Before the passage of Hurricane Irene, the ocean flounder bite was good. On Friday, just ahead of the storm, fishermen on Katy Did caught more than 70 flounder south of DB Buoy. They ended up with 8 keepers, including trophies of 8.09 and 7.47 pounds for Jeremy Armolt. Catching in Delaware Bay was decent too. The Lil' Angler fished the Brown Shoal reefs Friday, with the storm on the way. The take included a 6 pound flounder for Mike Bayshore, plus 4 other keepers. In addition, the guys had over 20 blowfish and a bunch of croakers. Patrons on the Angler and Pirate King loaded up on hardheads Thursday and Friday before the blow. Irene made her presence known over the weekend with high winds and torrential rain, and even a destructive tornado that caused considerable damage to a couple housing developments in Lewes.

We were greeted by beautiful weather Monday after she left the area, but it seems the introduction of all that fresh water and the runoff from the Delaware River that will ensue has put what's hopefully a temporary damper on fishing action. Boaters that went out Monday through Wednesday reported a slow pick on spots that had been productive prior to the bad weather. A few short flounder and some snapper bluefish were taken on reef sites 6,7 and 8. Crews working the other side of the Bay supposedly found some croakers on Crow Shoal. Tog catches were actually pretty good during the last couple days of the season for guys toggled into the Outer Wall. That season reopens September 29th. Slot stripers were taken before the size change was implemented. Clams on the bottom near the Lewes Drawbrige were productive offerings.

Rockfish also bit Stingsilvers, Kastmasters and Fin-S-Fish cast in the evenings near the Coast Guard Station. Striped bass caught in Delaware Bay and it's tributaries must once again meet a 28 inch minimum in order to be kept, and the limit remains two per angler. The storm didn't seem to bother the spot. Plenty were landed by folks on the rails of the Cape Henlopen Pier using bloodworms and Fishbites. Ocean bottom bouncers had some sea bass and big croakers up to 20 inches while working rough structure northwest of DB Buoy Wednesday. On the offshore scene, a major white marlin bite like what took place the past two seasons has yet to materialize. Boats did get into yellowfins while trolling 50 fathoms near the 42100 line inshore of Poor Man's Canyon.