Fishing Report

Bottom fishing in general was pretty good during the week. Water quality improved in Lewes Canal, and flounder catches were better as a result. Donnie Nauman checked in with a limit of flatties to 21 inches he took from the Canal with shark belly and Gulp! Cheryl Davis decked a 21 inch fluke while drifting minnows in the Canal. Matt Mitchell, Spencer Brooks and Zach Belcher had three flounder and some chopper blues while working Gulp in the Canal near Roosevelt Inlet. Shea Lindale and Terry Algier used minnows, shiners and Gulp for a nice catch of flatfish from the Canal. Ed Yingling and Dave and Bobbi Jo Lorah drifted Nicks rigs with minnows for a half dozen plump keepers Friday. Matt Purnell pulled in a 23 inch flounder by jigging a Gulp at the base of Roosevelt Inlet. Ron Noll and Kenny Robinson used Speck Rigs tipped with Gulp in the Canal for three keepers to 20 plus inches. John Mitchell and his family managed seven nice keepers from the Canal Sunday while deploying Nicks Rigs baited with minnows, shiners and Gulp! Best bite occurred in clean water at the beginning of ebb tide. Bottom bouncers in Delaware Bay reported better action with panfish. More croakers have shown up, along with kingfish and blowfish. Boats drifting or anchored at Site 5 in Broadkill Slough or Reef 8, the Star Site, hooked a tasty assortment of bottom feeders using clams, bloodworms and Fishbites. Patrons on the Angler had a good catch of kings and hardheads Saturday. Roberto Campitelli and Mark Maggs were using croaker rigs on light tackle at the Star Site aboard Katydid Sunday, and tangled with black drum weighing 30 and 40 pounds that grabbed small pieces of clam meant for hardheads. Big bluefish continued to hang out inside Cape Henlopen, and could be found feeding on bunkers most days between the Fishing Pier and Cape Henlopen Point. Captain Pete on Top Fin had a group of Canadians in town for the Nascar race who wanted to squeeze in a little fishing. He took them to shallow water inside the Cape where they had a blast tangling with slammers to 13 pounds while casting bucktails. Blues have remained in the area for over a month, and its unusual to have a spring run like weve experienced this year. Perhaps theyll stay all summer, and at least, well hope for a return of choppers next season. Striped bass have been active in Lewes Canal. Most were shorts, ranging 18 to 25 inches. Theyll eat clams fished on the bottom, or a variety of artificial. Casting bucktails or Storm Shads around the drawbridge results in rockfish bites. Live eels drifted around the pilings usually get the attention of larger bass. Tossing topwater lures to the marsh banks is a fun and productive way to fish Canal stripers. Zara Spooks, Chug Bugs and Rebel Pop-Rs are popular and effective offerings. Catsing plugs at the Outer Wall during low light at dawn and dusk produced some keeper linesiders. Sommer Falgowski scored a 14.4 pound striper by swimming a Mother of Pearl Bomber along the Wall. A few rockfish roamed the surf as well. Drew Stuchlik got up extra early Thursday to get in some surf casting before work. He walked the beach at Herring Point tossing a white bucktail, and connected with a 14.7 pound bass. In addition, the bucktail produced three quality flounder to 5.5 pounds. Drew was back at the cleaning table by 7am, and still made it to his job on time. Other surf anglers had success too. Bluefish of varying sizes were hooked using cut bunker or mullet along the Ocean beach. Andy Lano landed several kingfish, blowfish and burrfish using bits of clam in the suds near Gordons Pond on Friday. Black drum continued to come from Delaware Bay. Boomers were located on the Coral Beds inside Broadkill Slough, and near the submerged piles off Fowler Beach. However, it seemed there were more fish found in the Brandywine area, between 14 Buoy and the Pin Top. Drummers on the Grizzly caught 16 fish there Friday night. Six were iced down in the box, and the other 10 released. Kylie Hinch and Tom Maracle had come to the area to take in the race at Dover, and decided to get in some drum fishing on Miss Kirstin Friday. They returned with a pair of nice boomers scaling 30.5 and 39.2 pounds. Nathan Gemberling got a 61 pound drum earlier in the week on Miss Kirstin. Brian Hafer boated a 61 pounder on the Pirate King. Kyle Moore muscled in a 71 pounder aboard Lil Angler II. Captain Carey remained on the Delaware side of the Bay Saturday evening, where drummers on the Grizzly kept five fish from the Coral Beds. Ocean bottom bouncers reported plenty of short sea bass, but noted that keeper sea bass were thinning out over wrecks and reef structure. However, persistent crews that made multiple stops during the day ended up with decent numbers to take home. Anglers have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of codfish in the area this spring, and adding a few of them to the cooler really rounds out a catch of bass. Some cod have been quite sizable. Jomarr Hatten boated the biggest brought in so far on Friday. He had a 30 pounder while fishing over the Subway Cars aboard Katydid. That same trip produced a dozen other cod for the box, pollack, ling and 86 keeper bass. Monday anglers with Captain Brent kept 3 cod, some ling and about a hundred bass. Thursdays group on Katydid had 8 cod, along with several big ling and a limit of sea bass. On Saturday, regulars aboard Katydid captured 10 cod, a bunch of big ling and a boxful of quality bass. Mike Surowiec managed a 3.14 pound citation size knothead during that outing. Offshore bottom droppers encountered tilefish in the deep. Jon Bixlers crew on the Bix drifted Poor Mans for seven pretty Goldens. Corey Crout caught the heaviest tile, a 32.1 pounder that ate a jig worked on the sea floor. Some anglers traveled south try for cobia at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Butch Warrington heard the bite was on at Cape Charles, and headed for Latimer Shoal. He returned with a 50 pound cobia he caught there while baiting with clams.

