The 2011 Lewes Harbour Striper Tournament ended November 22nd. Many beautiful striped bass were caught and checked in during the event that started October 22nd. However, local trolling specialist Evan Falgowski was the big winner, taking First and Second Places with bass weighing 46.2 and 37.3 pounds. Evan's brother, Ryan Falgowski, had the Third Place 36.2 pound fish. Congratulations to the fishin' Falgowski family for their victory. Thanks to all who participated in the annual contest to make it a continuing success. Big rockfish are still coming from structure at the mouth of Delaware Bay.
Drifting live spot and eels has been effective, but those trolling Stretch 25+ and Bomber CD25 plugs took their share as well. Doug Mickowski muscled in a 41.8 pound monster while drifting an eel in deep water at 8 Buoy aboard Katy Did. Alex Neiss nailed his first ever striper, a whopping 41 pounder, while eeling in The Valley. Tammy Parker put girl power to work for her 38.9 pound rockfish. Scot Anderson trolled a pink Stretch 25+ at Overfalls for his 35.7 pounder. Jonathan Raimondi reeled in a 35.4 pounder in The Valley aboard Tranquila. Greg Wagner wrestled a 34.6 pound trophy in The Valley. Larry Lytle eeled at The Eights for his 34.6 pound lunker. Skipjack Skipper Chris Thurman showed 'em how it's done by decking a 34.3 pounder in The Valley. Mike Hynson had a 33.9 pound linesider at 8 Buoy. Joel Robinson registered a 33 pounder he caught in The Valley on the Pirate King II. Evan Falgowski fooled a 32.5 pound bass with a Bomber plug in the Outer Wall rip. Eric Buckingham boated a 30.8 pound bass aboard the Angler. Abraham Pangan put a 30.4 pounder in the box aboard Tranquila. Rhett Passwaters pulled a Stretch Plug at Overfalls for his near citation 29.7 pound rock. Kenny Ferro fought a 28.3 pound striper on the Angler. Judy Esterly eeled up a 28.1 pound beauty. Derek Johns decked his 27.6 pounder on the Adventurer. In addition to striper action, Bay fishermen enjoyed success with tautog. Captain Pete on Top Fin told of good trips to the Star Site. First time togger Kathy Vu was off to a fine start with the 11.39 pound blackfish she boated aboard the Lil' Angler II. John Leader landed a 7.6 pound tog. Captain Carey reported red hot togging for the sharpies aboard Grizzly on a Bay reef Monday. They kept 55 tog, including a 10 pounder for Lenny Zalewski, Alex Leventovsky's 9.5, a 9.25 for Ray Mazanec, and William Guzman's 8.75 pounder.
Carey said, in addition, the guys had seven other tautog over the 7 pound citation size while using "white legger" crabs. The Ocean surf has been pretty quiet, but shore bound anglers did have success with ling on the Cape Henlopen Pier. Cut mullet or clams worked for the tasty red hake. Stripers were taken by casters tossing 3 and 4 inch Storm Shads where Canary Creek opens up into Roosevelt Inlet.