Fishing Report

I don't remember a stretch of strong northeast wind like the blow that occurred this past week. Small craft advisories were posted every day since last Sunday, and brought fishing to an abrupt halt for boaters who had hoped to get in a few final cracks at migrating flounder in Delaware Bay and the Ocean. It was still howling as this was written Sunday, and conditions were not predicted to be much better over the coming week. Many anglers were looking forward to the opening of fall tautog season on September 29, but access to blackfish spots will be questionable until the weather settles. We do have fresh green crabs if the opportunity arises for toggers to get out. Current tog regulations allow five blackfish at a 15 inch minimum size per person to be kept daily. Bay and Ocean water is still in the mid to upper 60s, and tog will probably not be too active anyway until temperatures cool down. The annual Lewes Harbour Tog Tournament begins October 1st, and runs through October 31st. Interested participants must sign up at Lewes Harbour Marina prior to fishing. Entry fees collect in a cash pool, and are split among the three heaviest blackfish weighed in by registered anglers. Shorebound fishermen did find a few flounder still lingering in Lewes Canal. We had a customer with three keeper fluke from the Town Dock in a couple afternoons during the week. Another diehard reported he was rewarded for standing out in the wind with a 37 inch Canal striper. Surf casters at Cape Henlopen did have decent numbers of small bluefish on cut mullet. Kingfish were still available in the wash as well. Finger mullet had been moving along the Ocean beach, but it's uncertain if many will remain following the extended pounding from the northeast. It wont be long until the Autumn run of stripers materializes in our area. Some of the biggest striped bass show up first, at the end of October and beginning of November on shoals at the mouth of Delaware Bay. Keep in mind new striper regs that went into effect earlier this year. Anglers can keep one fish from 28 inches to 37 inches, and one 44 inches or greater, or any combination of two striped bass within those size slots. Trolling has been a top method for taking trophy rock the past few seasons, and we've already put in plenty of Stretch and Bomber plugs, plus a good selection of Mojos, rigged tandems, umbrellas and shads. Stop by and stock up to get ready.

Some of the nicest flounder this season were caught by crews working Ocean bottom the past week. Bill Keefer brought in a brace of beauties weighing 8 pounds and 7 pounds 5 ounces. Those oversized mats fell for Gulp! grubs Bill was drifting aboard Thelma Dale IV. It took Kyle Falgowski a long time to catch his first citation flounder, but the wait was worth it when he hooked a 7.93 pounder on Reef Site 9 Tuesday. Nine year old Caden Stoner captured his first citation fluke Wednesday. He landed the 7.01 pound slab while fishing near DB Buoy aboard Lil Angler II. Karl Heckman handled a 7.83 pound flounder on Site 9 Saturday aboard the Angler. Fresh off a 7 plus pound citation earner last week, Steve Kiibler added another doormat to his credit this weekend. Steve scored an 8.7 pounder aboard Thelma Dale IV Saturday. The 28 inch specimen fell for a 6 inch white glow Gulp! grub. Ed Kim caught a 7.43 pound trophy Sunday aboard Katydid. Anglers continued to find good numbers of flatties as well as those of impressive size. Captain Brent's flukers on Katydid limited out with 32 keepers Tuesday. The regular Wednesday hot rods on Katydid did it again, returning with a boat limit of 44 more flatfish. On Friday, Bill and Charlotte Hughes joined Captain Brent and Chris on Katydid to assemble their 16 fish limit in short order. Ken Seltzer and his crew were back for another flounder foray on Katydid Saturday, and took home a limit of 32 fine flatties. On Sunday, a group of Katydid regulars got their 32 flatfish limit. Captain Brian's guys on Lil Angler II had quite the combo trip Thursday. They boxed a limit of quality fluke near DA Buoy, and had some bonus mahi in the same area. Clay Dankewich decked an impressive 19.6 pound dolphin along with the flounder during that outing. Dave Walker, Bobby Flemming and Robert Karpovich