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Cape Region experiencing greatest run of big bluefish ever

May 9, 2015

To the best of my knowledge, we are currently experiencing the greatest run of big bluefish that the Lewes area has ever seen. I have been fishing around here for 60 years, and my friend Harry Aiken has another 10 years on me, and he can’t recall a bluefish run like the one we have right now. If you have heard of the big weakfish runs or the big blues we used to have at B Buoy, now is the chance to get out on the water and experience an event that has never happened before and may never happen again.

As of Wednesday, blues were being caught between the Cape Henlopen Fishing Pier and the Inner Wall. Private boats are using metal lures, swimming plugs and poppers to catch so many blues anglers are quitting because their arms can’t take any more even though the fish are still biting. On Tuesday, head boats set up chum slicks, and their patrons had constant action cranking in big blues.

The Broadkill River and Broadkill Beach as well as Lewes Beach have all seen good bluefish action. Some fishermen are soaking bunker chunks while others find various lures more effective. One good way to combine both techniques is to fish bait until the blues show up then switch to lures. My personal favorite is a Hopkins metal lure, but bucktails and jigs with a plastic twister tail have been very effective.

As a side note, big blues have been caught as far north as Green’s Beach just south of New Castle. Once again, this is something unheard of in recent or long term memory.

Rockfish are just beginning to show along the beaches and from Indian River Inlet. The surf-caught rock were taken on clam or bunker while those at the inlet hit white bucktails or plastic shads. Fishing the inlet during the hour before dawn has been the most productive time. Right now, most of the rockfish are shorts with a few keepers mixed in the catch. Shad have also moved into the inlet, and sooner or later big rockfish will follow them.

Flounder have been caught from the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal and from Roosevelt Inlet. The largest I have seen was a 6-pounder taken from Roosevelt with a fair number of fish over 20 inches taken elsewhere in the canal. Live minnows have been the best bait with a bucktail tipped with bait strips or Gulp! also effective.

At Indian River, the VFW Slough has produced flounder on the same baits and lures. Here too the number of flounder caught has been low, but the overall size has been high. I spoke with one angler who caught a 22-inch flounder on a white bucktail and rubber worm he was casting from the jetty for rockfish.

This is the last weekend for tog fishermen until the season reopens July 17. Right now, tog are being caught over inshore and lower bay wrecks and reefs as well as the Inner and Outer walls. After being hard to find, green crabs and sand fleas are now available. Other tog baits include clam and white legger or blue claw crab. Speaking of tog, the International Game Fish Association has approved as the new all-tackle world record the 28.80-pounder caught by Ken Westerfield on Fish Bound with Capt. Kane Bounds out of Ocean City, Md.

A few black drum have been caught from Broadkill Beach on clams. I also had a report of black drum taken from a boat anchored close to shore off Broadkill. With the warm weather we are experiencing this week I would expect to see more black drum caught from shore and from boats. The best location over the years has been the Coral Beds found off Slaughter Beach. The most productive time of day has been late afternoon into night. Several head and charter boats will begin running evening trips for drum as soon as more fish arrive in our area.

Conservation first

Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina told me he has seen more conservation of big bluefish than we saw during the previous runs. Joe said most anglers are catching a dozen or more big blues, but only bringing one or two to the cleaning table. This is a happy contrast to the coolers full of big bluefish that ended up in dumpsters after the grip-and-grin photo shoot.

Some people say they don’t like to eat big bluefish, but if you skin the fish, then cut out the dark lateral line they can be quite good on the grill or made into fish cakes. They don’t freeze very well, so take only what you can use fresh and let the others go to make more bluefish.

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