Second Summer Has Started

 

herringpoint beach, cape henlopen state park,
Beaches are still a little shelved or cliffed. Keep that in mind when driving out there. This was Wednesday at Cape Henlopen looking north on Herring Point Beach

Well the season is over for the summer fun in the sun, but the second summer has begun.  What that means is at least seven weeks of beautiful weather,  less crowds, and more fish. Now why would there be more fish?  One of our theories is less people in the water swimming.  When a lot of people are swimming there is commotion, suntan lotion, bug spray, and people peeing in the water.  All of that combined does not make for great fishing conditions.  There are also less lines in the water, but this time of year ninety percent of the people on the beach are actually fishing, however there are less people overall.  As opposed to the summer season where ninety percent of people are not fishing.  Combine all of those factors and you can see why summer fishing is not so hot when it is crowded.  The fact it is hot with a bright sun in the dead of summer does not help either.  The other possibility is the fact there are all kinds of warm water fish showing up and some strange ones to boot.  There are blue runners showing up in Rhode Island and some folks are catching large Atlantic White shrimp in tidal creeks and back bays.  I am sure you saw the manta ray article and spot fin butterfly.   What ever the reason the fishing has certainly picked up the past week.

 

coast guard indian river, indian river inlet, delaware, sussex county, united states coast guard, USCG
This was the biggest fish I saw in the Indian River Inlet Yesterday, the little blues were plentiful.

The big news yesterday was a bluefish school that moved into the Indian River Inlet.  Old Inlet Bait and Tackle put up a post on Facebook, “News flash! An hour ago – Big blues to 10 pounds under the bridge in the Inlet. Outgoing tide. Go figure.”   The big bluefish were not there long but were upwards of ten pounds.  Those of us that ran down there to catch a few missed them and heard the proverbial, “You should have been here and hour ago”  While I was there I chatted with Jim and Lou about all kinds of fishing tales, old and new.  You never know what you will learn when you talk with guys that have fished there since the late fifties.  The shade under the bridge was nice, eventually the wind picked up and was pushing opposite the tide.  There is bait fish galore along the rocks and the small bluefish are wearing them out.  The birds are working the water and the ends of both rockpiles.  We watched a smart gull fly low along the water real slow and it would catch bait fish as they were jumping out of the water.  You can learn a great deal from nature if you just sit and watch.  I caught a few snipper blues on a two ounce green deadly dick, those are the tiny ones (6 inches) that destroy bait but never take the hook.  The largest bluefish I saw caught while there was about twelve inches, but I heard all about the blues earlier in the day.

 

cobia in surf in Delaware, sussex county, fenwick island state park, baby cobia, man in the brown suit, cobie
little Cobia caught in the surf at Fenwick Island on a squid head … photo from Dennis Thornton

After the fun at the inlet, I hit Herring Point beach in Cape Henlopen State Park, and met Tom down there.   We were there the day before catching puppy drum and bluefish.  When he called I asked where do you want to meet down there, his response ” where do you think?”  Same bat time, same bat location.  It was a stupid question, but I was hoping he would say the point.  We may as well call this the puppy drum blitz of 2015, we didn’t sit still for over two hours.  Cast catch a fish, and they are just off the ledge or drop off in the surf, about ten feet in, just behind the first breaking wave.  There is also a ridiculous amount of pinky fingernail size sand fleas in the surf line, bajillions of them.  Fishbites (fresh package), squid, sand fleas, Atlantic White Shrimp, and bluefish cut bait were hammering puppy drum.  We would bait hooks, cast and barely get the rod into the holder and had to reel in a fish.  It was like work, good sweet wonderful work.

 

 

puppy drum, black drum, cape henlopen state park. delaware, sussex county. fishbites, diamond state custom tackle
Puppy drum in the surf
Sheepshead, convict fish, Archosargus probatocephalus,
Sheepshead Archosargus probatocephalus

I have had a few people send me pictures of puppy drum (black drum) calling them sheepshead.  There is a difference and you can’t keep puppy drum unless they are sixteen inches or over, sheepshead do not have a creel limit, and have a different body style (full body) than puppy drum (slimmer profile) .  They both have black stripes, but the sheepshead has more stripes.  You can see a full description on the DSF’s Delaware Fish ID page.  I just wanted to make sure everyone knows the difference because with no creel limit on sheepshead, I don’t want anyone getting in trouble for having undersized puppy drum in their coolers.  Fish & Wildlife has been diligent the past couple of weeks checking people and coolers at the Indian River Inlet, Cape Henlopen pier, and other fishing hot spots, kudos to them for looking out.  They have a tough thankless job, and are spread thin, please respect our creel limits and their job.  If you don’t know the species of fish you have caught, best to let it go in case it is not of legal size.   Take a quick picture to identify it later or use our Delaware Fish ID page to help you out, we are adding more fish as much as possible, let us know if you would like to see a species on there.