put together their limit of a dozen chunky fluke from Ocean structure Thursday. Gusty northeast winds are forecasted most of the coming week, and at this time of year, the blow may prompt a major movement of flounder. It will be interesting to see where the fish end up when it settles down. Triggerfish made a good showing on structure at the mouth of Delaware Bay. Jack Henriksen and Ricky Mills got on the big triggers while anchored over a snag Saturday. They boxed a dozen chunky fish to 3.81 pounds. Top Fin Captain Pete was also on top of the triggers. His Friday group had a bucketful, including a pair weighing 3.71 and 3.73 pounds for Dennis Gentzyel. Petes Saturday anglers also had nice triggers to 3.65 pounds, plus flounder, sea bass, croakers and a 1.14 pound porgy for Petes son Rainer. Snapper bluefish have been working over silversides in current rips off Cape Henlopen. They can be caught by tossing small flashy metal jigs, or bucktails tipped with squid or a shiner. Surf casters along the Ocean Beach between the Cape and Indian River connected with small blues, kingfish and little black drum. Bloodworms and fresh mullet were the favored offerings. Theres been a pretty good run of mullet gathering for their southward migration, but the northeast blow this coming week may push them out of the area. There's also been a lot of bait in the Ocean, and boaters reported whales feeding among large schools of bunker near DA Buoy. Thresher sharks were also spotted airing out over bunkers in the area. Bruce Carlson and Ron Miller had a cool shark experience. They were drifting Cape May Reef Saturday when a big blacktip grabbed a strip of squid on a bottom rig. The circle hook on 30 pound mono luckily lodged right in the corner of the shark's mouth, out of the way of slashing teeth, and after quite a tussle on light tackle, the guys were able to land the 72 pounder. Offshore action was decent. Captain Brent ran Katydid to the Baltimore Thursday, where his anglers got busy boating 55 mahi, a limit of blueline tiles, 30 rosefish, 50 mackerel, 8 jacks, plus a bunch of yellowfin bass and streamer bass. Mike Ambler and John Markey found a weedline full of floating junk inshore of the Baltimore Friday, where they bailed a limit of 20 beautiful dolphin from 6 to 12 pounds. Captain Carey took his patrons aboard Grizzly for a long ride to Washington Canyon Friday afternoon, but the trip was worth it. They deployed a sea anchor to control their drift at night, and chunked with sardines to bring fish around the boat. The guys baited with live squids and vigorously worked jigs for steady action with tuna. They ended up with a limit of yellowfins, plus several skipjacks and some nice mahi.

It may sound like a broken record, but Ocean flounder catching remained steady again this past week. Artificial structure at Sites 9 and 10 held staging flatties, but fluke continued to move along open natural bottom between DB Buoy and DE Light as they get ready for a fall migration offshore. Seems like flounder have started to push out of Delaware Bay. Captain Ted of Anglers Fishing Center said he intercepted fair numbers of flatfish mid week in The Valley area at the Bay Mouth, between #8 and #8A Buoys. He also mentioned numerous croakers had gathered in deep water at the head of The Pit, between #4 and #6 Buoys, which is normally a sign they're preparing for a movement as well. Captain Brent found more fish for his flounder pounders on recent trips aboard Katydid. Bill and Charlotte Hughes joined Brent and Chris Tuesday to assemble a limit of 16 quality fluke from the Old Grounds. The Wednesday All Stars have been on a streak, and this outing was no different. The Katydid regulars boxed a boat limit of 44 flatfish to bolster their stock of freezer fillets for the winter. On Thursday, Captain Brent's flukers surpassed the 2000 keeper mark for this summer when they put 29 in the cooler. Conditions were a little tough Saturday, but Ernie Stone and his gang ended up with 21 to take home from their trip on Katydid, topped off by Ron Mistretta Jr's 6 pounder. On Sunday, seas were a little lumpy again, but the guys on Katydid captured 20 keeper fluke and a dozen nice bass. Steve Kiibler took big fish honors with a 7.06 pound citation earner, plus