By Eric Burnley Sr.*
Updated: May 24, 2012
DELAWARE BAY The Outer Wall and Ice Breakers have given up keeper rockfish during periods of low light and after dark. Plugs, shads and bucktails have all produced and I suspect fly casters could score as well.
Still no word of rockfish at the Rips, but with these fish moving out of the bay and up the coast from the Chesapeake Bay they should be there. Live eels, trolled plugs or spoons and jigging metal or bucktails have been reliable fish catchers in the past.
Black drum are on the Coral Beds with catches made on fresh clams soaked in the late afternoon or at night. I have heard reports that drum will mark on the sonar and at times you can hear them drumming, but bites can be hard to come by. The full moon in June could put them in a feeding mood. I did have a report that one boat had eight boomers on Wednesday night so perhaps the bite is on.
The upper bay rockfish run has slowed with most fish now measuring in the 24 to 30-inch range. They have been caught from shore and from boats on cut bunker and bloodworms. The Yellow Can, 4L and 6L buoys were mentioned as good locations for bunker chunkers while the beaches at Augustine and Woodland were the top spots for shore bound anglers.
Flounder have been caught around Blake’s Channel on minnows and squid. With the rockfish bite winding down, the flounder will begin to see more fishing pressure.
Flounder fishing in the lower bay has not turned on the way it should have by now. The Broadkill River and the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal hosted 360 fishermen last Friday as entries in the Lewes Harbour Marina Flounder Tournament. The winning fish was over 6 pounds with the runners up weighing in the 4-pound range. The overall bite was described as fair with a few anglers catching their limit while others had zip. The beginning of outgoing water was the prime time.
Broadkill Beach and Roosevelt Inlet have seen some decent fishing for trout. Shads, bucktails and jigs have accounted for most of the catch while peeler crab remains the top natural bait. Fish to 6 pounds have been caught, but please remember that the limit is one trout per day.
INDIAN RIVER INLET Flounder fishing here has been a little slow. Part of the reason has to be the high winds that make drifting difficult. This weekend it looks like we will have better weather conditions and many anglers on the grounds to find the fish.
Rockfish have also been spotty, showing up one night then disappearing for several nights in a row. Hard working jetty jockeys are scoring on plugs, shads and bucktails.
SURF FISHING Rockfish have been scattered from Herring Point to Three Rs Road with dawn, dusk and night the best times to fish. Bunker and clams account for the best bites.
A few kings and blues have been mixed in with a boatload of sharks and skates.
INSHORE OCEAN Despite of the successful effort by DNREC officials to open the recreational sea bass season on Saturday, the weather made fishing in the ocean all but impossible until Tuesday when the season was scheduled to open under the old regs. Man can make regulations, but Mother Nature makes the rules.
Once boats were able to run out to the sea bass grounds, limit catches of 25 per angler were common. Clams, squid, crabs and Gulp will all catch sea bass. Reef Site 11 has been a popular spot, but those with secret little wrecks will always do the best.
The high winds and seas have curtailed any attempts to fish for sharks, but makos and threshers should be available inside the 20-Fathom Line. Make sure your boat has the Highly Migratory Permit before attempting to catch sharks, tuna or billfish.
OFFSHORE OCEAN There is some good looking water offshore, but the weather conditions have prevented anyone from running out. This weekend looks good and I expect to hear of yellowfin and bluefin tuna from the offshore fleet. The quest to land the first white marlin of the year will also begin this weekend.
FRESHWATER Delaware ponds are producing bass and panfish on a variety of natural and artificial baits. Bass seem to like soft plastics like Senkos and lizards while live minnows attract crappie. Using light tackle to cast small jigs can produce a lot of fun with sunfish.
White perch and catfish will be the primary target of tidal water fishermen plying the streams and rivers. Bloodworms and grass shrimp will take the perch while cut bunker and stink baits will attract the catfish.
I have no direct reports of trout in the stocked streams, but from personal experience I do believe they are still available. Live baits such as minnows and meal worms will do the job except in the fly-fishing only area.
WEAR YOUR PFD This is National Safe Boating Week and the safest thing you can do to protect yourself on the water is wear your PFD. Delaware has recorded two boating fatalities so far this year and I believe both men could have been saved had they been wearing a PFD.
When you are the captain of a boat, be it a 12-foot jon boat or 70-foot sportfisherman, you are responsible for everyone on board. While I don’t expect anyone on a 70-foot sportfisherman to wear their PFD, everyone on any boat that will fit on a trailer should have his or hers on at all times. Unless you have experienced an accident at sea you have no idea how quickly the day can change from one of fun to one of tragedy.
The gentleman who lost his life while bass fishing in the Nanticoke River is a good example. One second he was sitting on the boat and the next second he was in the water. No time to find and put on a PFD, but had he been wearing one the fatal outcome may have been averted. If the boat captain wears his PFD and insists that all on board do the same there will be more lives saved.
Modern day PFDs are not at all bulky and are very comfortable to wear. I have one of those PFDs that inflate automatically and sometimes I still have it on when I come home. That may have more to do with old age than comfort, but I really don’t realize I am wearing it.
Bass fishermen use vests when running the boat and these are also very comfortable. I had a pair of them for my sons when they were boys.
Please do not let small children out on docks or allow them play anywhere near the water without a PFD. They can fall in and drown before anyone notices and can get in to rescue them. This happens as I know from personal experience.
I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and you all are back safe and ready to dive into next week’s fishing report.
Wear your PFD.
*
