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Weather’s fine and the fish are biting

May 8, 2018

The Cast for a Cure Surf Fishing Tournament was held April 28 along the Delaware Seashore State Park coast from Key Box Road to Faithful Steward. The weather was a tad blustery, but a good number of fish were caught and released by the 12 four-man teams in the contest. Most of the fish were short rock, but there were some kings and black drum that did score points.

Brandy Timmons was event chairwoman, and she was helped by Butch and Clark Evans from Old Inlet Bait and Tackle. The shop was the headquarters for the tournament; that is where the teams signed up and where they picked up their packets on Friday evening. The fishing day ended at 3 p.m. with the awards presented at 4 p.m. at the pavilion at Savages Ditch.

The first-place team was the Surfcasters. Members were Hank Busby, Tony Sparano, Curt Martinez and Hunter Lied. Second place went to Should Have Been Here Yesterday, and third place to See Air Googen. The members of the top three teams received trophies, but no money. All entry fees went to the Tunnell Cancer Center. In addition, the money raised by a raffle of custom-built surf rods and other fishing equipment raised $1,000.

Those of us who have had friends or family treated at the Tunnell Cancer Center truly appreciate everyone who fished in this tournament. We also thank Brandy, Clark and Butch, who gave up both time and money to make this project a success.

Fishing

We finally got some decent weather and now the fish should be available and willing to bite a bait or lure. The question that remains is where to fish?

If your boat can weather the predicted three- to four-foot seas, I would try the wrecks and reefs for tog. Fishing has been slow so far, but this warm weather should get the water temperature up to a more comfortable level, and there are big tog to be caught. Capt. John Nedelka on the Karen Sue had a good trip on Sunday in spite of the windy weather by hitting wrecks close to shore. Another boat had a limit of tog at reef Site 11. Both captains reported more shorts than keepers, but that keeps the action moving. Sticking with tog, the inlet has seen more keepers during the past few days, so that is a good choice for those who do not have a boat. Charter and head boats from Lewes and Indian River will be sailing for tog as well.

I do not have a good feeling about the 2018 flounder season. The past few years have seen low numbers of these fish caught from the Inland Bays, the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal and the shallow waters of Delaware Bay. I think there are two reasons for this. One is the poor reproduction of summer flounder over the past seven years, and the other is the warming of water in the bays. What few fish we get inshore leave when the water tops 68 degrees, and that has happened pretty quickly during the past few years. Perhaps this cold spring will hold down the water temperature a bit longer and give us a better chance of catching those flounder that do show up.

During the early part of the flounder run, you want to be fishing on sunny days in shallow water on a falling tide. I have had good luck working the shallow areas of Indian River Bay between White's Creek, South Shore Marina and the Junction Buoy into Massey's Ditch. One other advantage to this shoal water is there is little boat traffic, because most boats will run aground. I have mentioned this before, but the top bait for fishing in shallow water is a minnow fished without any weight. On windy days you may have to add a split shot or two, but basically you want the minnow to swim unencumbered.

Surf fishing has been reasonably good considering the weather we have had. Last weekend saw a few black drum in the 20-inch class caught along with kings and short rockfish. Larger black drum have been caught to our south, and a few reds have been landed on the Virginia Barrier Islands. If you want to target black drum, use either clams or crabs for bait. In Virginia we use whole blue crabs, but in Delaware you can get away with green or calico crabs. Bloodworms will be you best bait for kings. Use either the real thing, FishBites or Gulp!. I like circle hooks for most of my bait fishing, but Chestertown hooks will do just as well when kings are the target.

  • 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. He has been the regional editor for several publications and was the founding editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman magazine. Eric is the author of three books: Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast, The Ultimate Guide to Striped Bass Fishing and Fishing Saltwater Baits. He and his wife Barbara live near Milton, Delaware. Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.

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