another weighing 5.5 pounds. Wes, Shane and Sean Olson endured rough water on the Old Grounds Sunday, but returned with their limit of flatties to 4.5 pounds. Boaters told of sea bass mixed in with flounder on structure, and were glad to have a few more for the table before bass season closes September 18th. In Delaware Bay, a mix of late season small species including croakers, spike trout, kingfish, blowfish, spot, porgies, pigfish, lizardfish, banded rudderfish, snapper blues and triggerfish was available around Reef Site 8. Wade Guinn got a 3.34 pound trigger at Site 8 Saturday aboard the Angler. Other anglers told of some hefty hardheads around the Ice Breakers, and bluefish off Cape Henlopen Point. Snappers could be seen crashing through pods of silversides and anchovies in current rips, and would strike at flashy lures like Kastmasters or Stingsilvers, and bucktails tipped with shiners. Folks at the rails of the recently reopened Cape Henlopen Pier reported croakers and snapper blues on bloodworms and fresh mullet. Mullet have started to move along both the Bay and Ocean beaches, and gamefish in the region have been keying in on mullet as forage. Not much in the way of sizeable predators, but 10 to 15 inch blues, and kingfish were beached by surf casters soaking mullet baits at Herring Point. Quite a few small black drum have been roaming the wash too. The 6 to 12 inch puppies bit on clam, bloodworms, Fishbites or shrimp on small float rigs fished close to the beach.

Ocean anglers continued to enjoy good flounder action. Flatties came from Reef Sites 9, 10 and 11, as well as natural bottom between DB and DA Buoys. Divers report most inshore wrecks are surrounded by fluke as well. Flatfish responded to offerings of squid strips or other fresh cut baits, usually combined with smelts or shiners. Gulp! soft artificials have proven deadly, especially when added to bucktail jigs. Jig and teaser rigs have been responsible for many nice fish, and work well on either heavy structure or open bottom. Lots of undersized flounder were released by boaters during the week, but some very respectable specimens were brought in. Whopper of the week was landed by Mary McElhone. She wrestled her 8.54 pound doormat from Ocean structure while drifting aboard Katydid. Burt Betts boated a 7.9 pound beauty at Site 11. Mate Chris Vann took a little break from his duties on the deck of Katydid and pulled in a citation worthy 7.7 pound fluke. Joe Ryan jigged a bucktail and Gulp! combo at Site 10 to put an impressive limit in the box, including three mats weighing 5.6 pounds each and a fourth scaling 7.4 pounds. Dan McGeady managed a 6.4 pound flattie on Katydid Wednesday. The crew from Hazzard Electric joined Captain Carey on the Grizzly to harvest a limit of flounder Tuesday, including three citation fish over 7 pounds, plus two more over 6. Croakers remained thick between Site 10 and DB Buoy. Flounder diehards considered hardheads a nuisance, but those looking to put lots of eaters in the cooler loaded up on tasty panfish. More legal sized sea bass showed among catches. They were mixed in with flatties on Old Grounds structure, and at Site 11. Bottom bouncers still sent back loads of shorts, but the ratio of keepers seemed better. Sea bass season will shut down on September 18th, then start up again October 18th. In Delaware Bay, fishermen had to contend with strong tidal currents, and it was the same old story. A few flounder came for Reef Sites 6,7 and 8, but bites were limited to the very beginning and end of the tides. A mix of croakers, puffers, porgies, kingfish and snapper blues gathered around Reef Site 8. The largest hardheads hung tight to reef rubble. Clams, squid, bloodworms, shrimp and Fishbites were favored baits. Snapper blues were hooked around the Ice Breakers by those tossing bucktails tipped with squid, or flashy metal jigs. Land based casters got good news. The Cape Henlopen Fishing Pier reopened September 4th, just in time for Labor Day Weekend. The first phase of repairs to 108 pilings was recently completed, and the pier was considered safe for traffic again. The second phase, which entails decking replacement, plus work on the superstructure and fencing, is scheduled to be done during the winter.