Fishing Report

Ocean flounder action is on the upswing. Boaters working natural bottom of the Old Grounds and artificial structures at Reef Site 11 recorded decent catches during the week. One of the most notable came for flukers with Captain Brent aboard the Katydid on Wednesday. His group ended up with their limit of 44 flatties to 5 plus pounds while drifting Site 11. Ernie Stone checked in Friday with 4 fluke to nearly five pounds from his trip to Ocean structure on Thelma Dale IV. The subway cars are still giving up sea bass, ling and cod. A group of hard fishin' locals loaded up with bass, hake, codfish and fluke there on the Katydid Thursday. Matt Mundok took big fish honors with his 5.75 pound flatfish. Anglers on Katydid took 9 keeper flatties to 5.5 pounds Saturday, and 14 more Sunday. Rick Lawson landed a 5.11 pound flounder while drifting a minnow and squid sandwich on the Old Grounds Saturday. Farther offshore, tuna trollers found yellowfins and bigeyes in the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons. Its been all about "That Flippy Floppy Thing"! Crews pulling the crazy daiseys created by Bill Pino at Squidnation report the chain's radical action drives fish wild, and both tuna and billfish find the lures irresistible. Shawn Gallagher and his guys on Freespool trolled between the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons Wednesday for eleven nice yellowfins. Captain Brent's Friday group aboard Katydid worked the Wilmington for 3 keeper yellowfins from 36 to 41 pounds, and two that were released. Travis Clouse landed the 41 pounder. The guys also had some gaffer mahis, including a 17.9 pounder for Jay Clouse. Geoff McCloskey and his crew aboard Tutta Benne took a single yellowfin while trolling the Baltimore Sunday, then switched to deep dropping and put 4 pretty golden tile to nearly 32 pounds in the box. Back inshore, Delaware Bay anglers encountered croakers, kingfish and blowfish around the artificial reefs. Sites 5 and 8 were productive. Patrons on the Angler Headboat had good catches through the weekend. New moon currents created tough drift conditions for Bay flukers, but there was a small window of opportunity at the end of ebb tide around reefs 5 and 8. Captain Carey put together a limit of eight quality fluke from 3 to 4 pounds for Robert Willin and Liz Despard in just a short period of time Saturday. Small boaters and kayakers paddling through shallow water on Henlopen Flats between the pier and the Point found flatfish. Justin Gracely used Gulp Sandeels to secure three keeper flounder on the flats. Steve and AJ Wiles fished minnows near the burned out part of the pier from their two man kayak for five nice keepers. Josh Stevenson used his canoe to get pier and capture a 22.5 inch fluke. Flatties also continued to come from Broadkill River and Lewes Canal. Walt Clark put Kate and Steve Simons on their first ever flounders Saturday morning in the Broadkill. Paul Francks pulled a 21 incher from Canary Creek. A shiner on a pink Nicks Rig resulted in a 20.5 inch flounder from the Canal for Eilene Euston. Drew Holladay decked a 22.5 incher drifting Gulp in the Canal. Steve Warren landed three fine flounder to 5 pounds while casting a Nuclear Chicken Gulp from the Town Dock. Rockfish roamed the Canal as well. Joe Huk spent the day sharking but didn't get enough fishing in, so he made a couple casts when he got back to the Canal. A 32 inch striper was waiting for him and inhaled the chunk of mackerel he soaked on the bottom. Matt Slauch scored a 16.4 pounder by jigging a bucktail near the drawbridge. Boaters tossing Bomber plugs along the Outer Wall at dusk and dawn hooked keeper rock too.

