Delaware Fishing Report
When, Where, What and How They're Biting



By Eric Burnley Sr.*

Updated: July 6, 2012

DELAWARE BAY

Catching flounder in the bay is all about fishing the reef sites. The fish are staying on or very near the various structures and putting a bait where they feed is the secret to success. Use your SONAR and GPS to locate the structure then set up a drift to keep the bait in the strike zone for as long as possible. Live spot or bunker will be the best bait with minnows, squid, Gulp! and smelt also effective.

The Outer Wall, Inner Wall and Ferry Jetty also hold flounder and once again getting the bait to the fish is all important. Try an unweighted live minnow, spot or bunker cast to the rocks. This is best when conditions are calm.

Croakers made an appearance at Site 5 in the Broadkill Slough. Small hooks with pieces of clam, bloodworm or squid are working on these fish. The average size is around 10 inches with the occasional 12-incher landed. Blowfish and kings are mixed in with the croaker.

Flounder have also been caught out of the Broadkill River and the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal. Squid, minnows, live spot and bunker all produce the occasional keeper.

The summer rockfish season is underway and good numbers of 20 to 26-inch keepers have been caught from Reedy Point to the Broadkill River. Successful anglers will be on the water early casting jigs, plugs and flies or bottom fishing with bloodworms, peeler crab or cut bunker.

White perch and big catfish are found in the tidal creeks and rivers and will take the same baits used for rockfish. I understand the biggest white perch of the year are being caught in New Castle County waters.

Crabbing remains good in the tidal creeks.

INDIAN RIVER INLET Flounder fishing remains good for anglers drifting live spot. Small baits will also catch flounder, but live spot attract a bigger class of fish. The VFW Slough, the southside of the inlet and Massey’s Ditch have all given up keepers during the week.
Jetty fishermen are having good success drifting live spot or minnows tight to the rocks. Flounder of impressive size have been taken by this technique.

Drifting sand fleas is producing rockfish after dark. Anywhere along the jetties from Bubblegum Beach to the end of the rocks has been good. Plugs, bucktails and eels also catch rock, but sand fleas out produce everything else.

SURF FISHING A few small blues were added to the mix from the beach last week. Kings, sand perch and small croakers were caught on bloodworms, both real and artificial.

INSHORE OCEAN Flounder fishing has been good at Reef Sites 10 and 11and the Old Grounds. Live spot and bunker are the top baits with squid, minnows and Gulp! also working on the flatfish. We were out on Tuesday fishing the Old Grounds and while I gave flounder fishing the old college try using a 4-ounce bucktail with a strip of Gulp! I only caught sea bass. Mike Pizzolato caught two short flounder on clams meant for sea bass. The most interesting catch of the day was a Boston mackerel caught on clam by Bill Siner.

The sea bass fishing has been very good at the Old Grounds. We had 18 keepers on Tuesday along with many shorts. Clam and squid accounted for the sea bass.

The Hot Dog, Massey’s Canyon and the 19-Fathom Lump are seeing good tuna fishing. Both trolling and chunking are producing bluefin and yellowfin tuna along with a few dolphin. The water temperature at the Old Grounds on Tuesday was 78 degrees and the quality was good so I would expect to see some dolphin here in the near future. We also observed plenty of bait in the water column.

OFFSHORE OCEAN Tuna fishing at the canyons has slowed while billfish and dolphin action has improved. Trolling with ballyhoo on a variety of lures is the best method for capturing these fish.

Most private and charter boats will target tuna and right now the best of that fishing is inshore or north along the 100-Fathom Line. Chunking at the southern canyons during the night will still produce good tuna catches.

The warm water may have moved the yellowfin out, but it has brought in the bigeye tuna. These fish can weigh over 200 pounds and will test the quality of your tackle and the strength in your body as they slug it out in 100 fathoms of water. Try pulling big lures or baits along the 100-Fathom Line for the fight of your life.

FRESHWATER Bass fishermen working the ponds are fishing early, late or after dark to avoid the heat and catch fish in the shallows. Scum Frogs are a favorite along with plastics worms and lizards.

Panfish keep the kids busy during the day. I have even heard of some adults who enjoy catching these fish provided none of their fishing friends catch them at it.

The Nanticoke River and Broad Creek produce bass on falling tides. The best time to be here is when a falling tide coincides with the cool morning temperatures.

START EARLY With summer delivering her hottest temperatures of the year and vacationers crowding the waterways it pays to get an early start to your fishing day. When fishing inshore, I get up at 0500 and try to be on the water as close to 0600 as possible. Offshore trips should leave the dock by at least 0500 and even earlier if the boat has RADAR.

By getting an early start you are on the water when the fish are most active. This is true no matter what you fish for from flounder to marlin.

Shallow water fishing can be hampered by heavy boat traffic and that is what you will find in Indian River Bay or Rehoboth Bay during the summer. Don’t leave the dock on a fishing trip at 0900 and then be upset by jet skis racing past you. The same is true for surf fishing. Once the crowds arrive around 1000, forget about any serious action from the beach.

In order to get an early start it is a good idea to prepare for the trip during the preceding day. Load the boat or the truck with all of the equipment possible. If your boat or tow vehicle is not in a secure location, at least get everything out and ready to load as quickly as possible. Make sure the boat and vehicle are full of fuel so you don’t waste time on the way to the ramp.

I get everything out to pack my lunch the night before the trip and put my clothes out in our walk-in closet. This prevents me from making a lot of noise (waking up wife) looking for foodstuff in the kitchen and from wearing something inappropriate because I got dressed in the dark (I do not turn on the bedroom light for the same reason). I once put my long underwear on backwards before a hunting trip and did not discover the error until natural called me down from my treestand.

The next problem is a difficult one to solve; getting your always late fishing buddies there on time. I am fortunate that everyone I fish with is always ready to go, but I have friends who are less than enthusiastic about getting up before dawn. If they can’t overcome this deficiency, they simply don’t go fishing with me.

The other advantage about going out early is getting in early. By returning to the dock by early afternoon you avoid the thunderstorms that often form later in the day. This is not foolproof. I have encountered storms at 0500 and 1300, but the chances of bad weather increase as the day wears on.

No matter when you leave the dock, always wear your PFD..

*Eric Burnley Sr. is a native Delawarean who has fished the waters of his home state for more than 60 years. He has been a full-time outdoor writer since 1978, with articles appearing in most national magazines as well as many regional publications. He has authored two books, Surf Fishing The Atlantic Coast and The Ultimate Guide To Catching Striped Bass.