Fishing Report

Water temperatures have been slowly rising with warmer days and nights, and flounder action has improved in the Lewes Canal. Anglers reported fair numbers of keeper flatties while using minnows, shiners, smelt and herring. The Berkely Gulp! artificials have proven effective as well. Young fisherman Ronin Max used a minnow on a green jighead to tempt a 21 inch 3.5 pounder from the Canal on Monday. Rebecca West weighed in a 5.33 pound flatfish she pulled in using cut herring. Remember the annual Lewes Harbour Canal Flounder Tournament Friday May 20.

Folks fishing the rails at Cape Henlopen pier had flounder at night on Speck Rigs and other small jigs tipped with cut bait. Bluefish and stripers were also caught from the pier. Shore casters at Roosevelt Inlet hooked bluefish, stripers and flounder as well. Stripers were reported too from Broadkill Beach by guys employing bloodworms and cut bunker and herring. Will Wiedmann was surprised when a 14 pound black drum grabbed the chunk of herring he was using to try and catch stripers on Broadkill Monday. Commercial netters have been getting numerous drum in Broadkill Slough, so boat fishermen should have success on the Coral Beds soon. Wind has been a problem for boaters most days, but when crews were able to get out to the reef sites, they found tautog cooperative. Last Saturday, Captain Brent's toggers on Katy Did returned with a limit of nice blackfish. The Angler headboat also had a good catch Saturday. Captain Chet's group on the Lil' Angler limited out on Monday. Tyler and Austin Brown were on board, and scored citation tog of 7.14 and 7.3 pounds on their first Delaware Bay tautog trip. Captain Pete's patrons had a limit aboard Top Fin Tuesday. Ok Chiu Kim boated a 9.88 pound bruiser.

In addition togging has been good along the Inner and Outer Walls. Bob Murphy and Edwin Maxwell culled a limit of quality tog from many they caught at the Inner Wall Monday, including Max's 8.26 pound citation winner. Striped bass continue to be caught along the Ocean beaches. Bert Long brought in a 19 pound rock using bunker in the surf at Herring Point. Jack Austin beached a 28.6 pound bass with bunker at Conquest Road. Jack said he released some large smooth dogfish, and a couple pretty good sized brown sharks.

Fair numbers of striped bass showed up in the surf this past week. Fish were caught at Cape Henlopen and along Broadkill Beach by shore casters soaking cut herring, bunker, clam and bloodworm baits. Matt Wiedmann stopped by Tuesday with a pair of nice rockfish taken at the Navy Jetties on herring. Drew Stuchlik, Will Wiedmann and Fritz Geiger fished the beach near Gordon's Pond during outgoing tide Tuesday. They had 12 stripers up to 40 inches, plus the first two bluefish of the season. Larry Taylor reported that he and his fishing buddy scored seven keeper sized rock using fresh herring from Broadkill Beach. Stripers were also pulled from Roosevelt Inlet.

Surf fishermen did well, but windy conditions made it difficult for boaters to get out. It's likely striped bass will be found now on the same structure at the Bay mouth where they roamed in the Fall. On days boats were able to get out on the Bay, anglers found tog along the Inner and Outer Walls. A jighead tipped with a chunk of green crab worked. Joe Ryan got his limit of tog at the Inner Wall. Tautog were also taken over Reef Sites 5, 6 and 7. Captain Brent's toggers on the Katy Did returned with their limit of fish to 8 pounds last Thursday. Seo Won Park weighed in a 9.88 pound citation blackfish he boated aboard the Top Fin. Small boaters picked at flounder in the Lewes Canal. Water temps have risen into the low 50's and action should improve daily. A few keeper flatties came over the rail at the Cape Henlopen Pier during both day and nighttime hours as as well. Flukers told of success using speck rigs and other small jigs tipped with herring, shiners, minnows and Gulp! Don't forget the Annual Lewes Harbour Canal Flounder Tournament Friday, May 20th.

Tautog action has been pretty consistent over artificial reefs in Delaware Bay. Sites 6 and 7 near Brown Shoal have been productive, but tog also came from up the Bay at Site 4, and on the Broadkill Slough site, number 5. Captain Chet's toggers on the Lil' Angler culled a limit of nice keepers from a catch of several fish on Wednesday. Many of the blackfish were just shy of the 15 inch minimum.

The tog took green crabs, clams and shrimp. Stanley Raffensberger from Halifax, PA reeled in an 8.28 pound citation winner. A few tog have been pulled from the rocks of the Outer Wall, and that bite will improve with warming water temps. A handful of flounder came from Lewes Canal during the past week. Cut herring, minnows, shiners and Gulp got the attention of sluggish flatties. A few flounder were also hooked by fishermen on the rails of Cape Henlopen Pier using small jigs tipped with herring at night. Again, that catching will pick up as temperatures rise.

The annual Lewes Harbour Canal Flounder Tournament will take place Friday May 20th. Striped bass catches have been spotty, although some were landed by surfcasters using bloodworm from Broadkill Beach. Louie Maysky checked in his limit of two rock weighing 10 and 14 pounds. Those fish grabbed Creek Chub poppers in Massey's Ditch. The herring run is on at the spillway in Milton. The alewife and bluebacks will strike small darts and sabiki rigs. Be aware that the Delaware recreational limit for herring is 10 per angler per day.

Amanda and I got back from the Florida Keys last week and have been in the shop daily, getting ready for the season ever since. This winter's weather was much warmer than last, and we enjoyed good fishing. We took a side trip to Guatemala where we were spoiled by the extremely personable and attentive staff at Buena Vista Sportfishing Lodge in Iztapa. We got into big Pacific sailfish and dorado, and Amanda caught her first blue marlin. She had the 300 pounder to the boat for photos and the release in fifteen minutes. The captain was thoroughly impressed.

Back here in Delaware, Bay water temps have finally risen into the upper 40s, and tog and stripers have been taken on days when weather conditions allow boaters to get out. Tog action had been pretty good over ocean wrecks and reef site 10. Some big blackfish were brought in, such as the 20.24 pound jumbo tautog decked by Dennis Muhlenforth. Captain Carey's guys on the Grizzly had 14 tog and a keeper cod on a recent trip to Site 10. Today, Captain Pete's toggers aboard Top Fin limited out while using green crabs over a Bay reef. Kent Suh scored a 7.87 pounder. The Lil' Angler was also togging in the Bay today and returned with a limit of fish including Sam Green's 10.11 pound citation winner.

Striped bass have been on the move in the Bay, but Mike Barnes, Bob Persch, Terry Myers and Mark Swift found some north of Brandywine Shoal. They were anchored in 15 feet of water using clams when they boated three bass in the 15 pound class. The date of this year's annual Lewes Harbour Canal Flounder Tournament has been set for Friday May 20. The event offers cash prizes and part of the proceeds benefit Camp Awareness youth programs.