Ocean flounder action is on the upswing. Boaters working natural bottom of the Old Grounds and artificial structures at Reef Site 11 recorded decent catches during the week. One of the most notable came for flukers with Captain Brent aboard the Katydid on Wednesday. His group ended up with their limit of 44 flatties to 5 plus pounds while drifting Site 11. Ernie Stone checked in Friday with 4 fluke to nearly five pounds from his trip to Ocean structure on Thelma Dale IV. The subway cars are still giving up sea bass, ling and cod. A group of hard fishin locals loaded up with bass, hake, codfish and fluke there on the Katydid Thursday. Matt Mundok took big fish honors with his 5.75 pound flatfish. Anglers on Katydid took 9 keeper flatties to 5.5 pounds Saturday, and 14 more Sunday. Rick Lawson landed a 5.11 pound flounder while drifting a minnow and squid sandwich on the Old Grounds Saturday. Farther offshore, tuna trollers found yellowfins and bigeyes in the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons. Its been all about That Flippy Floppy Thing! Crews pulling the crazy daiseys created by Bill Pino at Squidnation report the chains radical action drives fish wild, and both tuna and billfish find the lures irresistible. Shawn Gallagher and his guys on Freespool trolled between the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons Wednesday for eleven nice yellowfins. Captain Brents Friday group aboard Katydid worked the Wilmington for 3 keeper yellowfins from 36 to 41 pounds, and two that were released. Travis Clouse landed the 41 pounder. The guys also had some gaffer mahis, including a 17.9 pounder for Jay Clouse. Geoff McCloskey and his crew aboard Tutta Benne took a single yellowfin while trolling the Baltimore Sunday, then switched to deep dropping and put 4 pretty golden tile to nearly 32 pounds in the box. Back inshore, Delaware Bay anglers encountered croakers, kingfish and blowfish around the artificial reefs. Sites 5 and 8 were productive. Patrons on the Angler Headboat had good catches through the weekend. New moon currents created tough drift conditions for Bay flukers, but there was a small window of opportunity at the end of ebb tide around reefs 5 and 8. Captain Carey put together a limit of eight quality fluke from 3 to 4 pounds for Robert Willin and Liz Despard in just a short period of time Saturday. Small boaters and kayakers paddling through shallow water on Henlopen Flats between the pier and the Point found flatfish. Justin Gracely used Gulp Sandeels to secure three keeper flounder on the flats. Steve and AJ Wiles fished minnows near the burned out part of the pier from their two man kayak for five nice keepers. Josh Stevenson used his canoe to get pier and capture a 22.5 inch fluke. Flatties also continued to come from Broadkill River and Lewes Canal. Walt Clark put Kate and Steve Simons on their first ever flounders Saturday morning in the Broadkill. Paul Francks pulled a 21 incher from Canary Creek. A shiner on a pink Nicks Rig resulted in a 20.5 inch flounder from the Canal for Eilene Euston. Drew Holladay decked a 22.5 incher drifting Gulp in the Canal. Steve Warren landed three fine flounder to 5 pounds while casting a Nuclear Chicken Gulp from the Town Dock. Rockfish roamed the Canal as well. Joe Huk spent the day sharking but didnt get enough fishing in, so he made a couple casts when he got back to the Canal. A 32 inch striper was waiting for him and inhaled the chunk of mackerel he soaked on the bottom. Matt Slauch scored a 16.4 pounder by jigging a bucktail near the drawbridge. Boaters tossing Bomber plugs along the Outer Wall at dusk and dawn hooked keeper rock too.

