Fishing Report

Anglers had to deal with more wind last week, but during days when conditions allowed boaters to get out on Delaware Bay, they found better blackfishing than in past weeks. Water temperatures remained in the 60's, however, tog seemed more active, and crews recorded some decent catches. Captain Pete on Top Fin hosted Mr. Hong and his group for a trip to structure, where they put 28 tautog and a big sheepshead in the box. Mr. Jin and his toggers joined Pete Saturday for some fine togging, and retuned with a 35 fish limit, plus a 10 pound black drum. Captain Ted said there was a good tog bite at the Inner Wall when he was there Saturday morning with the Indian. Captain Vince togged Bay structure Saturday, and his gang aboard Miss Kirstin rounded up 29 tautog, 2 triggerfish and a keeper sea bass. Friday, Captain Brent's patrons on the Katydid put together a batch of 33 blackfish and one trigger. Randy Jensen, Billy Lantz, Mike Ditton and Charlie Breitenbach have become pretty proficient at working the Outer Wall, and showed their skill Friday with a limit of 20 chunky tog. Randy offered an observation that helped their take. He said when the fish didn't bite in close to the rocks, they dropped back a fair distance away from the Wall and found tautog feeding where scattered boulders off the main breakwater met the sand bottom. At this writing, Charlie was holding First and Third Places in the Lewes Harbour Tog Tournament with fish of 5.94 and 5.88 pounds. Randy had Second with his 5.89 pounder. The Tourney runs through October 31st, and offers cash prizes. Colin Boteler wished he had signed up for the Tournament before he went to the Wall Saturday morning. He boated a citation earning 7.72 pound blackfish that would have put him in the lead. Larry Hughes also missed a shot at placing since he hadn't entered before he landed his 6.4 pounder. There's still plenty of time, and last year's Contest was won on October 30th with a massive 20 pounder! In addition to blustery weather, boaters had to contend with area closures on Delaware Bay. The Coast Guard established safety zones where Naval exercises were scheduled October 16th through 24th, and the regions were closed to boat traffic from 8am until 8pm on those days. Reefs 6 and 7 fell within the zone, so fishing those sites was off limits. Sea bass season reopened over the weekend, but stiff breezes prevented most boats from getting out to the Ocean grounds. Reef Site 11, Del Jersey Land and wrecks in 90 to 120 feet should offer good bassing on days when sea conditions permit getting there. The season is set to stay open until the end of December. There still have been no reports of migratory striped bass showing up at the mouth of Delaware Bay, but resident backwater rockfish have been around. Lewes Canal, Broadkill River and creeks emptying out of the Great Marsh held good numbers of small to medium sized stripers. They could be tempted into striking 3 to 4 inch swim shads and other soft plastics, along with swimming and topwater plugs. Keepers were available too. Dave Walker and Robert Karpovich drifted eels around the Drawbridge for three legal bass between 29 and 31 inches. Greg Wagner fished near the Bridge one night during the week, and told of a 33 inch rock. Surf casters continue to encounter small blues at Cape Henlopen Point. The mullet run is about done, so fresh bait has become hard to come by, but frozen still produces. An occasional short striper, kingfish or blowfish mingled with snappers in the suds.

