Conditions not ideal for Delaware Mobile Surf-Fishermen tournament

These are the results of the 19th annual Delaware Mobile Surf-Fishermen’s Tournament held the weekend of Oct. 11-12; however, the Sunday session had to be canceled due to the nasty nor’easter. Conditions were not exactly ideal Saturday, but fish were caught and prizes were awarded to the top scores in three divisions. There were youth, women’s and overall divisions.

In the Youth Division, there were two winners. Ryland West came in first with 23 points, and won a trophy and a prize bag. In second place was Jace Griffith with 11 points, good for a trophy and a prize bag.

In the Women’s Division, Lori Born accumulated 90 points to place first, and win $1,000 and a trophy. In second place was Amy Dixon with 14 points, good for a trophy and $225. Following in third place with 10 points was Meg Vinson. She won $125 and a prize bag. Meg donated her prize money back to DMS, for which the club was very grateful.

The top three performers in the Overall Division were Chad Bayless in first place with 90 points. He won a trophy and $1,000. In second was Tom Hudecheck with 48 points, worth $750 and a trophy. Coming in third was Scotty Aiken with 47 points. He won $500 and a trophy.

Prizes were awarded from fourth to 23rd, with those winners asked to pick from the prizes donated by sponsors.

The big fish of the tournament was a 17.5-inch flounder caught by Walter Johnson. His prize was $750.

The bluefish calcutta was worth $1,050. Mike Walker and John Pilcicki each caught 16-inch blues, splitting the total for $525 each.

The kingfish calcutta was won by Chad Bayless with his 12.75-inch king. That was worth $890.

Global warming

There is no doubt the earth is getting warmer. As a fisherman, I first became aware of the change when I lived in Virginia Beach and we began to see triggerfish and spadefish in numbers around structure like wrecks and light towers. Claude Bain was the director of the Virginia Sportfishing Tournament, and before he added those two species to the tournament, he wanted to be sure they were catchable.

To that end, he contacted charter boat captains and other professionals to our south and inquired how they caught these fish. It seems they chummed for both species. The interesting technique about spadefish is, you are better off leaving the rod in the holder until it bends over, because spadefish have a tendency to nibble at the bait before taking it and anglers have a tendency to try and strike before the fish has the hook in its mouth.

Claude, Herb Gordon and I set out to test the techniques recommended by the southern experts. We chose the Chesapeake Light Tower, about 12 miles out of Rudee Inlet, for our first stop. It was an easy choice, as there were lots of spadefish congregated around the structure. 

We anchored the boat up current from the structure and began chumming with bits of clam. We set two rods off the stern with small clam baits and waited for them to bend over. And sure enough, they did. Once you get the spadefish coming, they just keep on coming. We found the same thing was true with triggerfish.

Now we have both species here in Delaware, and they are joined by sheepshead and pompano. I caught my first Delaware pompano last summer at 3R’s Road on Fishbites. I have yet to catch a Delaware sheepshead, mainly because I have been laid up with this darn broken hip all summer. Last summer, I caught two big sheepshead on my son Ric’s boat at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel pilings on fiddler crab fished on a jig.

My son Roger fished a surf tournament in North Jersey last weekend, and guess what he caught? His very first pompano. Now if pompano are moving to North Jersey, the ocean must be getting warmer.

This is not unusual. Over the millions of years the earth has been around, it has gone through periods of warm and cold. The problem this time is humans like to live near the water, and we like to use fossil fuels. The fuel raises the temperature, which melts the ice, which raises the water level. And, oops, there goes another million-dollar house.