Canal flounder tourney slated for Friday, May 20

Lewes Harbour Marina will once again sponsor its annual Canal Flounder Tournament. Friday, May 20 is the date and the contest begins at 7 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m. The entry fee is $25 per person with $5 going to the Camp Awareness Youth program. All of the remaining entry money will be awarded to the winning anglers. The boundaries run from the canal entrance to Rehoboth Bay to the entrance to Roosevelt Inlet and up the Broadkill River to Oyster Rocks. The entry fee must be paid in cash at Lewes Harbour Marina.

Fishing report

Big blues and rockfish continue to be caught from Lewes Beach, with some of the best action along the stretch running from the Cape Henlopen Fishing Pier around to the flats inside of Cape Henlopen. Cut, fresh bunker and frozen mullet have been the best baits, with a few big blues taken on poppers. I saw one report of rockfish caught on plugs with a teaser. The surf at Herring Point has also seen blues and rock on bunker or mullet. I fished there Tuesday morning to the top of the tide using frozen bunker without result.

The tog season is closed, but last-weekend boats were able to find limits at the Outer Wall and reef sites 6 and 7. Clams, crabs and shrimp produced most of these fish.

The black drum run is on and the Coral Beds are once again producing fish to 50 pounds. Fresh clams have been the top drum producer.

While black drum are fun to catch, they are not much fun at the cleaning table with their big scales and tough hide. Black drum usually contain a good number of parasitic worms. They won’t hurt you should you consume a few, but most people don’t care for drum with a side order of worms. Please consider these facts should you decide to kill a big drum only to toss it in the trash.

Black sea bass season opens this Sunday, May 15, and if the weather is decent you can count on a rush to the reef sites and wrecks in and around the 20-Fathom Line.

Larger sea bass usually bite first, so the first boat to the structure is the one that catches the largest fish.

To date, I have not had a report of rockfish or blues schooling up along the beachfront. I think the cooler weather has delayed the rockfish from leaving the bays and heading north. Once they do move out, we could have some good run-and-gun fishing in the ocean. Or not. Indian River Inlet is still producing small blues and rockfish on white bucktails with a white worm. The occasional keeper rock and big blue also come in. The best time to fish here is on incoming water.

Flounder fishing has gotten off to a slow start in the back bays and the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal. One or two keepers have been caught, but most anglers go home with empty coolers.

No doubt the problem is colder-than-normal water for mid-May. The only solution is warmer water, and that may take a week or more of sunny, warm, calm weather.

A very few boats have tried the canyons, but those that went came back with fish. Several yellowfin and bluefin tuna have been taken, and the one boat that tried deep dropping in the Wilmington had a good catch of blueline and golden tilefish to over 20 pounds.

Spring Surf Fishing Tourney results

Clark Evans at Old Inlet Bait and Tackle was kind enough to send me the results of the Spring Surf Fishing Tournament.

The contest was held May 7, and you might recall the weather was less than pleasant. Nevertheless, there were 251 hardy folks participating including 29 women and 22 kids.

The Open Division was won by Rory Schuster with 84 points. Second place went to Shaun Smith with 63 points, and third place was won by Joe Drupieski.  Fourth place was a tie between Chad Bayless and David Bloodsworth, both with 40 points.

In the Ladies Division, Kelsey Cycyk took first place with 21 points. Carla Wright was in second place with 12 points and Suzanne Martin came in third with 11 points.

While all of the above won cash, the real money was in the big fish and largest bluefish category. Rory Schuster added $1,000 to his winnings for the biggest fish, a 44-inch rock. Joe Drupieski took the Largest Bluefish Calcutta worth $2,200 for a 37-inch blue.

Congratulations to all the winners!