A record 360 flounder afficionados participated in last Friday's annual Canal Flounder Tournament, making the event a great success. In addition to competing for sizeable cash prizes, anglers vied for the all important bragging rights until next year's Tourney. Twenty percent of entry fees were donated to Camp Awareness, promoting education about outdoor activities to area youth.

A decent number of flounder were caught, with the best bite occurring after the mid morning tide change on the first of ebb current. Flukers reported success with the usual complement of offerings including minnows, shiners, smelt, cut bunker and shad, and Gulp! Boaters faced difficulty when the northeast wind breezed up and made it hard to maintain a proper drift direction after noon. However, guys in the right place at the right time scored some nice flatties.

Zach Becker was the big winner with his 6.11 pound doormat. Jim Joseph secured Second with a 5.48 pounder. Dan Baldwin boated the 4.82 pound Third place fluke. Shea Lindale landed a 4.63 for Fourth. Buck McLamb managed a 4.38 pound flatfish to fill Fifth Place. Jeff Becker bested a 4.21 pounder for Sixth, and Dan Schurman wrapped up Seventh with his 4.15 pound flounder. Many thanks from us at Lewes Harbour Marina and the Dewey Beach Lions to all who took part to make the day a big hit. Black drum action is in full swing, and should continue through the June full moon. Capt. Chris took the Pirate King II to the Coral Beds Saturday night, where his drummers decked 7 good fish while baiting with clams. Thirteen year old Trent Achey caught his first two drum on that trip, a pair of 30 pounders. Corey Davies captured a 66 pound drum. Other big boomers were bought to the scale as well. Kathy Rodgers reeled in a 67.7 pound whopper, and Kyle McLaughlin muscled in a 69.3 pound brute. Tom Payton boated behemoths of 66.2 and 71.5 pounds aboard the Angler with Captain Ted. They were part of an 8 drum catch Wednesday night. The much anticipated sea bass season is finally open. DNREC's Secretary issued an emergency regulation Friday to open the season Saturday May 19th, ahead of the originally scheduled May 22nd start date. The measure was supposed to make Delaware's regs consistent with just released Federal Sea Bass laws, however, the move didn't really matter since strong northeast winds prevented boats from getting out over the weekend. Many boats had trips scheduled for Tuesday, and with good weather, they were able to travel to Reef Site 11, where crews found plenty of bass willing to bite. Captain Brent's bassers aboard Katy Did enjoyed scorching action, putting a 9 man limit of 225 bass in the box before 9 am. Fares on the Lil' Angler II iced 104 sea bass. Captain Pete's group on Top Fin had a big catch too, including a 3.1 pounder for Mr. Yu. Captain Vince limited out his two man party on Miss Kirstin. Captain Charlie on Tranquila hosted the "Fishin' Bitches" for a good day of bassing. Captain Brent did it again Wednesday, returning with another 225 bass. Anglers working Broadkill Beach and Roosevelt Inlet encountered numerous weakfish. It's been great to see trout making a comeback. The feisty beauties were caught with peelers, squid, clams and bloodworms. Trout responded to a variety of artificials as well, sometimes even better than bait. Bass Assassin Seashads, Fin-S Fish, D.O.A.s, Tsunamis, Storm Shads, Gulp!, Speck Rigs, and many others drew strikes. Even though you can only keep one fish per day, many anglers enjoy just catching and releasing since the trout hit lures readily.

Those who like casting lures have also done well with stripers. Boaters drifting along the Outer Wall and Ice Breakers hooked keeper rockfish at dusk, during the nighttime hours, and in the early morning. Popular offerings included Bomber, Stretch 12 and YoZuri plugs, Storm Shads, bucktails, Rat-L-Traps, and Gulp! Eels. Glen Howard and Nick Sharp were at the wall around midnight Monday when they got their limit of quality linesiders. Joe Morrissey, Mike Flemming, Alejandro Cornejo and Jason Leach fished the rocks Tuesday night for their limit of bass, including Jason's 26.6 pounder.