Fishing Update After The Move

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr …. It has been chilly, wet and windy which is fine if it were fall but this is June!  Oh well hopefully the weather calms down for the weekend for once and we can get a little fishing done.  I have been moving for five days and finally have an internet connection.  I was in the dark for a few days and that made it hard to keep up with everyone.  You can only do so much on a phone and I burned up the hotspot in no time.  Last night Jon Budler from the Delmarva Angler and I did our first live broadcast on the website.  He was going to do a podcast on the website, instead he took it a step farther and decided to go live instead.  We had a blast!  A lot of people tuned in and we only announced it last minute as a test run so to speak, we needed to see if the gear would work remotely.  Everything worked out well, and instead of an hour we broadcast for a little over two hours.  We played music (we have a license for that), took requests,  did a few giveaways of gear and the new DSF Ocean Camo series shirts.  We had a great time broadcasting and are looking forward to future shows and airing live at events.  We will have a schedule soon for weekly shows.  All broadcasts are archived so you can check them out at a later date and time.  There is an app you can download to listen to the Delmarva Angler  shows on Delaware Surf Fishing on your phone.  This Sunday you can tune in at 4 PM to 7 PM when we broadcast live from the Mako Mania tournament at the scales.

So what has been going on with the fishing out there?  Flounder catching is picking up more and more especially since the slammer bluefish have calmed down and headed more north it would appear.  Minnows and gulp are the best flounder baits.  The inland bays are seeing their fair share of flounder catches as well as the Indian river inlet.  They are showing up in the surf too just behind the first wave.  The problem the past four days or so has been the weather.  It is right nasty out there, but as Corby would say this is striped bass weather.  A lot of shorts have been caught at the Indian river inlet at night long lining flies and along the rocks on plugs and spoons.  There have been random keeper catches at the inlet and on the surf.  The run has not been like the years past and most likely is due to the bluefish blitz of 2015 and partially the lack of striped bass out there.  black drum has still been good in the Delaware bay for the boats and charters.  Not sure why people are keeping those big drum they are some really old fish, that have been marinating in that water for along time.   The surf is seeing the typical summer fish, flounder, small bluefish, croaker, kingfish, dogfish, skates, and rays are abundant.  Small sharks are  starting to show up.  Still waiting to see some spot.  There are still some bluefish in the Broadkill river it is hard to tell when or where they will be next.  The harbor of safe refuge was good over last weekend and then dropped off at the beginning of the week.  The charters are doing well, Katydid, Top Fin and Anglers fishing center are all reporting great trips cheek them out in the Business Directory Charter Section.

Croaker, puffer and kingfish action has been hot in the surf.  The croaker are as far up as south of the Port Penn area.  Kingfish are even showing up inside the indian river inlet near the rock walls.  puffers are in the surf and you should be able to find them in the inland bays.  Fishbites, squid and or clam on top and bottom rigs is working well for the little fishes.  I saw a huge houndfish on a site caught near Atlantic City a few days ago, and the T Jetty over there is producing some large keeper striped bass.   the Oceanic Pier in Ocean City MD is seeing a lot of snapper blues and so is Fenwick Island State Park, so the summer snapper blues are showing up now.  The large slammer or gator blues are as far up as Martha’s Vineyard.  Corby Fulton has been up there for the past couple days hammering big bluefish in the surf.  He bought his out of state surf tag at the hefty price of three hundred dollars.  He fished a full day hammering big blues but the next day, while he was fishing, the beach as closed for the piping plovers that started hatching.  He as stuck on the beach and had to drive to the other side of the island to get off the beach.  That beach that was producing fish is now closed.  That is not a fun thing to have happen and he said the locals are hating the whole beach closure for birds.  I am sure we can all relate to that.  I understand the need, but it is kind of lame no one told him he had less than a day(s) before the beach he wanted to fish would be closed.  Maybe he would not have spent that money for that tag had he known.

Crabbing is getting better as soon as you find them.  Pots are filling up after a one or two day soak.  The pot nets bayside folks are having issues with a crab pot thief(s).  Hopefully that gets resolved soon, it is illegal to poach from crab pots.  I had a question the other day about turtles in crab pots.  If you see a turtle in a crab pot call Fish and Wildlife  1800-523-3336.  Do not get the turtle out yourself you can get popped for poaching a crab pot.  I know that sounds cruel but it is the law.  Most likely the crab pot does not have the turtle guards (devices) in them and that needs to be reported.  Also turtles are on the move to lay eggs and are crossing roads so keep an eye out.  If you are going to move a turtle, move it in the direction it was headed.  If it is a snapping turtle take extra caution.  I can’t wait to go fishing, I have been packing and unpacking boxes for six days and I am still not done.  I am going to have to sneak out of here soon before I go stir crazy!  Check out the Business Directory for a bait shop near you and for other area businesses and services.

Have a great weekend

Fish On!!

Rich King