Everyone is asking and anxiously awaiting, and there is the DMS surf fishing tournament this weekend. Delaware Seashore State Park, Cape Henlopen State Park, Fenwick Island State Park, and Beach Plum Island are all closed to driving on. The parking lots for all the beaches in DSSP are closed, except for Tower rd. walk on beach at the bathhouse. You can also walk on the north and south sides at the Indian River Inlet. Beach Plum Parking lot is closed, the Broadkill river floods that lot during storms. In CHSP you can park and walk on at any of the accesses. CHSP will be evaluated today as well as Beach Plum Island (BPI). Park’s will reassess the beaches in DSSP and Fenwick tomorrow. Soil and Conservation are responsible for the drive on accesses across the dunes. Once they evaluate and coordinate efforts with park’s maintenance crews the drive on accesses can be cleared, a few of them are filled in and I did see the sand movers in the area yesterday. The bay access parking lots; New Road, Savages ditch, and Tower road will reopen this morning.
Right now maintenance crews are busy with other projects to get the parks cleaned up. There is an army of them working at the Indian River Inlet to get that area cleaned. They are working as diligently as possible, if you are in areas they are working on try to stay out of the way. Soil and Conservation is responsible for all dune crossings even in the town beaches, so you can imagine how busy they are right now. One issue with the point in Cape Henlopen is to decide if it will be safe at high tides. What people don’t realize is when you are on the bay side of the point the tide comes in first on the ocean side, floods the beach and you are stuck out there. I imagine it will take a tide cycle to evaluate that area.
If you want to surf fish, grab the gear you need, find a good place to walk on and let her rip. By the way the tautog bite at the Indian River Inlet is picking up, use green crabs. Soon the rest of the fishing will pick up and probably already has in a few areas as the water calms down and things get back to some semblance of normal. The tides were three feet above the MLLW, early this morning and are already within two feet in Lewes. The mean lower low water (MLLW), is the average height of the lowest tide recorded at a tide station each day during the recording period. Most of the baitfish and crabs were pushed inland into marsh areas that never see water. The water is still dirty and will take a couple of days to clear up.
Delaware Bay beaches update. Slaughter beach is missing twenty feet of dune (wide) and a four foot cliff is carved into the dune face on the south end of the beach. The new beach at Broadkill weathered just fine but there seems to be less sand there, and that would be normal for a storm like this. Other bay beaches took a hit and we have not had time to get up there, yet.
Fish On!!
Rich King