Weekend Fishing Outlook

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The air temperatures are dropping, the leaves are turning colors fast, those that are not on the ground.  The yard has that earthy wet leaf smell in the morning, love the fall.  The water temperatures are slowly dropping.  The water is clearing up in the surf and the bays are not looking too bad. Up north the Delaware River near Delaware City this morning was sixty three degrees and in the South near Lewes it is sixty four degrees.  The offshore temperature at buoy 44009 is almost sixty six degrees (65.5 to be precise).   The tides are incoming in the morning starting around 5 AM, and will be all weekend, high tide will be around noon on Saturday at the Indian River Inlet.  You can fish the tide change from early morning till late afternoon, not a bad day.  This weekend we are going to have a sharp drop in the air temperatures (high thirties, yes thirties!) so be prepared to need layers you can strip off as the day warms up, to the low fifties.  Old man winter is pushing his way back, but we will fish regardless.  According to the persimmon seeds we are in for a wet snowy winter.

 

The striped bass action has been fun with schooling fish around the Inland Bays.  You can see them school up in the lights around piers at night, and places like Masseys Landing.  Indian River Inlet is seeing a lot of schoolies at night and some during the day.  The canal areas are seeing a lot of action.  The migratory schools in the soon to be great white north are starting to move and will push south soon.   People are seeing sand eels pop up in many areas up the coast above Jersey, and this is always a good sign.  We still have a lot of food in our waters for the rockfish.   Many of the schooling bass up north in the Delaware Bay and River are moving into tidal creeks chasing bait.  Fishing for them with darker swim shads at night and colorful (pink) plugs during the day is working well.  Surf clam would be a good bait in the surf and bloodworms.  Bunker chunking should work well too and look for bass under the bunker schools when they are moving up and down the shore.  You can toss a bunker chunk into them or throw plugs, swim shads, or big spoons.  Lot of white perch and some puppy drum are up north in the Delaware bay in tidal creeks.  The perch are hitting small spoons, they are hungry!

 

There are lots of small bluefish out there and some are upwards of eighteen inches but for the most part they are averaging twelve inches.  Still fun to catch on ultralight gear, no not the standard Snoopy pole in the surf, but a small four foot bass rod.  Actually slamming a few of those on the Snoopy pole would be fun.  The blues are at the Indian River Inlet in all the usual rips, you can see them feeding.  Small spoons work great for that, using a drag or trolling sinker will help get  a spoon a little deeper.  I need to go see Patrick at PC Rods in Milton and check on how Frankenstein is coming along.  I had a ten foot surf rod break and the company was annoying to deal with for the warranty, so I took it to him and he said we can Frankenstein this puppy.  I was down for that, soon I will have a freak of an eight foot rod to play with.  Now I need an equally freaky reel for the monster combo.  PC Rods is also carrying DS Custom Tackle now, as well as Henlopen Bait and Tackle on Savannah road, get your striped bass surf rigs,  they work very well.

 

The tautog action has been hot in the Delaware Bay at the wrecks, reef sites, haystacks, and walls.  Green crabs are the best baits, sand fleas a close second.  There are some nice sized tog being pulled.   Lewes Charters are loading up almost daily, check our business directory listings for a charter or head boat.  The Indian River Inlet has been packed with anglers and they are doing rather well.  I watched a guy yesterday pull in  a little tautog and he said he didn’t care it was his first and he was happy. He has been trying for a year, but in all fairness he has only been able to get down here three times in that year.  He was excited he finally caught a tautog, they are tough to catch.  One problem occurring at the inlet area is some people selling their undersized catches to some guy that shows up in the parking lot.  If you see this activity going on please call fish and wildlife, 1 800 523 3336 is the twenty four hour hotline.  If you can get a picture of the person(s) doing this or even video that is all Fish & Wildlife enforcement needs to bust them, but do not put yourself in a situation doing so.  With your help we could quell this activity and get rid of the problem anglers, because not everyone down there is doing this, but there is always those few bad eggs.  There are a lot of very cool anglers down there, I talk to a lot  of them when I am fishing, nice people, and they don’t like the illegal activity that gives them a bad name either.

 

Keybox drive on access is now open, so all drive on beaches are open for fishing.  The surf is seeing small bluefish, short striped bass, flounder and the smaller puppy drum.  Some kingfish are still out there, everything is hitting mullet chunks because everyone is fishing for bluefish.  Fishbites are still working but will stop once the water gets colder.  Small pieces of cut bait on top and bottom rigs, or clam, and squid will work as well.  Sand fleas are still in the surf and we have a lot of spearing in schools everywhere.  Mullet have been hard to find to nonexistent in our waters, and the bait shops are having trouble getting them in, but frozen has been working just fine on mullet rigs or as cut bait.  It is better whole than as chunks, it is hard to keep that chunk on a hook when it thaws to mush.  Check out our bait shop business directory listings for a shop near you.  Many should have fresh surf clams which are perfect for this time of year for the striped bass and drum.  Small  pieces work good on top and bottom rigs.  Sometimes surf clams come from areas that are full of bad bacteria be careful about washing your hands.  Do not eat anything after handling these clams, until you wash your hands.

The offshore action heated right back up after the storm and once people were able to get out there the fishing was good.  Wahoo, mahi, swordfish, marlin, and yellow fin tuna.  The canyon areas have seen the best action.  Crabbing is still decent too but that will change up soon too, and clamming is always fun if you have a wet suit.  The beaches are still carved up and flat, there are tide pools everywhere and watch the swales behind you they fill up a t high tide in many areas.  You can drive closer the surf when the tide is low just mind the incoming tide and watch your six.  Fish in front of the tide pools these are where the cuts will eventually form up in the surf.  The point is till flat as a pancake with an incline along the dune fence, be careful at high tide.  The beaches lost a lot of sand but they will recover in shape, but not depth of sand.    Everyone have a great weekend and stay warm, it is going to get cold this weekend.  Speaking of cold, give Blue Earl Brewing Company a try, great craft beer!

Fish On!!

Rich King

NOAA TIDES AT IRI ….

 

 

 

 

Buoy 44009 Data …

Wind Direction (WDIR):	WSW ( 250 deg true )
	Wind Speed (WSPD):	19.4 kts
	Wind Gust (GST):	21.4 kts
	Wave Height (WVHT):	3.9 ft
	Dominant Wave Period (DPD):	5 sec
	Average Period (APD):	4.1 sec
	Mean Wave Direction (MWD):	SSW ( 197 deg true )
	Atmospheric Pressure (PRES):	30.00 in
	Pressure Tendency (PTDY):	+0.03 in ( Rising )
	Air Temperature (ATMP):	63.9 °F
	Water Temperature (WTMP):	65.5 °F
	Dew Point (DEWP):	53.6 °F
	Wind Speed at 10 meters (WSPD10M):	19.4 kts
	Wind Speed at 20 meters (WSPD20M):	21.4 kts

 

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taug …

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