Blown Out Weekend

It was a great weekend.  The winds were not that much fun, especially Saturday night into Sunday and even today.  We had fifty mile per hour winds that blew the water out of the Delaware and Inland Bays, and caused some serious damage in Oak Orchard.  Some folks have never seen the water this low in all of their years on the water.  Entire marinas emptied of water leaving boats stranded on the sandy bottom.  The only advantage to this low water is being able to see all of the fishing structure.  Beach bay combing was a gold mine for some folks finding arrow heads and old bottles.  There were old crab traps all over the inland bay areas and tidal creeks.  Some boat ramps could not be used since there wasn’t any water.  Better this happen when few are on the water than in the middle of the season.  The shoals around the bird island outside of masseys landing were really exposed.  Would have been a great time to go clamming.

Opening day for trout season looked like a mad house of anglers surrounding pools of water no bigger than a small swimming pool. People limited out in no time.  I heard it was a decent day but very crowded, the pictures don’t do the crowds justice.  The fish were hitting just about everything presented to them, but stocked trout will do that.  Despite the weather a lot of people hit opening day up north and had a good time.

Striped bass action up north has been great in the Upper Delaware Bay.  Don’t forget anywhere above the south jetty for the C&D canal is considered spawning grounds.      Striped bass Spawning season …. The spawning season for striped bass in Delaware is considered to begin at 12:01 a.m. on April 1 and continue through midnight on May 31 of each calendar year. It is unlawful for any person to take and retain any striped bass during the spawning season from the Nanticoke River or its tributaries, the Delaware River and its tributaries to the north of a line extending due east beginning at and including the south jetty at the mouth of the C & D Canal, or the C & D Canal or its tributaries. Catch and release only during this season; no harvest is allowed …. Circle-hooks … It is unlawful for any person to fish during the striped bass spawning season on any striped bass spawning ground with natural bait using any hook other than a non-offset circle-hook when said hook measures greater than 3/8 inches as measured from the point of the hook to the shank of the hook.

Fishing will get better as soon as this wind calms down.  The water is so stirred up it looks thick, like a latte.  One advantage of a blow out tide is it pushes a lot of water and debris out of the system, but that can push fish out as well.  The winds are going to be heavy the entire week.  We have a freeze warning Tuesday night and that could be bad for pets and sensitive plants.  I am sure it will drop the water temperatures even more.  Right now Masseys’ water temperature is peaking at fifty degrees, three days ago it was peaking at sixty degrees.  The Delaware Bay in Lewes has dropped to forty nine degrees and the sea surface temperature is forty seven degrees.  When the winds calm down these temperatures will be able to climb back up.  In the mean time we are going to get a little sand blasted at the beach.

Fish On!!

Rich King