This year's Canal Flounder Tournament generated the largest turnout so far. More than 400 flattie aficionados fished the event. Weather was much better than last year's scheduled date, when hurricane-like conditions forced postponement until the following day. Although Canal water was murky from wind during preceeding days, flukers picked away at fish during most of the outgoing tide. The largest specimens were landed in the afternoon, near the end of the ebb. There didn't seem to be a concentration of flatfish in any single location, and catches were reported from several different spots. Avid flounder pounder Mickey Payne was the big winner. His 6.2 pound mat inhaled a Nuclear Chicken colored grub at Roosevelt Inlet, and earned him top prize and major bragging rights. Defending Champ Chad Mitchell scored Second Place 5.29 pounder with a custom white jighead rig and shiner combo while drifting past Gordon's Pond ditch. Brian Beebe boated the Third Place 4.3 pound flounder near the drawbridge, using a chartreuse teaser with a shiner. A pink Gulp! jigged by the Town Dock was responsible for Chris Huk's Fourth Place 3.81 pounder. Matthew Mitchell drifted a custom chartreuse jig rig and shiner between the bridges to take Fifth with his 3.63 pound flattie. Bob Brullo boated his Sixth Place 3.63 pounder while working a white Gulp! near the Sea Gypsy Pirate Boat. Shane Townsend took Seventh with a twin 3.63 pound fluke that ate a minnow on an icy blue teaser, also near the Sea Gypsy. More than $2000 of entry money will be donated to Camp Awareness. We at Lewes Harbour Marina, and the Dewey Beach Lions Club extended congratulations to the winners, and many thanks to all who participated to make the day fun, and a great success. The Black Drum bite came on strong on the New Jersey side of Delaware Bay, following the new moon. There was a big fleet anchored up in Bayshore Channel, above the Canal entrance Saturday evening, where many big boomers were landed. Don Zeiset decked a 60.6 pounder, and Vernon Zeiset got one weighing 55.8 pounds there aboard Miss Kirstin. Captain Brian's crew on Lil' Angler II kept five drum, the largest was a 55.7 pound fish fought by Mike Hojda. Kevin Martzal's group on the Pirate King II brought back 11 drum, including a 53 pounder landed by Leon Martzal. Scattered reports of drum came from the Delaware side. Jack Ostroski had a 63.2 pound boomer and Mason Newsham nailed a 34.3 pounder while fishing with clams on the Coral Beds. Mike Thompson checked in a nice drum he pulled from the Broadkill Beach surf. Drum action should hold up through the full moon at the beginning of June. The shop will be carrying surf clams, but we suggest calling ahead, early in the week, to reserve baits. The opening of Sea Bass Season resulted in good catches. Boats that ran to Twenty Fathom structure did ok with bass, but had surprising numbers of cod. Captain Carey's bassers aboard Grizzly boxed 58 blueheads and 24 keeper codfish. It actually seemed like sea bass catches were better inshore, at Site 11. Captain Brent's Saturday group on the Katydid had their limit of 120 quality bass, including Luis Mispireta's 3.71 pound knothead. Dr. Mike Junck and his gang had a nice mess of bass and cod on their wreck trip aboard Top Fin. Mike managed a 3.92 pound bass on that outing. Offshore bottom bouncers did well in deep water. Matt Baker, Jeff Drury and Chip Graves dropped in Wilmington Canyon Friday for 21 beautiful Golden Tilefish to 27 pounds. A few more stripers showed up. Harry Doherty checked in a 32 incher he beached using bunker in the surf at Faithful Steward Crossing. Because of new slot size regulations, Dave McGirk released a 40 inch linesider he hooked using clams at Herring Point. Matt Mundok managed a 14.6 pound rockfish and a pair of shorts while tossing Bombers at the Outer Wall Sunday morning. Boaters and jetty jocks at Indian River inlet had stripers during evening incoming tides on bucktails and Storm Shads. The bluefish run in Indian River was ridiculous this week, with slammers terrorizing schools of bunker in a feeding frenzy. Guys casting from the rocks or drifting in boats hammered the choppers with bucktails and metals. Wes Grove, Kevin Grove and Todd Macentee were drifting for flounder in the inlet when big blues attacked their minnows. After landing several choppers, they did boat a 4.64 pound flatfish. Blues thinned out inside Cape Henlopen at the end of the week. But, some remained in Broadkill River. Buzz Morrow, Brian Morrow and Jeff Weaver bucktailed a bunch of big bluefish at Oyster Rocks Saturday. D.J. Rawley caught his biggest bluefish ever while flounder fishing in the river Sunday with "Pop Pop" John Halsey, who did get a nice 3.2 pound flattie.