We've enjoyed a fantastic summer of flounder fishing, but the bulk of flatties in the area have moved out. Before they got too far away, Captain Brent made one last long run southeast and intercepted batch of fluke on their way offshore. Tuesday's group of fluke fanatics aboard Katydid returned with their limit of 40 fish to finish off the season. Many anglers have now shifted their efforts toward tautog. Tog action has been shaping up along the rocks and reefs, but wind and dirty water has often presented problems. Toggers report windows of catching with clean water, but once it gets murky, the blackfish get lockjaw. Captain Pete was able to locate some clean water along the Wall Saturday, and his toggers on Top Fin took a limit of 35 keepers. They capped the box off with a bonus 14.6 pound sheepshead. Several big sheepshead have been caught recently, probably since more anglers are working rockpiles and other hard structure in search of tog, and that's where the big porgies hang out. Craig Moore captured a 15.5 pound trophy sheepshead aboard the Grizzly Sunday. Charlie Breitenbach's 16.7 pound bruiser would have broken the State Record had Dave Walker not caught his 17.1 pound monster last Monday. That fish has been verified, and declared as the new Delaware State Record. Triggerfish and black drum continue to mix with sheepshead and tog on Bay structure. Some of the drum have been quite sizeable. Todd Garman was togging near the Lighthouse of the Outer Wall when he hooked behemoth boomers of 65.4 and 67.1 pounds using fiddler crabs the size of a thumbnail! Just goes to show, elephants do eat peanuts! Drew Williams and his buddies joined Captain Brent on Katydid Thursday and put a pair of drum, a nice mess of tog, triggers, trout and croakers in the box. Trout are still hanging around in fair numbers and it's great to see their resurgence in Delaware Bay. Captain Brent's anglers had their limit of weakfish during a short afternoon run to reef rubble Friday afternoon. On Monday, Captain Brent's three man group had 14 tog and 15 triggers. Triggers will start to thin out with cooling temps, but tog should become more active. The Inner and Outer Walls, Ice Breakers, reef sites and Lighthouses should all give up increasing numbers of blackfish in coming weeks. Keep in mind, if you fish Brandywine Light, you must adhere to New Jersey size and creel limits, since the structure sits in that state's waters. Anglers are limited to one tog at a 15 inch minimum until November 15th. The Annual Lewes Harbour Tog Tournament is on now through October 31st. The event offers cash prizes for the three heaviest tautog weighed in by registered contestants. Entry fee is $25 per angler, allowing you to fish as many days as you want through the Tourney. Or, you can pay $3 each day you fish. You must pay in advance of fishing. All entry monies collect in a pool and the top three tog split it 50%, 30% and 20%. So, the more entries, the bigger the prizes. As of this writing, the standings show Randy Jensen in First and Third Places with tog weighing 5.89 and 5.49 pounds. Mike Ditton has Second with his 5.58 pounder. Things will likely change as the month goes on and bigger fish are on the move. "Yul" Benner ended up winning last year at the very end of the Tournament with an enormous 20 pounder! Surf casters have been picking at snapper bluefish all along the Ocean beaches. Sue Sokira stopped by with a nice catch of blues and kingfish takaen with mullet in front of the radar tower at Cape Henlopen.

Tautog season reopened yesterday, allowing anglers to keep 5 tog per person per day, at a minimum size of 15 inches. Water temps are still around 70 degrees, and although some blackfish were caught around the Walls and Bay reefs, action will improve as it cools off. Even though the emphasis was on tog, big sheepshead stole the show on opening day. Captain Brent on Katydid was togging Bay structure when his anglers connected with four of the oversized striped porgies. Mike Nauman nailed a 10.3 pounder, Tom Geiger got an 11.9 pound specimen, and Frank Felbaum fought fish of 6.6 and 12.5 pounds. Dave Walker, Rob Karpovich, Bobby Bryant and Al Rebierio worked a rockpile Monday for a nice batch of tog, triggerfish, trout and three black drum in the 15 to 25 pound class. Highlight of their day was the monster sheepshead decked by Dave. It was 28 inches long and weighed a whopping 17.1 pounds! The existing Delaware State Record is a 15 pound 11 ouncer caught by Chris Wentz in 2012. Dave's fish eclipsed that mark, so proper steps were taken to