Fishing Report - Delaware Bay / Atlantic Ocean

December 19, 2009 - Christmas Rockfish
At this writing, we're in the midst of a nasty winter storm. Stripers must have sensed it's coming, because the bite has been good all week leading up to this weather event. Yesterday, Captain Alan Steele and his crew trolled up over 30 bass on Brown Shoal while pulling Stretch 25+ and Storm plugs. They kept nine nice fish. Other trollers reported good action while pulling plugs on Overfalls. Ryan Falgowski checked in a 30.1 pound linesider that blasted a Stretch 25+. Guys on the Lil' Angler scored 10 nice keepers , including a 24.2 pounder for Jim Savage. They released several other fish while drifting eels and bucktails on Overfalls, and at 8B Buoy. Bud Peters and his friends limited out aboard the Grizzly on Friday. Troy Little landed a 21.75 pounder during that trip. Captain Carey had the gang from the I.G. Burton Truck Shop earlier in the week on the Grizzly for another limit of quality rock, including citations of 20.75 pounds for Robert Ryan, and 22.5 pounds for Robert Rexrode. Captain Ted on the Pirate King has been having good success and a lot of fun catching bass on Butterfly Jigs. Patrons have been doing well with jigs too, and Captain Ted himself captured a 21.3 pounder while jigging. The method can be deadly, and often causes a reactive strike from stripers that may not even be hungry but can't resist the erratic action of the lures. Big bluefish are suckers for jigs too. Water temperatures have been falling, and cold water runoff from all the snow and ice associated with this storm will probably cause a further drop. But, there are plenty of bass and baitfish at the Delaware Bay mouth, and we should have rockfish at least through Christmas. The tautog bite has been up and down, but toggers on the Grizzly managed a limit of blackfish at Reefsite #10 on Monday. Biggest of the bunch was an 11 pound 4 ouncer for Alex Levantowsky.

Lewes Harbor Marina Bait and Tackle
217 Anglers Rd
Lewes, De
302-645-6227
http://lewesharbourmarina.com