Wham...Fish on!
Those of us who love to fish can often take for granted how lucky we are. We have access to some of the best fishing around! Any given moment we can drop by a pier, rail, rocks, beach, or hop into a boat and fish for a day or just during a lunch break. We forget that thousands of people come here every year for that same experience over just a few days. Once in a while we experience a day we will remember forever. For yours truly, today was one of those days.
I headed out this morning to run a few errands intending to return home and get ready for Saturday’s fishing and boating expo at the American Legion. I unpacked then repacked the truck, and found the tents and tables. I also had to run errand on Rt. 1 … on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. We all know that it’s best to do that early and get home before the craziness starts. I ran my errands and then decided to meet with Suzanne and Brandy from Delaware Fisherwoman at Old Inlet's annual tent sale. I said hello to Clark and Butch Evans, bantered a bit, met Shawn Carpenter (the sales rep for Hi Seas) and talked fishing. He was at the inlet last night fishing. He said he did well catching bluefish, stripers and a mild case of hypothermia thanks to our sudden temperature drop and his lack of proper attire. He was none the worse for wear and you could tell he couldn’t care less, since he had a grand time. At this point I am thinking that it’s time to go home. But I’m down here, so I might as well drop by the beach. In addition, a nice keeper striped bass had been landed earlier and far be it for me to be that guy who runs to where a fish was just caught. I hemmed and hawed: Do I really want to go fishing? I know that’s hard to conceive, but I had things to do and the traffic was getting crazy. Suzanne was going no matter what, so I decided, “Why not, I’m here and it (the traffic, that is) is only going to get worse. But I can only go for two hours.
IR Inlet: Quite the scene
I dropped by the Indian River Inlet on the way to 3Rs and checked out the scene. You could have walked to the coast guard station from the south tower on all of the boats. There was even a headboat parked in the middle of the inside area. Well, that doesn’t look like fun, I thought. The folks were slamming bluefish by eleven until two in the afternoon from boats and the rocks. The boats were having a hard time not running into each other. My buddy on the other side said it was quite a scene to behold. I believe somebody used the word mayhem … in fact it was pure mayhem. I proceeded to 3Rs beach and aired down, all the while thinking, “…mmm, should I have fished the jetty?” Again the advantage of living here is that you can pick and choose when you want to fish and where. A couple of hours on the beach throwing spoons would be relaxing and less crowded. When I crossed the dune I could not believe how crowded the beach was, but I drove to my favorite spot and there was no one within a hundred yards of us. Meanwhile I’m getting messages that Cape Henlopen was closed for a while due to capacity crowds. This is going to be an interesting couple of days! I set up my gear, and Suzanne set up her surf rods with top and bottom rigs. I found a nice silver spoon from the free gear collection. My buddy Mike gave me all of the gear found on the fences the past four years at the Coast Guard Station. It fills a small cooler and will be put to good use.
By the second cast I get a nice hit and reel in a small striped bass; good fight. I release him after a quick picture and proceed to continue casting. I am not expecting a huge amount of action, you rarely do when surfcasting in Delaware, at least not like you would in New Jersey and other places. After a lot of casts I take a little break, grab the binoculars and watch the Coast Guard check a few of the dozen boats out front. I notice a guy on the swimming beach is holding a nice-sized bluefish. I couldn't help thinking, “Is he fishing the swimming beach?” Anyway, I know the fish are hot in the inlet and the boats are starting to move out front, hence the show from the Coast Guard. Well now there are six osprey working the waves near us and plucking out bunker. At this point I’m already thinking about packing it in for the day. Suddenly, a bunker literally skips across the water like an albacore. I look at Suzanne … “Did you just see that?!” She is already running for her casting rod. I grab mine and launch a spoon fifty yards to the second trough beyond the sand bar. Three … just three cranks and WHAM! FISH ON! I am pulling in a nice bluefish and it is fighting like crazy. Reeling a fish into the surf on an eight-foot rod with a smaller reel is a lot different than an eleven foot surf rod. The fish is fighting, taking line, and my reel is screaming. And here I was about to leave! I land the fish, take a quick picture, and back it goes. I already took the big cooler out of the truck. I can't keep it fresh so back it goes from whence it came. Then the water turns a black purplish color out in front of us and we can see a monster school of bluefish. Now I am contemplating just how late I can be to get the rest of my day done, because I’m not going anywhere!
Not a soul on the beach is watching us yank in these fish. It was cast, catch a fish. Cast, catch a fish, for two hours. Not just small snapper blues, either. I’m talking ten- to fifteen-pound gator blues, the slammers, the monsters with teeth that can shred steel leaders. The kind of fish that make you go giddy just thinking about catching them. We are hammering them, and they are putting up an epic fight. A few people walking by were oblivious to this action and asked, “Are you catching anything?" “Why yes,” we smiled, “we are catching bluefish.” And then the rod would bend over double and their eyes would go wide with either fear, envy, or curiosity because the initial hit makes the rod bend way over and the reel screams for mercy.
Needless to say they would stick around for the show. We caught a bunch of fish and we lost a lot more than we landed. Once in the surf's last wave the bluefish will swim with the wave's current and the strain on the line, reel, and the added weight is incredible. You have to carefully work the fish onto the beach with the help of the waves and not let the rod or line go slack.
We lost some lures, had steel leaders chewed to pieces, but all in all we made good work of those fish and they worked us over as well.
We had a blast today and it was most unexpected. But that’s the nature of fishing: Some days you just never know what you are going to get into, and that’s why we fish.
The fun with friends, the catch, and just being there, but most of all it’s for that unexpected monster fish you can talk about the rest of your life. Remember, I wasn't going to go today. I went on a whim. And the weekend crowds up and down the beach? That’s why they came here; to enjoy the opportunity to experience what we can experience every day. And some days we even get lucky. I hope you enjoyed this little adventure. I will remember this day forever.
For updated reports check out delaware-surf-fishing.com.