qualify it for Record consideration. It was weighed on Lewes Harbour's certified scales, then a DNREC officer was called in to verify the reading. It takes a little while to go through the system, but it should be deemed a new Record. Major congratulations to Dave for an awesome catch. Triggerfish are still hanging around Bay Reef Sites. Jonathan Masten managed an impressive 4.68 pound trigger aboard Lil' Angler II. Captain Vince anchored Miss Kirstin over Reef Site 7 Saturday, and his anglers put 11 big triggers in the box, the heaviest being Troy Miller's jumbo 5 pounder. In addition, they had bluefish, croakers, puffers and kingfish. Croakers and chunky spot are still hanging out in Lewes Canal, and can be caught with bloodworms or Fishbites. Stripers are raoming the Canal too. A couple customers were crabbing near Gordon's Pond when rockfish started busting around the boat. They switched gears and began casting Calcutta Shads, and hooked numerous bass. Most were 15 to 20 inches, but a blast to catch and release. So the guys had a bunch of fun, and three dozen plump crabs to take home for a feast. Some keeper stripers were caught. Marty Riley checked in a 32 inch 12 pound rock that took a Storm Shad along the marsh bank near the railroad bridge. Fishermen on the rails at Cape Henlopen Pier caught a few small rockfish, but mostly had snapper blues, spot and hardheads. Mullet have been moving out of the backwaters, and along the Bay and Ocean beaches. Their migration has attracted gamefish into the surf, and casters using cut mullet caught snapper blues, flounder and kingfish inside Cape Henlopen, and on the Oceanfront between the Point and the Towers. Ocean flounder have been on the move offshore, and boaters have had to run farther to find them. Captain Brent on Katydid has been following them on their way out. He made a long run to some spots off Ocean City Sunday, but the ride paid. His flukers put together a boat limit of 40 late season flatties. Canyon anglers haven't done much with tuna. Captain Carey's group abaord Grizzly overnighted in the Wilmington Sunday. They released a small swordfish and a very large hammerhead. They also boated a dozen nice dolphin.

Flounder are still hanging around, but not in the same numbers as previous weeks. They've been thinning out on the Old Grounds, but on days with good conditions, anglers continue to put together decent catches. Bob Fitzwater and his crew worked the Grounds Monday, and returned with their limit of 20 fluke. Captain Brent has been pushing farther off to find numbers of flatties for his groups on Katydid. It took a long ride and a lot of boat handling over strucuture, but Bully Bob Trento and his gang of athletes ended up with their limit of 40 flounder, plus 23 chunky sea bass Wednesday aboard Katydid. Bob Cannon and his buddies fished with Brent Thursday for 21 flatfish and a couple dozen bass. Delaware Bay reef sites continued to yield some flounder, but it seems the majority of fluke are starting to move out. With breezy conditions on the ocean Saturday, Captain Brent opted for the Bay, and concentrated his efforts on Sites 6 and 7. His patrons aboard Katydid managed to 5 keeper flatties to 5 pounds in the box, but the triggerfish and blowfish bite was on, and they also iced 17 triggers, including Eric Butler's 4 pounder, and 25 puffers. In addition, they had sea bass, trout and croakers. Boaters at the mouth of the Bay found craokers, spot, trout and kingfish near #4 Buoy. Bluefish were still plentiful around the Outer Wall, feeding on silversides, Bay anchovies, butterfish and peanut bunkers in the area. Anglers also encountered some surprises. Joe Lamanna was drifting a minnow and squid combo near the Oueter Wall in search of flounder when he hooked into something larger than what he bargained for. When the battle was over, he boated a 52.1 pound black drum. Surf casters along the Ocean beaches did pretty well with snapper bluefish. Anglers using mullet or cut spot around the point of Capae Henlopen and near the Herring Point jetties had decent numbers of hookups. Offshore aficionados have not had much success with tuna, but did find dolphin. Wilkie Jarboe brought in a 21.2 pound mahi he caught in Baltimore Canyon aboard Ella Belle. Katydid deep deep dropped in the Baltimore Friday for a box full of tilefish, then hit some floating gear for 27 bailer dolphin. Billfish action has been hot in Norfolk Canyon. Captain Billy Hein and his crew on the Stacey trolled 70 to 100 fathoms to release 12 white marlin during a trip there this past week.

