Tautog, dogfish, skates, and ling cod caught surf fishing in Delaware

I meant to post this last week, sorry gang, it is not the end of the world.  I honestly thought we posted the results of Bill’s Sport Shop’s Striper Tournament.  After several weeks of constant fishing, and meeting at Irish Eyes for dinner on Friday nights.  The eager winners were announced, and awarded their prizes.  I was taking pictures, and chatting with a few of the charter captains, and my buddy Kenny.  The food, as always was excellent.  This is a fun tournament, and door prizes alone are worth participating for.  There was even a chest freezer given away that night.  Every Friday dinner there was a rod and reel combo as door prizes, and tons of gear.  DSF put up a Star Angler Discount Card for the last night.  No one ever won the car offered by Bryan Hecksher of Auto Gallery on Savannah road.  That was a very cool gesture on his part, and maybe we can get another shot at it next year, or in one of DSF’s tournaments this year.  The restaurant was packed, and everyone was eager to see the results …

Striper

Name Weight Length

Dove, James 40 44.5

Evan Falgowski 34.15 45.5

Smith, Tyler 32.95 43

Tog

Name     Weight     Length

Couchman, Mark    8.9      24

Murphy, Bob     6.85    22

Pergeorelis, Paul    6.4       21

Heaviest Blue: Jay Tucci 10.85 lb

Lightest Legal Striper: Paul Pergeorelis 6.75 lb

Top Female Angler: Tammy Parker 19.5 lb

Calcutta Winner: both by Evan Falgowski $2750.00

Tyler Smith, Dover, caught a 31.10 pound Striped bass for the heaviest fish on the last day of the tournament.

I would like to thank the “Bills” for having this tournament and Irish Eyes for hosting the dinners.  It was a fun time, when I could manage to pull myself away from work to attend.  I am looking forward to next year’s tournament.  Captain Bill tried to put me on the spot the last night, and get me to talk on the microphone, but I am a tad shy.  😉

The winds are a beast this weekend, you can forget trying to surf fish comfortably.  Today the waves were HUGE, and the only thing moving out there were all the surfers, and the beaches were packed with them.  I did see one boat on a trailer at the Inlet parking lot.  The owner was fishing the rock wall from land.  Boating today would have been a very bad idea.  Even the Coast Guard Station looked quiet, probably relieved no one was dumb enough to go out in these conditions.  A few days ago Captain Chuck Cook of First Light Charters was on a trip … “Armand Rabuttinio and Frank Clutterbuck fished with me on a recent trip in search for tog. It was their first charter for tog, and they got the hang of it pretty quick. We fished some wrecks in about 90′ of water and managed to catch several tog in the 4 lb.-7 1/2 lb. range and one citation over 8 lbs. Most of the fish we caught were keepers, with only a few throw backs in the mix. A fun trip with quality fish and a lot of action. Capt. Chuck First Light Charters www.firstlightcharters.net  302-853-5717” I do enjoy fishing with Captain Chuck, he only does small charters under 3 people, and it is much more of a relaxing trip.

Chris Fortner was fishing Conquest beach a few days ago and came up with lots of dogs and a few skates.  He was using an 8/0 circle hook, and even managed a 12 inch ling on one retrieve.  He has been using shad for bait, since that is what the stripers are mostly chasing in our bays.  That is about the freshest cut bait you are going to find, and fishing for it is a bonus.  He did rig up the ling just for grins and giggles, but nothing produced, and he set it free.   Some buddies of mine “limited the boat” on Striped bass 2 days ago trolling out front with stretch 25’s and Gibbs lures.  They were near Bethany Beach, on the troll.  The striped bass are now showing up below Virginia,  and those folks down there are catching upwards of 62 pound fish.  They are catching Delaware State record striped bass on a daily basis.  That is one of the comical issues with fishing in Delaware.  A friend of mine knows a guy that has caught bigger, just never turned it in, I believe him, he has never steered me wrong.  I am looking forward to meeting one of the few true “pluggers” in Delaware this year, straight out of Montauk.  This is going to be a great new year, we have some interesting things planned, a lot of new faces for you to meet, and I will announce everything, as soon as we are good to go.

Fish On!!

Rich King

I took a tour today of the area you can see the pictures on our DSF Facebook page and follow us on Twitter now.