OCEAN
Boaters out of Lewes and Indian River enjoyed quality tautog action on the inshore wrecks and the structure piled up on Reef Sites 10 and 11 during the past week, with some real nice fish coming over the rails. Dan, Fran and Jake Okoniewski and Bob Ficaturo had a good day of wreck fishing at the Washingtonian, with their 12-fish limit of tog and a keeper flounder on ice when they got back to the Indian River Marina. According to the crew at the marina, the blackfish hit on green crabs and the flounder was caught on a bucktail baited with a live minnow. Rick’s Bait and Tackle also had reports of good tog fishing over ocean structure. Bill Hunsberger checked in at the Longneck shop with an 8-pound, 24-inch citation fish caught at Reef Site 10 on a green crab. Shore anglers also reported keeper tog while fishing the jetties at Indian River Inlet Jetties and the bayside bulkhead in Ocean City between Second and Fourth streets. In addition to green crabs, toggers also reported success with a mix of clams, shrimp, blue crab, long-leg crabs and sandfleas. Boaters and jetty fishermen are reporting a few keeper rockfish in Indian River Inlet, with the best fishing on the outgoing tide when water temperatures are at their warmest levels. Weighted flies, bucktails and plastic shad lures have been popular choices for linesiders in the inlet. Fishermen targeting flounder in the inlet, Indian River Bay and Rehoboth Bay have had fair success on keeper fish, with the best catches coming from the deeper channels and sloughs on the ebbing tide. Tim Auman was fishing from shore near the entrance to Indian River Marina with flies when he landed a 3.6-pound flounder. Other locations that have been getting a lot of attention from flounder fishermen included the VFW Slough, Gull Island, Burton’s Island Slough, Little Ditch, Massey Ditch and Massey’s Landing. Effective baits included minnow/squid combos, fresh strip baits, frozen smelt and Gulp! Swimming Mullet in white, pink or chartreuse. Anglers are reminded that under Delaware’s current regulations the minimum keeper size for flounder is 17 inches with a daily limit of four fish per angler. On May 11 the minimum will be dropped to 16 inches. The action along the local beaches is slowly improving, with a mix of rockfish, black drum, blowfish, kingfish, bluefish, skates and dogfish sharks providing on and off action in the Delaware and Maryland surf. Most of the rockfish have been too short to keep, but there was at least one 34-incher caught at 3Rs Road according to the crew at Old Inlet Bait and Tackle. Fishermen checking in at the shop also reported bluefish to 5 pounds at 3Rs. Curt Stephens was fishing the surf at Herring Point when he landed a 23.7-pound striper. According to Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina, the linesiders was caught on a chunk of bunker on the first of the incoming tide. Along with bunker, anglers fishing the surf also reported success on fresh shucked clams and bloodworms.
DELAWARE BAY
Tog fishermen have just a few days left to connect with keeper blackfish before the season closes Sunday. Reports from the past week indicated good action for anglers anchoring up over the wrecks, reefs and rock piles between Bowers Beach and the mouth of the bay. Joe Jelks and Joe Ryan checked in at Lewes Harbour Marina after a day of togging on the Inner Wall with limits of tog weighing up to 7.9 pounds. Marina owner Joe Morris also passed along reports of quality flounder fishing for anglers fishing the tidal waters of the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal, Roosevelt Inlet and the mouth of the Broadkill River. Ed Yingling and Mark Cannon topped list of fluke weigh-ins from the canal with flatties weighing 4.19 and 4.35 pounds, respectively. John Davis was fishing the rocks at Roosevelt Inlet when he cranked in a flounder that tipped the scales at 4.38 pounds. There also have been a fair number of keeper rockfish caught in the canal, including a very nice, 24-pounder for Steven Thompson. Shore fishing reports from the lower end of the bay indicated good fishing for a mix of black drum, trout, flounder and striped bass, with Broadkill Beach topping the reports from the crew at Bill’s Sport Shop. Barry Barlow checked in at the shop with a 26.10-pound drum caught in the Broadkill surf on a bloodworm. Shop owner Bill Baker also had reports of keeper rockfish being caught from shore and from the fishing pier at Woodland Beach. Dan Korup landed a 20.43-pound linesiders while fishing from the pier with fresh bunker. Boaters are still scoring on big rockfish in the upper bay off of Woodland and Collins beaches. Kyle Hitch checked in at Captain Bones Bait and Tackle with a 26.66-pound striper caught off of Cedar Swamp on bunker. Sonny Lomax topped the report from Smith’s Bait with a 25-pound linesiders caught on fresh bunker at the 6L buoy.
RIVERS
Flooding rains late last week slowed the action in most of the state’s tidal rivers and streams, with the crew at Taylored Tackle reporting extremely muddy condition in the Nanticoke River and Broad Creek. Look for the bass and crappie fishing to improve in both Sussex County streams when conditions improve. Striped bass topped the reports from the Delaware River for fishermen stopping at Captain Bones Bait and Tackle. Mike Cole checked in with a 23-pounder caught off of Augustine Beach and Steve Palaisa boated one that tipped the scales at 24.21 pounds. Shop owner Patty Foley also passed along reports from Joe Rausch and John Blum of big white perch, catfish and throwback linesiders being caught in Appoquinimink Creek on bloodworms. Catfish topped the weekly river report from Master Baiter’s Bait and Tackle, with the upstate tidal creeks and the Christiana River leading the list. Most of the action has come on chunks of fresh bunker, according to shop owner Ed Zielinski.
PONDS
Action in a lot of the state’s millponds also was reported to be on the slow side as a result of last week’s rain storm. George Pechin at the Williamsville Country Store passed along reports of improving bass action at Griffiths and Haven lakes for fishermen working the beds with a mix of buzzbaits, Senkos and Culprit Incredi-Craw baits. Fishermen checking in at Master Baiter’s Bait and Tackle reported action on a mix of crappie and bass in Becks Pond, with shiners and minnows topping the bait list for the panfish and crankbaits working best on the largemouth. Mike and Barb Trexler stopped at Captain Bones to report good action on crappie at McColley Pond, and a mix of white perch and crappie at Garrison Lake. Fishermen stopping at the Odessa tackle shop also reported Chatterbaits to be a good choice for largemouth bass action at Noxontown Pond.
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