Big bluefish continue to capture the spotlight. This spring's showing of choppers has been the best most anglers in the area remember for a long time. It's surprising how far blues have pushed up into the back bays and tidal rivers, and how long they've remained there. Slammers were encountered way back in Indian River, and common catches at Massey's Landing. They moved through Roosevelt Inlet and into Lewes Canal and the Broadkill River. Surprisingly, they've been thick at Oyster Rocks Road Landing on the River, which is almost to Route One. Guys have been standing on the bank hooking slammer blues there steadily for more than a week. Soaking cut bunker and mullet worked, however, anglers tossing lures caught more fish. Chartreuse twister tails or Gulp! on leadheads were effective in the murky water, but bucktails tipped with a strip of cut bait worked well too. Spoons and plugs took blues as well. Many of the blues were of impressive size. Whopper of the week was a 17.1 pound slammer landed by Scott Aiken. Patrick Musser muscled in a 15.5 pounder, and Frank Payton put a 14.4 pound citation earner in the cooler. Other blues came from the Beach Plum Access area on Broadkill, where anglers could fish either the River or the Bay beach. Blues surprised flukers in Lewes Canal too. Dave Monnett and Mike Massey were drifting bucktails tipped with minnows for flounder in front of Lewes Harbour Marina, and caught three big choppers. Roosevelt Inlet also yielded blues, and fish hit Lewes Beach on high tide Sunday Morning. Luca Miller landed an 11.7 pounder in the flurry. Fisherman on the sand next to the Henlopen Pier caught lots of big big choppers soaking bait and throwing lures like spoons, plugs and bucktails. Guys wading the flats between the Pier and the Cape also hooked plenty of fish. Kayakers and boaters did very well on schooling blues working over bait just off the Cape beach, between the inner lighthouse and the point. The blues attacked a varity of artificials or cut bunker and mullet. Mason Newsham nailed a 15.8 pound alligator blue on a jig, inside the Cape. Hope the bluefish stick around awhile longer. It's been great seeing people so excited about catching these hard fighters. Surfcasters at Herring Point released a few short stripers. Jeff Sherwood beached a 21.7 pound bass while soaking a clam in the suds at Broadkill. Kerry Lodish landed a 26.2 pound striper while working a Storm Shad from the rocks at Indian Ribver Inlet. New striper regulations take effect May 11th. Anglers will be allowed to keep two fish per day, but they must be from 28 to 37 inches, or over 44 inches. Togging was pretty good on the Walls and Ice Breakers, as well as Sites 6 and 7 in the Bay, and #10 in the Ocean. Fred Robinson reeled in an 11.63 pound tautog, and Mike Surowiec scored an 8.16 pounder aboard Katydid. Jim Meyers managed a 7.35 pound tog and Bob Meyers boated an 8.58 pounder while working Site 10. With nicer weather, flounder bit better in Lewes Canal. Chris Moody drifted minnows in fron of the shop for a pair of keepers to 22 inches. Tom Stack landed a 6.07 pound doormat that grabbed a strip of squid at Roosevelt. Howard Bowden bested a 5.3 pound beauty by drifting a Nick's Rig dressed with shiners. Young Brayden Coverdale checked in his first flounder on Tuesday. He got the 2.89 pounder while drifting the Canal with his Dad Larry. Don't forget, the CANAL FLOUNDER TOURNAMENT takes place Friday May 15th. Anglers can sign to fish the event with a $25 cash entry fee at Lewes Harbour any time before the 7am start time on the 15th.