Striped Bass And Mullet On The Move

Sudden Inland Bay Water Temperature Drops Trigger Fish To Feed

Summer packed her bags, left, and she didn’t even say goodbye! Actually she is just taking a breather, we have plenty of hot weather coming back, but this reminder of fall weather is nice. It is also getting the fish fired up around the inland bays. Triggered bass with the feed bag on.

Short striped bass action has heated up in the surf and the inland bays. Especially in the surf during the heavy surge this past week and weekend. Striped bass were chasing bait fish and sand fleas in the surf wash. Anglers were catching short striped bass tossing bucktails, mullet rigs and sand fleas. The fish are hitting hard and they are fat from feeding. Nothing like a sudden temperature drop to get the fish excited. Everywhere the water is in the low seventies and holding with little fluctuations.

The Lewes canal and surrounding waterways are active. Lot of keeper slot bass are being caught. Slot season for Striped bass in the Delaware Bay and tributaries, ends on the 31st of August. Get it in while you still have time this weekend.

The inland bays are bouncing from seventy one to seventy two degrees the water temperature plummeted four days ago. This triggered the striped bass to start schooling up and feed heavier. Nature reacts to triggers and water temperature is a huge one. The mullet responded in kind as well.

There are cob mullet up to nine inches being caught in cast nets around the inland bays. They are called cob mullet because they are as big as corn cob. I watched a lot of them jump out of the water and porpoise at Cupola park yesterday, don’t bother you can’t use a cast net there, spillway.

A few schools wound up near the Cape Henlopen fishing pier recently probably washed in by heavy rains pushing water out of creeks ino the Roosevelt inlet. Soon they will all move into the surf, flats at Cape and around the Indian River Inlet. The mullet run is one of the best times to fish.

Time to get your gear ready for fall fishing, summer fishing will still abide for a while. We are always looking forward to the fall run, now the question will be, will they come into the surf this year. We always hope they do, we will see.

Fish On!
Rich King