Ocean flounder action is on the upswing. Boaters working natural bottom of the Old Grounds and artificial structures at Reef Site 11 recorded decent catches during the week. One of the most notable came for flukers with Captain Brent aboard the Katydid on Wednesday. His group ended up with their limit of 44 flatties to 5 plus pounds while drifting Site 11. Ernie Stone checked in Friday with 4 fluke to nearly five pounds from his trip to Ocean structure on Thelma Dale IV. The subway cars are still giving up sea bass, ling and cod. A group of hard fishin locals loaded up with bass, hake, codfish and fluke there on the Katydid Thursday. Matt Mundok took big fish honors with his 5.75 pound flatfish. Anglers on Katydid took 9 keeper flatties to 5.5 pounds Saturday, and 14 more Sunday. Rick Lawson landed a 5.11 pound flounder while drifting a minnow and squid sandwich on the Old Grounds Saturday. Farther offshore, tuna trollers found yellowfins and bigeyes in the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons. Its been all about That Flippy Floppy Thing! Crews pulling the crazy daiseys created by Bill Pino at Squidnation report the chains radical action drives fish wild, and both tuna and billfish find the lures irresistible. Shawn Gallagher and his guys on Freespool trolled between the Baltimore and Wilmington Canyons Wednesday for eleven nice yellowfins. Captain Brents Friday group aboard Katydid worked the Wilmington for 3 keeper yellowfins from 36 to 41 pounds, and two that were released. Travis Clouse landed the 41 pounder. The guys also had some gaffer mahis, including a 17.9 pounder for Jay Clouse. Geoff McCloskey and his crew aboard Tutta Benne took a single yellowfin while trolling the Baltimore Sunday, then switched to deep dropping and put 4 pretty golden tile to nearly 32 pounds in the box. Back inshore, Delaware Bay anglers encountered croakers, kingfish and blowfish around the artificial reefs. Sites 5 and 8 were productive. Patrons on the Angler Headboat had good catches through the weekend. New moon currents created tough drift conditions for Bay flukers, but there was a small window of opportunity at the end of ebb tide around reefs 5 and 8. Captain Carey put together a limit of eight quality fluke from 3 to 4 pounds for Robert Willin and Liz Despard in just a short period of time Saturday. Small boaters and kayakers paddling through shallow water on Henlopen Flats between the pier and the Point found flatfish. Justin Gracely used Gulp Sandeels to secure three keeper flounder on the flats. Steve and AJ Wiles fished minnows near the burned out part of the pier from their two man kayak for five nice keepers. Josh Stevenson used his canoe to get pier and capture a 22 1/2 inch fluke. Flatties also continued to come from Broadkill River and Lewes Canal. Walt Clark put Kate and Steve Simons on their first ever flounders Saturday morning in the Broadkill. Paul Francks pulled a 21 incher from Canary Creek. A shiner on a pink Nicks Rig resulted in a 20 1/2 inch flounder from the Canal for Eilene Euston. Drew Holladay decked a 22 1/2 incher drifting Gulp in the Canal. Steve Warren landed three fine flounder to 5 pounds while casting a Nuclear Chicken Gulp from the Town Dock. Rockfish roamed the Canal as well. Joe Huk spent the day sharking but didnt get enough fishing in, so he made a couple casts when he got back to the Canal. A 32 inch striper was waiting for him and inhaled the chunk of mackerel he soaked on the bottom. Matt Slauch scored a 16.4 pounder by jigging a bucktail near the drawbridge. Boaters tossing Bomber plugs along the Outer Wall at dusk and dawn hooked keeper rock too.

