Coral Beds black drum bite steady if not spectacular
The Memorial Day weekend was a mixed blessing. We had fishable weather Friday and Saturday, then it all fell apart Sunday and Monday.
The black drum bite at the Coral Beds has been steady if not spectacular. Most boats manage a few fish with sizes ranging from small to jumbo. Clams are the most popular bait, but live blue claw crabs will catch drum without attracting too much attention from dog sharks, rays and skates. Fish have been caught during the day, but most drum fishing experts will tell you the best time to fish is during the evening right into the night.
No matter when you go, be prepared for attacks from insects. No wind and those tiny gnats will chew on every bit of exposed skin. A west wind brings flies in unbelievable numbers. This time of year they are more likely to be greenheads than barn flies, but the result is still the same. And if you stay until dark you won’t believe the number of mosquitoes. Even if they don’t attack on the water, they will be waiting on shore with a massive appetite for your blood. Only an east wind will diminish the bites.
I can still recall my first trip to Slaughter Beach when I was about 10 years old. My stepfather, grandfather and I rented a wooden boat from a lady whose name I have forgotten. We put our 7.5-horsepower Elgin on the back and headed for the Coral Beds around 2 or 3 p.m., looking for croaker. As I recall, we had a fair catch and started in around dark.
The instant the bow of that boat hit the sand we were covered up with mosquitoes. I was carrying the tackle, Dad had the motor and Pop had the cooler. None of us had a hand free to swat, and the mosquitoes covered our bare arms, faces and legs. We were breathing them in through our noses.
It didn’t take long to unload everything into the car and dive inside for relative safety. I have no idea how long it took to kill the mosquitoes that came in the car with us, but finally we were able to get the heck out of Slaughter Beach.
I now use copious amounts of DEET to ward off the insects. This stuff will melt plastic, but it also keeps the bugs from biting my delicate hide. Any insect repellent without DEET becomes a mosquito cocktail.
I have had good reports of kingfish on the Coral Beds along with very small trout. I suspect a box of bloodworms will put you in touch with some of these fine eating fish.
Big bluefish are still in the Broadkill River and along Broadkill Beach. They have been eating fresh bunker chunks or metal lures.
Flounder fishing in the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal and the Broadkill River remains slow. That two inches of rain we had on Monday didn’t help. If the weather stays dry until the weekend, flounder action could improve. Right now, live minnows are the best bait.
Catching sea bass is still pretty good. Catching a sea bass over the 12.5-inch minimum size has become very difficult. Larry Weldin and I fished the Old Grounds and Site 11 last Thursday. We ended up with one keeper in the box, and it was the first sea bass we caught.
Later in the week, Larry ventured out alone to the backside of Burton’s Island where he found a hungry 10-pound bluefish. He may never let me on his boat again.
Surf fishing has produced blues and rockfish. The fish are scattered from Fenwick Island to Herring Point and will take cut bunker. Friday of last week saw good numbers of big blues along the beach north of the inlet, but otherwise it has been a slow pick.
One type of fishing that has been anything but slow is the tuna bite in the Washington and Norfolk canyons. Trollers are catching boat limits plus a few big dolphin and at least one bigeye. Mako sharks are attacking the trolled baits and hooked tuna.
At least one big thresher shark was brought into Hook ‘Em and Cook ‘Em. The whiptail was taken at the Old Grounds on a mackerel.
Jetty jockeys at Indian River Inlet have taken a few big rockfish after dark. The South Jetty has been the most productive location and a swim shad or a white bucktail with a white worm have produced most of the rock.
The fishing pier at Massey’s Ditch has seen a few keeper flounder on minnows. Unfortunately, the remainder of the Indian River and Rehoboth bays have been very slow. Cold, dirty water seems to be the biggest problem.
Eric Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age. Since 1978 he has written countless articles about hunting and fishing in Delaware and elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast. Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.
