish were still full of roe, and likely on their way to spawning grounds. It's cool to hear about such big bass, and anglers will have the chance for a trophy like that as they migrate through the Bay.