This summer's flounder action was the best in recent memory, and it has carried through right into September. Providing there are no severe weather fronts to push them out prematurely, anglers should enjoy a few more weeks of good fishing as flatties stage on structure during their movement offshore. Fluke continue to be found on Reef Sites 9, 10 and 11, the Old Grounds, and on bottom features surrounding DB and DA Buoys. Captain Brent worked over the flounder pretty good during the week with groups aboard Katydid. He returned early Tuesday with a 32 fluke limit that included Charlie Jammer's 6.65 pounder. Bully Bob and his crew of "atheletes" joined Brent Wednesday, and put together a limit of 40 quality flatfish. Thursday was another 40 keeper day, highlighted by Bob Fleming's 9.24 pound doormat. A bunch of regulars boarded Katydid Saturday, and brought back a boat limit of 36 flatties. Among the take was a 6.28 pound fluke for Ron Mistretta, and Bob Crossley's 3 pound sea bass. That catch raised the total number of keeper flounder landed aboard Katydid this season to more than 1500. Plenty of nice batches of fish came to the cleaning table this week as well. Bob Horton and his buddies took advantage of good conditions and limited out three trips in a row while working Site 11 and the Old Grounds. Jim Meyers was dialed in on big fish at Site 10. Tuesday, he scored a pair of fluke scaling 6.83 and 8.01 pounds. He topped them Friday with an 8.36 pound citation earner. Wayne Brady boated a 5.3 pound flounder from the Old Grounds aboard Miss Kirstin. Jon Bixler drifted squid on the Old Grounds for his 5.9 pounder. Harry Glembocki had his limit of flatties Thursday. Half of it was a keeper double header that included a mat weighing 6.08 pounds. Vince Budnavage checked in his best flounder yet. The 6.84 pound beauty fell for a squid and minnow sandwich on the Old Grounds. Joe Crowley captured a pool winning 5.95 pound fluke on Thelma Dale IV Saturday. Scott Ayars wasn't far behind with his 5.7 pounder. Anglers reported success using a variety of baits including squid, smelts and shiners. Live offerings like minnows and spot worked, but weren't necessary. Cut meat was quite effective. Fresh strips of bluefish, croaker, spot, mullet or sea robin were gobbled up by feeding fluke. A 3 to 6 ounce Spro bucktail sweetened with cut bait or Gulp! produced numerous flatfish, and frequently performed better than traditional bottom rigs. Jigging often causes a reactive strike from otherwise uninterested fish. Besides flounder, Ocean bottom bouncers encountered some big croakers between Site 10 and DB Buoy.Captain Vince had several in the 15 inch range mixed with flounder there on Wednesday. In Delaware Bay, some flounder and assorted panfish were available at the Star Site. That mix included jumbo spot, hardheads, kingfish, puffers, triggers, sea bass, spike trout and snapper blues. Clams, bloodworms, squid, shrimp and Fishbites got bit. Snapper blues have been active in the lower Bay and could usually be found beneath working birds. The rip on the shoal just off the Outer Wall's north end attracted numerous snappers. They could be hooked there with cut baits on bottom rigs, or cast bucktails and metal jigs. Bluefish also roamed the Ocean surf, especially since more mullet have shown up. Beach casters caught small blues using fresh mullet from inside Cape Henlopen on down to the Towers. Decent numbers of kingfish were still in the suds, and would respond to pieces of bloodworms or Fishbites on small float rigs. Lance Cochran landed 25 kings while soaking fresh mullet at Keybox Road Saturday. Offshore trollers found white marlin and dolphin. Steve Fleming and his group trolled the Baltimore Thursday for a nice batch of dolphin. Shawn Gallagher and the guys on Free Spool released a white from 50 Fathoms inshore of Poor Man's Friday. Captain Chris Thurman's crew had 3 white marlin and 9 mahi trolling Poor Man's Saturday aboard Quintessa. The bigeye bite was off and on in the Wilmington Canyon. Charlie Horning had three eyeballs while trolling the East Side Thursday evening on his Fish Whistle. Captain Brian's gang on Lil' Angler II trolled up some nice dolphin in the Wilmington Saturday. Brandy Parker put 15.9 pounder in the box.