Summer Striper Slot Season Starts

The best tasting striped bass are the shorts, and we get to catch and keep them in the summer. Only in the Delaware Bay and her tributaries are legal. From July first to August thirty-first anglers can catch and keep one striped bass at 20 to 25 inches.
The tributaries are any that run into the Delaware Bay; Broadkill River and Canary creek for Sussex county. Also the Lewes Canal from the Kings Highway Bridge to the Roosevelt inlet is also considered a tributary for the summer striper slot season. Be careful transporting these fish. If you are on a boat do not leave the legal area with these fish. That is considered possession out of the catch area and is a fine. Yeah … I know, but I don’t make the rules.
Example … Leave the Lewes canal and head back to Rehoboth Bay, once you cross under the Kings Highway bridge you’re riding dirty with illegal fish.

The Lewes canal is the most fun to fish for the striper slot fish. The structure is numerous to say the least. Lot of overnight lights to fish under, and you fish the marsh banks just the inland bays. Skipping a swim shad off the water, close to a bulkhead, and a straight drop down will nail some fish. Just don’t skip a three ounce bucktail longways down one of those expensive sailboats. Stay away from the docked boats, There is plenty of structure to fish in the Lewes Canal.

Then cruise up to the aquatic crossroads; Lewes Canal, Canary Creek, Broadkill river, Roosevelt Inlet. Plenty of action all along those areas. Canary can be hairy if you aren’t used to fast water in a kayak. Broadkill river is perfect for lazy paddle and fish. Put in for Broadkill River in Lewes at the boat ramp or the old town docks, Oyster Rocks road or Milton. Plenty of water to explore. Lot of striped bass shorts will be mixed in with white perch schools.

Catching slots around the Cape Henlopen fishing pier is possible, especially in the evenings on the incoming tides. The Saltwater Fly Anglers of Delaware catch stripers on the fly there in the summer evenings. The cut off for the Delaware Bay is essentially the point. Summer Striped slots can be caught along the inner wall.
Obviously anywhere up north, and any waterway that empties into the Delaware bay.