Terrible conditions didn’t deter flounder fishermen May 18

Friday, May 18, was one miserable day to be outside. The wind was howling from the northeast, the rain was coming down in sheets, and it was cold.

In spite of these horrible conditions, 227 men and women fished the Joe Morris Memorial Canal Flounder Tournament. Some left the water before the 3 p.m. lines out, but others stuck it out until the end. At least three fish were weighed between 3 and 4 p.m., when the contest finally ended, but none of them were large enough to make the leaderboard.

Shortly after 4 p.m., Amanda Morris read out the winners, and all seven lined up to get their checks and have their photo taken. It seemed to me that the rain and wind increased just to make sure everyone remained miserable.

Steve Friend took first place with a 3.91-pound flounder. In second place was Jeff Semans with his 3.71-pounder. A 3.03-pound flounder caught by Keith Stevenson came in third. Chris Smith was fourth with a 2.81-pound flounder and Jessie Steele was fifth with his 2.66-pounder. In sixth place was Jackson Ostroski and his 2.20-pounder, and in seventh place was Matt Mitchell and his 2.27-pound flounder.

Before things wrapped up, the Freedom Boat Club asked Amanda to step up as they presented her with a check for $500. This will go along with the other funds raised by the tournament to aid the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. T-shirt sales, a raffle for a custom-made rod and matching reel, a package of Capt. Frank Mitchell’s rigs and private donations will be counted into the totals. The raffles run until May 30. Amanda did say the T-shirts were running low, so get by the shop and pick up yours before they are all gone.

Andy and Opie Kids Fishing Tournament

The group Get Kids Hooked is holding its fourth Andy and Opie Kids Fishing Tournament at Milton Memorial Park Saturday, June 2 from 8 a.m. until noon. There will be three divisions – kids under 7, 8-12 and 13-17. Fishermen and women must be accompanied by an adult at registration, which begins at 8 a.m. Fishing begins at 9 a.m. and stops at noon.

Delaware Mobile Surf Fishermen will have members there to assist the kids and have donated $250 to purchase rods and reels. Dan’s Tackle has also assisted this effort. There are too many sponsors to list here, but they are listed on the website, www.getkidshooked.com.

Bait will be provided, as will lunch by Irish Eyes in Milton. Everything is free.

Winners will be decided by the length of the fish, and prizes will be awarded at the end of the contest. If you have or know a young person or three, this is a great opportunity to get them introduced to fishing. Let’s hope the weather will finally clear and the event can be a great success.

Fishing report

At least we have some fish to report. In fact, they were so thick that your humble reporter actually caught one. I fished the surf at Herring Point from 10 a.m. until around 1 p.m. Monday, catching the bottom of the ebb into the flood. I was soaking clams and managed to land a 24-inch black drum. The man to my left caught a short rockfish and the man to my right had a 5- to 6-pound bluefish.

Encouraged by this success, I went back to Herring Point Tuesday. I went whole hog and sprang for bunker to go along with the clams. Once again, I fished the bottom of the ebb into several hours of the flood and did not have a single touch. It got to the point I was changing out baits every five to 10 minutes. Even at five minutes the hooks would be empty as all those little critters on the bottom gathered round for a free lunch.

Much larger black drum have been caught from Delaware Bay. The Coral Beds off Slaughter Beach have produced drum to over 60 pounds on clams. The best fishing has been in the afternoons into night.

There were a couple of good rockfish runs at Indian River Inlet. The action was on Sunday and Monday morning from 2 or 3 a.m. up until dawn. Black or purple Bombers, JP Minnows or Rapala swimming plugs were the ticket to success. The hot spots were the North and South pockets, and on Sunday morning the fish we as far up the inlet as the bridge. The fish did not show up on Tuesday morning.

Boats running to the Del-Jersey-Land reef are finding good numbers of black sea bass. Blues have been caught from the Cape Henlopen Fishing Pier.