Delaware Surf Fishing Report
Well it has been one heck of a week and weekend, which for us never seems to end. Hope everyone has been well I have been very busy playing catch-up on all my orders and all is well now. I just want to thank everyone for their patience and apologize for the delays. The fishing has been excellent as long as you are catching :D …. Yeah, yeah, yeah … I know, not everyone always catches, but the fact you are out there trying, and enjoying yourselves should be a reward in and of itself. So what has been happening? We will have to back track to Fourth of July weekend and go from there so this could be a tad long …..
On the fourth of July weekend this area was crazy with traffic and what not, so I ventured north or hid in the air conditioning inland. We hit Beach Plum Island on the fourth of July and met up with some friends and set up to fish the surf. Mike Bashore, Jamie Speraw, and Tyler Speraw met me out there and set up their gear. We had several lines out with fishbites to bunker chunks. By the way some dirt bag broke into several cars at Beach Plum Island in the parking lot so be careful leaving valuables in plain site. Anyway, we were all fishing, grilling, and pulling in little croakers, spot, and dogfish. Scott Jost had his telephone pole all set up (monster surf rod) with a nice bunker chunk hoping for a large skate. We knew Tyler was dying to catch a big fish and as luck would have it the rod went crazy just after dark and the fireworks. By the way we probably saw at least twelve different shows, we could see the whole lower coast of Delaware including Jersey. Then the rod went nuts, Scott looked at Tyler, handed him the rod and said … “Hey do me a favor and reel this in for me”. Tyler said … “are you sure” … Scott said … “of course”. Well, Tyler grabbed the telephone pole, and honestly it was hysterical watching him try to hold this rod (14 footer) and horse in whatever was dragging all that line out. He would get it close and the fish would take off … he had a serious look and an epic smile. Eventually he pulled in what turned out to be a sandbar shark. Since these are prohibited to beach or take out of the water, we let him get it close to the shore and then slacked the line. The shark threw the hook and swam off, no worries for the fish and the look on that young man’s face was priceless. Actually the looks on his face while trying to pull it in were very priceless (we have pictures … of Tyler, not the shark). Long story short, Scott made Tyler’s day letting him reel in his first big fish, and the fact it was a shark was a bonus. Kudos to Scott for allowing Tyler to take command of that catch.
So what is happening out there? We have fish all over the place. Croakers are everywhere, and I mean everywhere, even very nice sized ones. Ray Hibbs told me a guy checked in a few two pounders at Bills Sport Shop one afternoon from the Broadkill River. I have seen them caught all over the place. Kingfish are just as thick in the surf and out front on wrecks and the walls. Triggers are out there as well as sea bass, and spade fish have even made an appearance. Squid, clam, fishbites, and real bloodworms have been the best baits for these guys. Sand fleas are excellent as well, I tend to dig for my own, but you can find them in some shops. The floundah poundahs have been killing it in the bays, Roosevelt Inlet, Indian River bay, Rehoboth bay, and out front at places like site ten. The best places in the Delaware Bay and the ocean have been structure. Flounder are in tight to the structure so watch the snags and fish out of the current, or away from it, not into it. Slot fishing for Striped bass (residents) has been good at Roosevelt Inlet, Broadkill River, Lewes Canal (only legal from the train bridge to the Roosevelt Inlet), and the Delaware bay. Bunker chunks, swim shads, and even speck rigs have done well for these fish. Big news!!… the trout or weakfish have been getting bigger and showing up more all over the place. Epic sized catches compared to the last few years have been reported up to six pounds. Same baits as the rest of the fish, but chicken works well too, raw, not Kentucky Fried, and even though Royals Farms’ chicken is addictive, I don’t think the fish are down with fried. Little dogfish have been every where and I have been sent many pictures of kids catching these as their first sharks. I am very excited to see kids catching, not the fact the catches are sharks, but that they (the kids not the zombies) are out there fishing instead of playing zombie in front of video games. It has been a great week fishing Delaware’s tidal waters.
What has been going on at the Indian River Inlet? Well I am going to let Dante Cilia tell you all about it … “On Saturday and Sunday nights between the times of 1030 p.m. and 2 a.m. in the inlet seemed to be the best time to fish over the course of the week with three of us fishing using speck rigs and storm lures we released well over a hundred and fifty stripers between 14 and 25 inches and released 15 bluefish weighing around 3 to 5 lbs also we caught 6 trout with the biggest one being 28 inches and smallest one being 17 inches also we stumbled across two flounder some how working a jighead with a chartreuse gulp not even touching the bottom. The first time I have ever seen flounder hit in open water, and we also caught lots of shad while casting into the huge schools of stripers running through the coast guard station while fishing the rocks. It was one of the best fishing nights I’ve had here in the inlet in a long time. All the trout were caught on speck rigs and most the blues other then one weighing around 5 and a half pounds was caught on a storm lure, while the stripers were hitting anything you threw at them. Please share this with the other member of the page …… (Tuesday) … Fishing the inlet last night caught a three lb trout, 6 small stripers, and five blues up to 4 and a half lbs“. … Thanks Dante I appreciate the detailed report. That is what this is all about gang, helping your fellow angler catch, or at least have a shot, and still having a good time. The Inlet has been the hottest on the incoming tide. The water clarity is best at the top of the incoming or high tide. During the low tide it has been rather dirty and visibility is maybe two feet, during the incoming it gets up to four feet visibility on the top.
The bite out front, and I mean wayyyyy out front, like at the Hot dog and the canyons has been great for blue and yellow fin tuna and a few big eye have been caught. Yes you will need a boat or hire a charter, not gonna happen from the surf, and if it does send pictures!! The boys from the Quintessa and Overboard Sportfishing have been doing well. No Quarter (no not Led Zeppelin) have been creaming the fish as well. You want to catch these beasts?? Go for these folks, they have the knowledge and skills. Oh and the bait schools have been sick off of the coast in the surf. Huge schools of bunker, shad, and blues have been a hundred yards plus off the beaches and move in from time to time. You just have to be there when they do, that is something I cannot predict. I can say if the tide is incoming they will move in closer to chase the bait. The beaches are shelved off from the storms and winds. most of the troughs and holes are filled. You can see the edge of the clean water is wayyyyy out there and that is hard to cast out to. That is one of the reasons the bluefish have been hard to find in the surf. They are out there though. and mullet rigs have been the best for them, but they have been far and few between. Puppy drum are showing up at Massey’s Landing and Indian River Inlet, and clam has been the best bait. This is all I have for you kids, I apologize it took so long for a report…………………. David Eastburn!! … Welcome HOME!!!! Many of us have missed you brother, and to all in the armed forces, we miss you all, and hope you come home soon!!! This … “war” … sucks.
Fish On!!
Rich King
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