December Is The New Rocktober

We have been bailing short bass in the surf and around the inland bays, but today a couple anglers who took a shot got into some serious action. Pulling stretches, mojos and bunker spoons. Once they found bait fish schools, they found striped bass, lots of them. In Delaware waters right out front feeding on bunker and sand eels. There are still striped bass being caught up north off the surf in Jersey. The armada has not gathered in front of Cape May yet. The run isn’t over it has just begun.

These guys were inside the EEZ by a good mile plus. “We were marking a lot of bunker and sand eel schools. Some of the fish were just under keeper sizes at twenty-seven inches, but not that many.” I called my buddy Corby this afternoon,
“Hey did you already winterize your boat?” ...
“Yes” ..
“Oh okay, well dang.”
Loooong Pause
“Wait, Why?”
“I need a boat ride or I will have to flex seal the truck and hit the water, thar be fish here now.“
“%$(#*&@^@^&#&” was the reaction from Corby. Which I totally expected, now can we talk him into firing the boat up anyway?
If I were you all I would load up the trucks and hit the surf this weekend from Cape Henlopen State Park to Fenwick Island. When I look back on all these pictures and posts, December is the right time for catching striped bass in Delaware. Will these come close to shore, only one way to find out, they are a couple miles out and fish tend to swim around. A nice overcast day would be preferred as well as early morning and late evening.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel has been producing fish, but those are possibly residents or just early arrivals. Which has people thinking the fish have gone by already, happens every year. If you recall Ben Smith broke the Delaware State Striped Bass record on December 8th, 2012. Which is this weekend. The striped bass run is getting later each year. December is the new Rocktober.

Fish On!
Rich King