Learn To Fish The Inland Bay Marsh Banks

Fishing the marsh banks of the inland bays is like fishing a reef.

I catch the most fish along marsh banks around the inland bays. Fresh baited crab pots are another favorite structure. Baitfish just pack them and feed on the fresh food. The big fish feed on the baitfish. The marsh banks are covered in mussels and oysters. That are a host to tubeworms and all kinds of baitfish and grass shrimp. An entire ecosystem if you will.
We pull up near marsh banks and cast into the banks or along the shoreline. Do not pull the boat up to the marsh bank. Stay a solid twenty yards away and try to drift along the bank that far out. Cast to the shoreline Especially along the shallow marshes in the flats.

If you are a fly angler these banks are perfect to wade along in the flats of the inland bays.

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Oysters and mussels growing on a marsh bank, exposed at low tide.

Striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, flounder, and red drum on occasion, will sit or hunt along the marsh banks. You actually find redfish (drum) tailing in these areas looking for clams. On the outgoing tide the bait fish and grass shrimp will pour into the bay over the marsh edge as the water recedes. The fish just sit there and feed. Mimic the bait and you will nail fish.

Bucktails, swim shads, and even bait. Casting lures is much more fun. Use two ounce and lower for the smaller fish. Jigging with gulp or soft plastics works too. Schools of fish will move up and down the marsh banks. Once you find them follow them but not too close. Pull up too close, and the school spooks, then regroups elsewhere. You have to start looking again.

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Marsh outcropping at dad low tide. At high tide there is eighteen inches of water here and it is knee deep. The algae is full of grass shrimp
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First establish water depth, especially if you are in a boat. You need deep enough water. Some of the marsh bank areas get skinny fast, even at high tide. Others are deep like Masseys Ditch. Kayaks and canoes are perfect for this, so is wading and fishing. Wear waders and shoes in the inland bays for the twenty four seven water advisories, in the summer.
Cast to the marsh bank, try to hit the edge. Usually once the lure hits and bounces, one time, it is fish on! This will happen cast after cast in most places around the inland bays.

Anglers will anchor and just drop a perch rig or top and bottom rig with bloodworms for short striped bass and white perch. Remember these days you are required to use circle hooks to target striped bass. A rig with number two or number one hooks is all you need. Maybe some floats or beads for color to help. Common grass shrimp is usually the preferred bait for white perch.
If you happen to use non circle hooks Striped Bass Incidental Catches Are Legal In Delaware

This action for the short striped bass is heavier during the run times of year, fall and spring. But these short bass can be found all year along these banks feeding. Thy are also on other structure such as piers and feed under lights all night.
You can almost treat the inland bays like pattern fishing for bass. Sit and wait for the striped bass to swim by or go looking for a school and follow them along the banks. Another will be by eventually as well as other fish. Th action will be the same the next day on the same tide.

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Broadkill River, low tide, at Beach Plum Island State Park

Assawoman bay doesn’t have as well established marsh banks full of marine life like Rehoboth or Indian River Bays. Due to freshwater flushing issues, or the lack of. It needs to be dredged again to help that flushing. A pipe to the ocean would really help. There is good fishing around the marshes and islands of Assawoman bay.
I watched a flounder on the Broadkill river, swim to the bank edge and eat a fiddler crab at my feet. All marsh banks contain life for fish to feed, it just varies.

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