Crappy weather put a crimp in fishing activity most of the week. It was fishable on the Bay last Monday, and boats that ventured out found a mix of croakers, kingfish and blowfish in Broadkill Slough. The best concentration of fish was found on Reef Site 5. Patrons aboard the Angler had good catches of hardheads Monday, and then again when the weather let up Saturday and Sunday. Some flatfish activity has started in Delaware Bay as well. Flukers aboard the Martha Marie returned with 7 keepers to 24 inches, after drifting Bay structure Saturday. Small boats were able to fish Lewes Canal and Broadkill River despite the weather. Some flounder were pulled from the waterways at the end of flood tide and the first of ebb, when the water was clean. Nicks Rigs tipped with shiners and minnows, or Gulp! on a jighead were popular offerings. John Mitchell stopped by Monday with his limit of 4 keeper Canal flatties taken with Nicks Rigs. Joe Pergeorelis pulled a 5.7 pound fluke from the Canal Friday. Matt King captured his limit of flatties Saturday while working white Gulp from his kayak, near the Ferry Jetty. Canal anglers also found some stripers around the bridges. Casting RatLTraps, Storm Shads or Zara Spooks at the top of flood tide generated rockfish bites. Bottom fishing with clams or cut bunker in the evenings also produced stripers. Tom Stachorowski was trying to catch a flounder in the Canal, but a 28.5 inch keeper striper grabbed his fluke killer tipped with squid instead. When striped bass aficionados made it to the Outer Wall at dawn or dusk, they connected with keeper and short rock by casting Bomber plugs. Prior to all the wind, action with sea bass and cod was decent at Site 11. Some flounder have begun to bite on Ocean bottom of the Old Grounds too. Scott Ayars and Liz Short had exact twin 4.49 pound flatties to take the pool on Judy V Saturday. Offshore bottom bouncers targeting tilefish should be aware of regulations changes that went into effect June 4th. MAFMC implemented an emergency measure to temporarily constrain fishing effort and reduce mortality on Blueline Tilefish, while a long term management plan is established. Through December 1, 2015 in waters north of the Virginia/North Carolina border, the possession limit for anglers on private or charter and party boats will be seven Blueline Tilefish per person per trip. The possession limit for Golden Tilefish remains at eight per person per trip. Recreational fishermen returning to Delaware ports through State Waters may retain a limit of each species per trip. However, Maryland and Virginia may have different regulations regarding a combination of the two, so it would be best to check with enforcement agencies in those states before landing a catch. Sharking has been pretty good. Herb Guest and the guys on Port-A-Bella drifted a depression near Site 11 Saturday to tangle with a 212.5 pound Thresher during the Mako Mania Tournament. Captain Ted Moulinier's sharkers aboard the Indian returned with the largest Thresher seen in quite some time. Mark and Mitchell Butler, Dan McCoy and Michelle Ballance, Cameron Powell and Chris Huk teamed up to tame a 509.5 pound monster along the channel edge north of DB Buoy. The big whiptail ate a mackerel fillet and was brought to the boat an hour and a half later. It took awhile to get home since the shark had to be towed alongside, because the crew wasn't able to muscle the massive critter over the rail and into the boat.

Bottom fishing in general was pretty good during the week. Water quality improved in Lewes Canal, and flounder catches were better as a result. Donnie Nauman checked in with a limit of flatties to 21 inches he took from the Canal with shark belly and Gulp! Cheryl Davis decked a 21 inch fluke while drifting minnows in the Canal. Matt Mitchell, Spencer Brooks and Zach Belcher had three flounder and some chopper blues while working Gulp in the Canal near Roosevelt Inlet. Shea Lindale and Terry Algier used minnows, shiners and Gulp for a nice catch of flatfish from the Canal. Ed Yingling and Dave and Bobbi Jo Lorah drifted Nicks rigs with minnows for a half dozen plump keepers Friday. Matt Purnell pulled in a 23 inch flounder by jigging a Gulp at the base of Roosevelt Inlet. Ron Noll and Kenny Robinson used Speck Rigs tipped with Gulp in the Canal for three keepers to 20 plus inches. John Mitchell and his family managed seven nice keepers from the Canal Sunday while deploying Nicks Rigs baited with minnows, shiners and Gulp! Best bite occurred in clean water at the beginning of ebb tide. Bottom bouncers in Delaware Bay reported better action with panfish. More croakers have shown up, along with kingfish and blowfish. Boats drifting or anchored at Site 5 in Broadkill