Local fishing has come alive

Fishing has finally started to come alive. Unfortunately, the weather has kept boats off the water for most of the week and the surf has been pretty rough. When conditions improve there should be some tog on the inshore grounds and on Tuesday, May 15, the black sea bass season will open. I am booked on the Angler out of Ocean City for opening day.

In the upper part of Delaware Bay, a few big rockfish have been caught. The Yellow Can gave up a 37-incher on bunker while the Submerged Jetty at Augustine Beach saw 41- and 28-pounders also caught on bunker.

The Fishing Pier at Cape Henlopen State Park reported the big blues are here, but not in the numbers of the past two years. For whatever reason, most of the fish have been caught from the beach to the right of the pier with cut bunker the prime bait. Flounder, kings and lots of skates have been caught from the pier. The surf has seen a few keeper rock along with black drum, kings and short rockfish. Clams are the best bait for the drum, while the rock will take bloodworms and cut bunker or frozen mullet.

I fished Indian River Inlet on Tuesday. My target species was hickory shad and I caught quite a few. I used a very small silver spoon on 12 inches of 10-pound test leader behind a ¾-ounce torpedo sinker. Standing just to the west of the bridge on the north side of the inlet, I caught shad from as far as I could cast to just beyond the rocks. Incoming water was the time to be there. A few folks were fishing for tog, but I only saw one short caught. To the south, flounder are being caught behind the Virginia Barrier Islands with Wachapreague one of the favorite ports. I hope to be there next week.

Joe Morris Memorial Canal Flounder Tournament

Next Friday, May 18, the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal will be full of boats as anglers try to find the biggest flounder to win the tournament. I know most of you will wait to see what the weather will do, but in checking the long-term forecast, it looks pretty good.

Right now, Lewes Harbour Marina has tournament T-shirts available. I got mine on Tuesday. All proceeds from the shirts will go to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. The raffle for a custom-built rod and other goodies is also underway. Even if you don't fish in the tournament, you can buy a T-shirt or raffle ticket and know you have helped out this worthy cause.

Gun nuts

The debate over guns has gone completely nuts. Last Friday, a letter to the editor from Greg DuRoss from Lewes accused state Sen. Ernie Lopez of being an accomplice to murder and an enabler. He equates Senator Lopez's position on gun control to that of someone who forces sex on a woman.

Then at the other end of the spectrum, we have the knuckle-dragging Neanderthal who used a bullhorn to drown out the remarks of a man who had recently buried his 14-year-old daughter, a victim of gun violence.

Come on folks, we all have our differences when it comes to guns, but can't we engage each other without stupid accusations or very rude behavior? The Delaware Legislature has passed some good measures and is looking to pass some more. Will they please everyone? Of course not, but they may save a few lives.

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

At its recent meeting in Virginia, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission solved a few problems facing recreational fishing in Delaware. The biggest was the appeal from the northern states about the black sea bass regulations. Fortunately, ASMFC granted the appeal and avoided those states going out of compliance and ruing the black sea bass season for Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Delaware's season will run from May 15 to Dec. 31 with a 12.5-inch minimum size and 15-fish bag limit.

On a less positive note, the Commonwealth of Virginia remains out of compliance on menhaden. The commission has given the commonwealth until August to approve the current bay cap or have menhaden fishing shut down.

The wild card in the mix is Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. He has the job of approving the commonwealth's position or finding them out of compliance. The secretary's track record is not real good when it comes to these decisions. If you recall, he approved New Jersey's appeal of their summer flounder regulations in 2017, allowing them to write their own rules. It would not surprise me if he upholds Virginia's position and completely destroys any hope of real fishery conservation in the future.