Fishing Report

Brrrr, well looks like we are going to jump right into cold weather and skip fall all together. The boats that are getting out these days are doing well on sea bass and catching some migrating flounder. The sea bass action is very productive when the weather and wind permit boats to get to the deeper wrecks and reef sites. Del-Jersey, site 11, and wrecks in 100-120ft of water are being most productive. Clam, squid and even sand fleas seem to be the baits of choice right now.

Over the last week or so, some of the local charter boats and head boats have been heading to the deeper waters in search of Tautog, but the fish haven't begun to show up in numbers yet, possibly due to the water temps still being very warm. Some keeper tog have been caught but mostly anglers have been weeding through the shorts to get a keeper. Hopefully now that we have had some very cold nights, the fish will begin to come out and start to fill their bellies.

The outer wall has had a lot of anglers start to fish for the tog there, but the reports haven't been good as far keepers to shorts. Anglers are reporting catches of 30-40 tog with maybe 1 keeper out of the lot. This cold weather should jump start the bigger fish into eating.

The pier out at Cape Henlopen state park is still giving up some snapper blues, and the occasional keeper flounder. The spot seems to have disappeared, but some triggers and sheepshead have been caught around the pilings on sand fleas, and Asian box crabs. The small stripers are still keeping it fun at the pier as well. I am still very optimistic that this could be the turn-around year for a very productive striper season. The bait fish are still loaded up all over the area. This is one key component to the big linesiders taking that left-hand turn to the bay or even off the beaches here in Delaware. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we will have a great striper season this year.

Until next week, stay warm and tightlines everyone, Tommy Serbin.

The temperatures have cooled down a bit, and the fishing seems to be getting better with each day. The Delaware bay is showing some small signs of life with catches of citation sheepshead, triggers and black drum being caught on sand fleas and clam. Small bluefish are still plentiful in the bay as well. Some keeper sea trout have been caught up in the bay as well.

The surf fishing is beginning to get a little better with snapper blues, kingfish, some pompano and some decent size stripers. The mullet are still hanging out and keeping the fish biting. Hopefully, this cool spell will cool the waters enough togged the menhaden migration moving and then the big stripers to follow. And with some extra luck we can get the big bluefish to come in as well. We are very optimistic about the fall fishing season this year.

Boats traveling out to do some inshore runs have had very good luck finding the black sea bass, flounder and even mahi-mahi still, even after the storm. The sea bass and flounder fishing seems to be steady and on the rise. We have seen some very nice founder and sea bass brought to the table from the local chartered head boats.

Tautog season is open, and has been since July 1st of this year.Though the waters were and still are a little warm to catch the big ones, I’m sure if you put the time in, you could catch some keeper tog. LHM sponsors a Tautog tournament annually, it is now going on. The fees are, $5 per day per angler, or $30 for the entire month. All fees are cash only, and you can register every day at the shop.

We have fresh mullet and sand fleas being delivered fresh every morning. We also have green crabs, asian box crabs, and fresh clams. Not to mention a full line of bait for whatever fishing you are planning on doing. Stop in and see us for all your fishing and boating needs. Stay tuned for info on LHM’s annual striper tournament coming in November.

Until next week everyone, Tightlines, Tommy Serbin.

The wind should not be a factor this week….by all reports that I have seen it should be a good fishing week both inshore and offshore. This is what we have all been waiting for, a week without wind. The White Marlin Open kicked off today, hopefully we will have a waiting line at the scales this afternoon. There have been a good amount of good sized White marlin caught and released over the last 2 weeks. Good luck to all the boats and anglers in the tournament.

The flounder bite is starting to get better, and with the weather this week it should get better. Sites 10,11 and the old grounds have started to show better signs of life as far as the flounder fishing goes. The Delaware bay has turned up some fatties on the reef sites, but still not red hot. The kingfish, small bluefish, and sea trout along with some big sea robins being caught as well.

Catch and release shark fishing is still doing very well in the area, the sand tigers, duskies, and brown sharks will put up one heck of a fight. Most of our local charters do offer half/full day catch and release shark trips for the whole family.

Slot stripers in the canal are still biting everyday. We are seeing our share of keepers coming in everyday. They are being caught at Roosevelt inlet and in the Broadkill river as well as the canal by the drawbridge. Eels and bloodworms are working as well as soft swim baits.

Stop by and check out our selection of fishing tackle, rods, reels and an extensive selection of bait including offshore baits, inshore baits and bait for the back bay fishing. We also have a great apparel line up as well, from Salt Life, David Dunleavy, Huk, Guy Harvey and our own line of LHM T-shirts. We also carry Grundens foul weather gear. We are prepared to help you with all of your boating and fishing needs, stop by and see us.

The offshore bite is still doing well on the inshore lumps, chunking seems to be the working method now. We have butterfish, sardines and ballyhoo to round out your needs for offshore bait. We also carry all the terminal tackle and leader that you might need for your offshore trip.

Have a great week fishing everyone, Tightlines until next Monday. Tommy Serbin.

The weather didn't stop the hardcore anglers from fishing our annual canal flounder tournament last Friday. The rain was hard at times, the wind was not friendly, but the flounder didn't run and hide. We weighed in 30-35 flounder, the heaviest coming in at 3.91lbs.

Winners:

1. Steve Friend was the winning angler this year, congratulations Steve!
2. Jeff Semans took 2nd with 3.77lbs
3. Keith Stevenson took 3rd with 3.03lbs
4. Chris Smith took 4th with 2.81lbs
5. Jesse Steele took 5th with 2.66 lbs
6. Jackson Ostroski took 6th with 2.40lbs
7. Matt Mitchell rounded out in 7th with 2.27lbs

Great job and congratulations from everyone here at Lewes Harbour Marina. Thanks to all who donated to such a worthy cause, mark the tournament down on your calendar for next year.

The black drum fishing has started to pick up, all the charter and head boats have been putting anglers on the big fish for the last week or so, the bay is producing some giant black drum. Sea bass is also in full swing, we have seen boat limits from the boats that are heading to the bass grounds when the weather permits. This week looks like we will get a break from the rain and hopefully the boats will get a lot of trips in for the sea bass.

The surf is turning up catches of puppy drum, stripers and blue fish. The fishing at the Cape Henlopen Pier has started to pick up. Anglers are even getting keeper flounder out there along with the toothy yellow eyed devils ( bluefish).

Dont forget to stop in at Lewes Harbour Marina to get your fresh bunker, minnows and surf clams. We have all new rods and reels from Diawa, Shimano, Penn, and Siegler. We also have all the rigs, weights, hooks and line you need. We have combos for the surf, boat, and jettys, from top of the line all the way to inexpensive for the angler who only gets out a couple times a year. Stop in and say hello to us, come check us out.

Tightlines Everyone, Tommy Serbin.