I have been fishing Indian River Inlet since a very young age. My parents were friends with the Jones family from Claymont, and they had a cottage in Dewey Beach. When we would join them for a weekend, one of the events was a picnic at the inlet. The adults would gather around the table while I would fish along a steel wall that acted as a riprap. I only recall catching small sea bass and oyster crackers on squid bait.
When I returned from the Navy in 1965, we started to camp at the inlet, and my fishing became more serious. Since I was right there, it was no problem fishing the night tides for stripers, and as time went on, sea trout or weakfish became more common. Then I acquired a boat, and my time at the inlet quickly diminished.
Today, I am saddled with a broken hip, and I have not fished anywhere since last December. I am recovering slowly, and I plan on fishing the inlet in the next week or two. One problem I will face is that my favorite location is no longer available to me. For years, I have fished from the sidewalk just west of the bridge on the north side of the inlet. Since the Army Corps of Engineers has stabilized the inlet by placing large rocks there, I can no longer reach the water.
I believe I will be fishing from the south side under or just west of the bridge. The area east of the bridge where the sidewalk from the parking lot joins the sidewalk that runs along the water is another good location that is easy to reach.
Moving east from there, the rocks flatten out but stay wet most of the time due to their low position in the water. The ocean waves wash through the rocks and deposit sand on the inlet side, and this can be a good location to bounce a bucktail or drift a sand flea. Back in the day when big trout were available, I caught quite a few right here.
If you are new to fishing Indian River Inlet, you will need the proper footwear before venturing out on the jetties. Today, there are boots and shoes made just for walking on slippery rocks. Buy a pair at your favorite tackle shop before even thinking about walking out on the wet jetties. I have seen some nasty falls on those rocks, and every one of the men who fell was wearing street shoes. Many years ago, we lost a fisherman who fell in the water during an outgoing current and was never found.
There were some beautiful stainless-steel creepers made by pipe fitters and other construction workers with access to the raw materials. I never had a pair when I fished the jetties. I had a pair of golf rubbers with spikes out the bottom, but a few years ago, I did buy a pair at auction at a very good price.
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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.
