Old Inlet Bait and Tackle held its 28th annual Delaware Seashore Fall Surf Fishing Classic Sept. 27. There were 213 entries in three divisions – open, women and kids. The weather was good and fishing was even better. 

The open division had 180 entries. John Anderson came out on top with 219 points to win $1,200. In second place was Cindy Haskett with 160 points worth $800. Third was Shaun Smith with 148 points for $500. Ryan Lewis placed fourth and won $200 plus an Okuma rod. Fifth to 20th places had their choice of prizes.

The women’s division had 22 entries, with Kelsey Cycyk placing first with 92 points. She won $200, the coveted Nicole Born Memorial Trophy and an Okuma rod. Kimberly Blum was second with 87 points and carried home $100, a trophy, and a rod and reel. Renee Griffith came in third with 42 points, which was good for $50, a trophy and a tackle box.

The kids’ division, with 13 entries, was won by Scarlett Moore with 45 points. She won a surf rod and reel, and a trophy. In second place was Miles Mitchell with 20 points. He won a jetty rod and reel along with a trophy. Charles Keyser came in third with 13 points. His reward was a boat rod and reel, and a trophy.

The grand slam prize went to Jamie Logan for his catch of a 14-inch pompano, a 15-inch bluefish and a 12-inch kingfish. His reward was an Okuma Combo.

The largest fish of the tournament was a 45-inch red drum caught by Dave Brand. It was worth a cool $1,000.

For the first time that I can remember, the Bluefish Calcutta was split five ways. Sam Villani, Cindy Haskett, Marty Bull, Sebastian Uhde and Evan Gallimore each won $310 for 18-inch blues.

Fall fishing

As I write this, two hurricanes are dancing off our coast and creating unfishable conditions pretty much everywhere saltwater anglers like to go. This too shall pass. The seas will lay down and the fishing will, I hope, return to the excellent sea bass and flounder action we had before the storm. We will have to wait until Friday, Oct. 11, to get back out to the sea bass as the feds have their short closed season until Thursday, Oct. 10. Pretty much everyone, be it charter or private boat, caught their limit of sea bass, and there were some big flounder taken along with the sea bass. I expect if one were to target flounder, we would see limits there as well.

As you can see from the results of the Old Inlet tournament, surf fishing was good over the weekend. Clark Evans added along with results of the tournament that plenty of blues were caught along with spot, croaker, pompano, kings and that 45-red drum.

Indian River Inlet is producing sheepshead and tog. Right now, the tog are mainly small, but that may change as the waters cool.

And then there are striped bass or rockfish. Right now, we have a 28- to 31-inch slot limit with a one-fish-per-day bag limit. Unfortunately, the bean counters who believe everything they see from the MRIP want to cut the recreational catch by 12%. We could have attended a public forum Sept. 25, but only one recreational fisherman was there in person and one was there virtually. I sent in my comments as soon as I received the notice of the 12% decrease, and the cause was the MRIP.

The method they want to use to reduce the mortality of striped bass by 12% is to outlaw catch-and-release fishing to the point that when striper season is closed, anyone caught playing catch and release would be considered breaking the law. Even to the point of coming onto a school of fish and catching more than two before moving away. I hope more recreational fishermen wrote in and made good comments on this subject, or the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission might get the idea we don’t care what they do.

Fall hunting

If you are over 18, you can hunt the many state-run areas that are set aside just for hunting. Or if you have a nice hunt club like I did back in the day, you can get back together with your friends and hunt geese or deer.

I am driving by large fields of picked corn and I have yet to see one Canada goose. I do notice some up in Kent County, but not the first one in Sussex County. I am pretty close to Prime Hook Wildlife Area, so you would think there would be some geese around, but so far, not a sign of them.