Mother Nature has surely dealt anglers a bad hand this September. With tropical depressions and nor'easter after nor'easter, anglers haven't had a chance to wet their lines due to the lack of quality conditions. High seas and strong winds have the water churned up and barely fishable.
The good news is that the weather conditions are due to improve by Sunday in time for the opening of tautog season, Sept. 29th.
Here are some of the few reports we have received since last week:
One of our customers came into the store all excited and reported that he had caught a 32.5 inch cobia on the surf just north of Bethany Beach.
Edward Rams sent us an email that he caught his limit of blues in the suds.
Marie Hedges was fishing Roosevelt Inlet with mackerel and nailed a 22 inch, 3.94lb flounder.
The Massey's boat ramp crew are still reporting drum on clams, but the action has slowed due to the dirty water.
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Ryan Thomas, Josh Crawford and Chad Thomas caught 8 stripers, with 3 keepers to 31" on fleas in IRI.
Roland Metzner caught two 20" trout, a 13" blue and several croakers.
Outgoing tide on Sunday at Gordon's Pond, had anglers, Stu Wilhelm, Dale Thaxton and Bill Weiss on their toes with well over 50 small blues with quite a few doubles. In the mix were croakers and a short flounder; expect bigger ones soon as a couple of blues came in with only half left on the hook. High Card top and bottom rigs were used, tipped with fresh mullet.
From Sue Foster of Oyster Bay Tackle Shop n OC
"Fishing this week was up and down with the weather. Lots of winds towards the end of the week put the damper on fishermen. Earlier in the week snapper blues were snapping and big red drum were caught and released on Assateague.
Oceanic Pier saw some trout action.
The beginning of the week was great on snapper blues in the surf. Then we had a Northeast blow giving us huge surf with overwash on the beaches that made holding bottom almost impossible on Friday and Saturday. On top of that, the forecast looks like more of the same for this week. Hopefully, it will calm down enough to surf fish this weekend. Only time will tell. Watch the weather! A 35" striper was caught on the Route 50 bridge Wednesday night on a Storm lure He also caught 5 bluefish from 20 to 25 inches."
State Updates
Indian River Inlet Bridge Design Unveiling
The state has awarded and signed a contract with Skanska Southeast. A revealing of the new design and introduction to the design build team will be at a press conference on Wednesday September 17th 1pm at the project site and all are welcome to attend. Expected completion is summer 2011. Any questions can be directed to Darrel W. Cole, director, Office of public relations DELDOT at 302 760-2080
The Division of Parks and Recreation announced today that Cape Henlopen State Park's Point Beach will reopen on Friday, Aug. 29. The Oceanside beach will reopen to pedestrians and surf-fishing vehicles, while the bayside beach will remain closed until Wednesday, Oct. 1, for use by shorebirds migrating south for the winter.
I have been notified by Representative Joe Booth that the Legislature was able to get funds enough for matching federal monies to repair the CHSP pier. Repairs will begin sometime this year. More news to follow as soon as we hear info on bids.
Advisory council on license funding appropriations
ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING
This is a public meeting
The next meeting of the Recreational Fishing Advisory Council will be on September 25, 2008 at the Soil and Water Building in Lewes. This is the same location as our last meeting. We will begin at 7:00 p.m.
Since the last meeting, the Division has made some progress on projects of interest. Specifically, we completed the repairs to the former Faulkner's Pier in Bowers Beach and to the entrance to the fishing pier at Port Mahon, both of which were badly damaged by the Mother's Day storm in May. Also, as of last Thursday we had completed pouring five of the six boat ramps at the new Lewes facility. Remaining tasks including pouring the last ramp, pouring the apron, completing the courtesy piers, completing the storm water retention basins, and finally blacktopping the parking lot. There is a lot to do yet as you can tell when we have our meeting September 25th, you will be able to judge the progress for yourself. All interested parties are welcome to attend this meeting.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meeting in Rehoboth this year
Formed by the 15 Atlantic coast states in 1942 in recognition that fish do not adhere to political boundaries. The Commission serves as a deliberative body, coordinating the conservation and management of the states shared near shore fishery resources - marine, shell, and anadromous - for sustainable use Healthy, self-sustaining populations for all Atlantic coast fish species or successful restoration well in progress by the year 2015.
ASMFC 67th Annual Meeting, October 19 - 23: Atlantic Sands Hotel and Conference Center, 101 North Boardwalk, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; 800/422-0600.
Upcoming tournaments and events
Roctober Tournament has been canceled for this year. Tournament directors say that they may run it again next year but due to the cost of fuel and the economy they have decided to postpone the tournament for this year.
2nd Annual DMS Invitational Surf fishing Tournament
October 11-12, 2008- Applications are available at Bill's Sport Shop
Hertrich of Milford is donating a 08 Ford F-150 Crew Cab 4×4 pick up for the angler that catches a state record blue fish in the tournament. Oct. 27, 1980, Bill Thoroughgood landed a 21lb, 5oz bluefish at Rehoboth Beach, setting the current state record.
Captain Bill's Radio Fishing Report
Captain Bill Baker broadcasts his daily fishing report on WGMD–92.7FM. Captain Bill's report airs daily at 7am and 5pm after the news. If at any time you miss this report, you can catch it on our home page, www.billssportshop.com and click on Bill's Daily Radio Report, on the internet! and you can now view pictures of the latest fish caught that we are reporting by going to our home page and click on Updated Fishing Pictures.
Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament
The Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament is a popular program that provides recognition patches and citations to anglers whose catch exceeds certain weight minimums for each eligible species. A companion program provides recognition patches for catch and release entries that exceed certain length minimums. For more information on the Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament, please call 302-739-9914 or visit www.fw.delaware.gov/Fisheries.htm and click on "Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament." Citations are again being issued and fish may be weighed in at Bill's Sport Shop.
General Fishing License
The Delaware State Legislature has passed and the Governor has signed into law the General Fishing License has gone into effect. With a few exceptions–this will mean that anybody fishing, clamming and crabbing in ANY Delaware waters will be required to purchase a GFL(General Fishing License). We have all the various types of licenses available in the store, and full information on the GFL on our home page www.billssportshop.com.
*****FALL HOURS*****
Mon. thru Thurs. - 6am. - 8pm.
Fri. - 6am. - 10pm.
Sat. - 5am. - 9pm.
Sun. - 5am. - 7pm.
Bill's Sport Shop
Lewes, DE
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