DELAWARE BAY The rockfish action at the mouth of the bay is about as good as it gets. On Thursday I stopped by Lewes Harbour Marina and watched the cleaning of several 20 pounders. "Joe" said the largest of the day was a 30-pounder while earlier in the week Jeff Gardiner landed a 33.1-pound rock and as of Thursday he was leading in the Lewes Harbour Marina Rockfish Tournament.
The rock are taking a variety of lures and baits with live spot leading the pack right now. In speaking with several tackle shops I was told the supply of spot has been erratic and some days they have some and at other times they don’t. When spot are not available live eels will work just as well.
Trolling with Stretch 25s has also produced big rock including the one caught by Mr. Gardiner. I suspect jigging with metal lures or bucktails would also be productive.
As far as I can tell the rock are biting on moving water either in or out. Overfalls Shoal, the Eights and the rip outside the Outer Wall have all produced good numbers of fish. To date I have not heard a report of fish caught at Brown Shoal or Hen and Chickens. This should change any day as more fish arrive from the north.
A few keeper flounder were caught along with the rockfish. Most of these were taken on live spot.
Tog fishing has also been good at the Outer Wall and the Ice Breakers. Most any type of crab will do fine for bait.
Further up the bay rockfish were caught from the pier at Woodland Beach and along the channel edge out of Woodland and Port Mahon. Tog were caught over upper bay reef sites and in the rocks supporting lighthouses.
INSHORE OCEAN No one went out last weekend or for several days before that. With the tourist season over, head and charter boats are only finding enough patrons to run during the weekends. When the weekend is a blowout no one runs and no one has anything to report.
I expect some good tog fishing this weekend as the weather report is reasonable for both Saturday and Sunday. The possibility of finding some false albacore and big bluefish is good.
INDIAN RIVER INLET The inlet has seen some good rockfishing on incoming water in the morning. The rock don’t bite every day, but when they do the action for mostly short fish has been steady. Live spot, eels and white bucktails have been the most popular offerings.
Those fishing from the sidewalk and the rocks are using live eels, sand fleas, bucktails and flies to catch rock. I had reports of an evening top water bite last week, but nothing like that since.
I fished the inlet last Friday afternoon during the incoming current on Roy Miller’s boat. We did not catch any rockfish, but did have a few hickory shad on light tackle and flies. One development of note: The current did not start running in until three hours after the tide changed. The time between tide and current change at the inlet is usually one to one and a half hours. I have no idea why it took almost three hours for the change to occur last Friday.
Tog fishermen are catching some fish in the rocks as well as around Massey’s Ditch. Crab remains the top bait.
As of last Friday there were some flounder left at the inlet. I saw a short caught and had another to the boat. I would not be surprised to see a few big flatfish caught on live bait before the end of the year.
SURF Surf casters hit a bonanza on Friday and Saturday when big blues stormed the beach. We had reports of 8- to 10-pound blues caught from Cape Henlopen to Three Rs Road. Cut bait was the choice of most fishermen with bunker and mullet leading the list.
I fished the beach most of the day on Monday catching one short rock on cut bunker about halfway through the incoming water. The wind was east, the water was clear, but there was no sign of bait. Reports from Tuesday and Wednesday indicated the situation did not change.
With all this east wind I have no doubt the bait will move in and bring a few big rock along. The key to success is to be there when this occurs. Last year we had the best action in the middle of November.
FRESHWATER The ponds are still dirty from the rain and from personal observation, not many people are fishing. With dry weather and light winds expected this weekend, I expect to see more anglers on the water. Fall and early winter can produce some impressive bass on live shiners.
We did have reports of big white perch from the tidal creeks near Woodland Beach. Bloodworms and grass shrimp were the best baits for the perch.
DELAWARE BAY ROCKFISH While not a perfect forecast, this weekend does look like the best we have seen in quite sometime. The combination of the weather and the presence of rockfish at the mouth of the bay will bring a small flotilla of boats out on Saturday. It has been my experience that too many boats often ruin the bite not to mention the bad behavior exhibited by a few operators.
If I were going out on Saturday, I would be sure I was on station to greet the sun. Most fishermen won’t get up that early and those who do are generally a better class of angler.
If I didn’t have my limit by the time the fleet and the unruly ones arrive, I would head for some less popular locations. Brown Shoal and any lower bay reef site may attract less attention because most of the rock caught so far have been on the Rips and at the Eights. With a west wind the Hen and Chicken Shoal could be productive. I would troll Stretch 25s here looking for a concentration of fish or to pick up the occasional straggler.
Live eels drifted on a six-foot leader with a circle hook will be a good rig to begin the day. The best method for fishing this bait on a circle hook is to put the rod in a holder and wait until it bends down and line is pealing from the reel before picking up the outfit. Do not set the hook! The circle hook has that job covered.
If dog sharks become a problem break out the trolling gear and start pulling plugs. Do not troll in an area covered up with live bait drifters. If you want to switch to lures in this situation use metal jigs or bucktails and drift along with the fleet.
Some people will chunk bunker and this method has been responsible for some very big rockfish. Chunkers must find there own area as this technique is not compatible with anything else. I would look at the Broadkill Slough on the Delaware side and the 60-Foot Slough over in New Jersey. Good luck.