 

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atlantic white shrimp, delaware, sussex county, kent county, tidal creeks
Kevin Flaherty … Atlantic White Shrimp, being caught in fast moving tiday creeks and near grass banks in the inland bays.

Pompano are making more and more of an appearance in the surf.  Baby cobia have been caught on almost every beach and the Henlopen Fishing pier, not frequent but random catches.  Pinfish, pigfish, puppy drum, spot, kingfish, flounder, croaker, and sea bass are all over the place hitting a variety of baits on Diamond State Custom Tackle Top and Bottom rigs.  We have used squid, fishbites, bloodworms, clam, and shrimp.  Bluefish are hitting the top and bottom rigs and also mullet rigs so are the flounder.  We have used a few small blues for bait, filleting them and using small pieces of the fillet.   Croaker makes good strip bait as well, just remember they have a creel size of eight inches.  We use strips of croaker on jig heads and bucktails for summer flounder.  Bottom bouncing or jigging works very well along structure and the flats at the Cape Henlpen pier, the bayside of the point, and New rd. bay access in Delaware Seashore State Park.  Flounder action has been much better off shore on wreck sites and structure.  The action around the inland bays is decent but the keepers are few and far between.

 

mahi mahi,offshore fishing, deep blue water, canyons, 19 fathom lump, delaware, sussex county
Mahi Mahi jumping in the boat … photo by Corey Joseph

Off shore fishing action has been great for marlin as long as you find them.  Mahi mahi catches have been numerous, and many anglers are waiting for the yellowfin to return in full force.  The water has not been cooperating.  The water near shore is cloudy and silted up, yesterday the inlet looked rather dirty.  Cape Henlopen is dirty on the bay side of the point and further south, it is clearer closer to Rehoboth Beach at Gordons pond.  The outgoing tide from the Delaware bay will cloud up the water.  Delaware Seashore and Fenwick Island State Parks have decent clear water.  I would expect that to change if the storms move in today with strong winds, but will clear up rather fast.   Masseys landing has been dirty as well, but the fishing there has been off the hook for the usual suspects … croaker, flounder, spot, sea bass, and gag groupers.

 

USGS survey temperature chart, masseys landing, delaware, sussex county, long neck, inland bays, the ditch
USGS survey chart of temperatures this week for Masseys Landing

We are anxiously awaiting rain today, I could mow my lawn with a Bic lighter.  The weather this weekend is looking decent with a weak pressure system moving in after this storm front and then pushed out by a low pressure system on Saturday.  There are chances of scattered thunderstorms for the weekend, it can rain on my house all weekend, the gardens need water!   Friday afternoon we will see heavy South East winds gusting up to twenty knots.  Saturday the winds will lay down from the South East in the morning but increase in the afternoon upwards of ten knots.  Seas will be in an East swell averaging two to three feet with a period of nine seconds.  Keep in mind this is Delaware and the weather can change in fifteen minutes.  The water temperatures are averaging seventy seven degrees in the surf.  The Inland Bays are fluctuating from seventy six to eighty two degrees, high tide is the low temperature and low tide is the high temperature.  Delaware Bay (lower) is averaging seventy seven degrees, and the upper bay and river are averaging eighty degrees.  High tide will be mid morning all weekend and should allow for a nice tide transition to fish all day long, low tide will occur mid to late afternoon.  That all depends on where you are as far as tide times, the differences in the inland bays, tidal creeks, and the ocean are significant.

diamond state cusstom tackle, top and bottomrigs, bluefish rigs, striper rigs, flounder rigs, delaware, sussex county
Diamond State Custom Tackle isnow available at PC Rods in Milton, DE

Everyone have a great weekend, and we will see some of you on the water.  Just a heads up but there seem to be larger fish on the southern beaches and smaller fish on the northern beaches.  That could change, but for now that is how the fishing is trending, but you never know.  Good news is there are fish on all of the beaches, most days and all tides.  That is not a guarantee but then again it is fishing.  If you want a guaranteed catch go the seafood place, catch it by the pound, burn the gear and get a new hobby.  Safe travels this weekend, there will still be a good amount of people visiting Delaware on the weekends.   Second summer is a great time!

Fish On!!

Rich King



  

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