Slough or Reef 8, the Star Site, hooked a tasty assortment of bottom feeders using clams, bloodworms and Fishbites. Patrons on the Angler had a good catch of kings and hardheads Saturday. Roberto Campitelli and Mark Maggs were using croaker rigs on light tackle at the Star Site aboard Katydid Sunday, and tangled with black drum weighing 30 and 40 pounds that grabbed small pieces of clam meant for hardheads. Big bluefish continued to hang out inside Cape Henlopen, and could be found feeding on bunkers most days between the Fishing Pier and Cape Henlopen Point. Captain Pete on Top Fin had a group of Canadians in town for the Nascar race who wanted to squeeze in a little fishing. He took them to shallow water inside the Cape where they had a blast tangling with slammers to 13 pounds while casting bucktails. Blues have remained in the area for over a month, and its unusual to have a spring run like weve experienced this year. Perhaps theyll stay all summer, and at least, well hope for a return of choppers next season. Striped bass have been active in Lewes Canal. Most were shorts, ranging 18 to 25 inches. Theyll eat clams fished on the bottom, or a variety of artificial. Casting bucktails or Storm Shads around the drawbridge results in rockfish bites. Live eels drifted around the pilings usually get the attention of larger bass. Tossing topwater lures to the marsh banks is a fun and productive way to fish Canal stripers. Zara Spooks, Chug Bugs and Rebel Pop-Rs are popular and effective offerings. Catsing plugs at the Outer Wall during low light at dawn and dusk produced some keeper linesiders. Sommer Falgowski scored a 14.4 pound striper by swimming a Mother of Pearl Bomber along the Wall. A few rockfish roamed the surf as well. Drew Stuchlik got up extra early Thursday to get in some surf casting before work. He walked the beach at Herring Point tossing a white bucktail, and connected with a 14.7 pound bass. In addition, the bucktail produced three quality flounder to 5.5 pounds. Drew was back at the cleaning table by 7am, and still made it to his job on time. Other surf anglers had success too. Bluefish of varying sizes were hooked using cut bunker or mullet along the Ocean beach. Andy Lano landed several kingfish, blowfish and burrfish using bits of clam in the suds near Gordons Pond on Friday. Black drum continued to come from Delaware Bay. Boomers were located on the Coral Beds inside Broadkill Slough, and near the submerged piles off Fowler Beach. However, it seemed there were more fish found in the Brandywine area, between 14 Buoy and the Pin Top. Drummers on the Grizzly caught 16 fish there Friday night. Six were iced down in the box, and the other 10 released. Kylie Hinch and Tom Maracle had come to the area to take in the race at Dover, and decided to get in some drum fishing on Miss Kirstin Friday. They returned with a pair of nice boomers scaling 30.5 and 39.2 pounds. Nathan Gemberling got a 61 pound drum earlier in the week on Miss Kirstin. Brian Hafer boated a 61 pounder on the Pirate King. Kyle Moore muscled in a 71 pounder aboard Lil Angler II. Captain Carey remained on the Delaware side of the Bay Saturday evening, where drummers on the Grizzly kept five fish from the Coral Beds. Ocean bottom bouncers reported plenty of short sea bass, but noted that keeper sea bass were thinning out over wrecks and reef structure. However, persistent crews that made multiple stops during the day ended up with decent numbers to take home. Anglers have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of codfish in the area this spring, and adding a few of them to the cooler really rounds out a catch of bass. Some cod have been quite sizable. Jomarr Hatten boated the biggest brought in so far on Friday. He had a 30 pounder while fishing over the Subway Cars aboard Katydid. That same trip produced a dozen other cod for the box, pollack, ling and 86 keeper bass. Monday anglers with Captain Brent kept 3 cod, some ling and about a hundred bass. Thursdays group on Katydid had 8 cod, along with several big ling and a limit of sea bass. On Saturday, regulars aboard Katydid captured 10 cod, a bunch of big ling and a boxful of quality bass. Mike Surowiec managed a 3.14 pound citation size knothead during that outing. Offshore bottom droppers encountered tilefish in the deep. Jon Bixlers crew on the Bix drifted Poor Mans for seven pretty Goldens. Corey Crout caught the heaviest tile, a 32.1 pounder that ate a jig worked on the sea floor. Some anglers traveled south try for cobia at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Butch Warrington heard the bite was on at Cape Charles, and headed for Latimer Shoal. He returned with a 50 pound cobia he caught there while baiting with clams.