Delaware Seashore State Park OSV Crossing Update

The three northern DSSP OSV (Over Sand Vehicle) accesses are still closed.

It is understandable why Key Box, Conquest, and Faithful Steward beaches are closed once you walk the entire beach. The beach has levels and these are too thin near the dunes to drive during high tide. In some spots a spring or lunar tide will flood the beach to the dunes. With maybe a eight foot wide strip of drivable sand. Parks can keep these closed for a while. I’m good with walking a primitive beach all by myself and fishing.

Key box OSV crossing looks fine and the beach is in decent shape, it’s drivable. But, once you get just past the Conquest access, driving conditions change. It would be great to see parks try a trial limited access to use that area. The issue is people who aren’t familiar with winter post nor’easter beach driving conditions, will get jammed up and possibly hurt. Also they can’t baby sit that beach twenty four hours, a bit of a logistical nightmare. People would drive beyond any set “off limit” areas and have issues quick.

Conquest Drive on access is fine but the “beach road” to the right is a twenty foot strip along a nine foot drop off for about a hundred feet or more. Get too close, it will collapse and you are rolling into the center of the beach. Totally understandable why parks is keeping these beaches closed to driving. There are a couple of these drop offs too, but that is the largest. As little as a three foot drop off can roll a vehicle.

Faithful Steward has some issues. The center of the OSV access was a wind tunnel of blown sand and is missing at least six feet of sand. The old crossover fence posts are exposed form I have no idea how long ago. After the twelve inch pole obstacle course. There is a small dune system to cross that ends in a nice drop off to the gulley carved out where the split used to be located. The dune is still there for the split, but water pushed in there and with wind carved it out a good ten feet deep. This is much worse than York crossings’ little dune system right after the storm. It looks fun, but yeah nope.

Key Box parking lot is open. Conquest parking lot looks okay, like it could opened, but there are sand piles they need to deal with on the accesses. Old exposed dune fence and wire on the walking crossovers are tripping hazards. I do not see parks opening the drive on beaches there this weekend unfortunately. I hope they open the Conquest road parking lot though.

Walk these beaches and surf fish, cast lures or set up and bait, obviously do both if you bait and wait. Get a DS Custom Tackle modified mullet rig and one or two packs of mullet and start hitting the bigger drains and cuts. By the time you get through half the bait you should have dropped a few bluefish on the sand. A top and bottom rig and Fishbites Sand Fleas or Bloodworms and catch kingfish.

This morning was fun with spoons, Hopkins, silver stingers, and deadly dicks for bluefish. If you have a crew, drop a vehicle at the inlet and take one to Tower beach or key box and start walking. You are never more than halfway to a vehicle if you need to get back.
All of the other OSV accesses are open in all Delaware State Parks.

Have a fun weekend, the early morning fishing has been productive. The afternoon surf fishing is better on weekdays.




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