Saltwater fishing full of surprises!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PDF Print E-mail
Sunday, 08 August 2010 10:33
Look what Josh caught!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi folks,

Saltwater fishing is always interesting due to the fact you never know

what you might catch. Last week Josh Edmund and crew were trolling near the

Lightship and caught three very unusual fish. Josh brought them in to be identified but I had no idea. I called Mr. Doug Messick from Fish & Wildlife and

Mr. Messick was happy to help us out. We found that these fish were “barrelfish”

and are a very rare species. After doing a bit of research I found that they are a rare fish of which little info is available. Scientists are not even sure of the reproduction habits of this fish due to its rarity. It seems to be mainly found in deep water off the New England coast. Just goes to show that the fun sport of

fishing can also be an educational experience.

Back Bay fishing continues to produce plenty of action for most. Flounder are still abundant but you will have to work your way through the throwbacks to be able to take one home for dinner. Croaker are also plentiful and reports say sizes are starting to increase. Blowfish are being taken in Rehoboth Bay along with the spot and croaker. Massey’s Ditch is giving up a few flounder

along with some bluefish, striper, and spot. Catch a spot and rig him up, toss him back as bait for a big ole’ linesider. Incoming tide in Indian River Inlet is the time

to be there to score on bluefish and stripers. The last two hours of incoming seem to produce the most fish. Flounder are also being taken in the inlet.

Inshore fishing seems to be picking up as reports of keeper flounder from Site #10 and the buoy line increase. The Old Grounds are is also starting

to produce more keeper flounder and sea bass.

Offshore action just continues to be hit or miss. Trolling is still earning

anglers a few tuna and dolphin, but things are not consistent. A few anglers are

starting to chunk and we will see if this approach produces more fish. Gary Auchenbach and crew on “Empty Hook” trolled up 6 dolphin near Massey’s Canyon.

Some of this week’s catches had Jeff Eisenbise from E-town, Pa. fishing aboard “Deputy Dog” with Bob Cleveland putting him on 2 nice fatties that

tipped the scale just over 5 pounds while drifting near A Buoy. Capt Chuck Cook of “First Light Charters” had Dave and Bethany Santon of northern Va. to the inshore wrecks to score a catch of flounder. Capt Chuck then took Eric and Logan Stegal along with Scott Preston to the wall to score some stripers using Mirrolures and Berkley rigged eels. Charlie Culley and Tom Greene of York, Pa. fished Site #10 aboard Tom’s boat “One More Drift” to boat 4 flounder to 5Lb 3oz. using GULP! and squid. Frank and Stephanie Miller of Middletown, De. fished B Buoy area using white buctails tipped with squid. Stephanie scored a 6-pound 10oz flattie and Frank boated a 5 pound 8 oz flattie.

Last but not least, I want to give a huge “TANK YOU” to John Radliff

and Donnie Culver for allowing me a spot aboard John’s “No Worries” for the White Marlin Open. It was a rough day but when fishing with a group of really great guys it is all good. Thanks again guys.

From Capt. Jerry Hammond Sr. of "Knot @ Work Charters" that does crabbing charters in Indian River.
This week I had Ronald and Gerry Long of Doylestown, Pa on a crabbing
charter and they caught one and 1/4 bushels of nice big Indian River crabs. I also had the Arron Szura party on Wednesday and they went home with a packed bushel. I'm running crabbing charters on Indian River and can be reached
at 302-542-9066 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 302-542-9066 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

From Bill’s Sport shop on RT# 1 in Lewes we received the following information. Butch Emmert boated a 28"; 8 lb flounder while drifting IRI on Gulp and a strip of fresh bait. Lou Sartori and Anthony Cichocki fished IRI last Sat. and caught 5 keeper flounder with the biggest weighing 8.2 lbs, 28” along with another at 26", 7.1 lb using bluefish fillets. Brian Lambie of Dundalk Md, and Charlie Flaig, Pasadena Md fished the DE Bay and boated a 5.20 lb flounder using minnow and squid combo. A customer, John, was out overnight in the Wilmington Canyon, and caught a 60lb yellowfin and 4-gaffer dolphin. He also hooked a shark and fought for hours before losing it "which pretty much ruined his tuna chances for Saturday". Joe Yochis of Bills Sport Shop pulled a 33 1/2", 13 1/2lb striper from Massey’s Ditch using live spot. Vinnie Hogan of NJ, fished the Poor Mans Canyon on Saturday and caught 5 YFT in the 70 lb. range, released 4 white marlin and boated a 30 lb dolphin. Matt Langdon aboard the "Ofishal" reports that they caught plenty of dolphin at the Baltimore and gaffer dolphin at the Elephant's Trunk all on ballyhoo and then had a couple of hard knock downs trolling spreader bars. Tom Bailor of Bill's Sport Shop, limited out again on big blue claw crabs, catching 2 bushels at the mouth of Peppers Creek on a trotline and chicken necks. Heard from Capt. Carey Evans, "Grizzly Sportfishing", that flounder fishing remains good. Croakers and triggerfish have shown up with the hot weather as well.

Bernie at Rattle and Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road reports

that flounder in the Back Bays are falling for Berkley GULP!, minnows and squid.

Lots of flounder are being caught but there are lots and lots of throwbacks. Spot

and croaker are also roaming the Back Bays and are taking a liking to bloodworms or the FishBites artificial bloodworm. Indian River Inlet is giving up some striper on live spot.

At Hookem’ & Cookem’ Bait and tackle in North Shore Marina Bert tells

us the flounder fishing in Indian River Inlet is real good. Having fun is no problem

but taking home dinner could be a challenge. The flounder seem to wanting minnows, mullet, spot, or GULP!. One bait at a time seems to be working best, rather than a combo. Blues and stripers are also coming from the inlet. Stripers to 31 inches have been taken on the south side. On the surf it seems to be kingfish, spot and stripers. A 31-inch striper was taken from the surf near Bethany. Big sharks are coming from the surf at night. Inshore wrecks are producing a few triggerfish, flounder, and sea bass. The Capt. Bob II took a 5LB. and a 4.8 Lb sea bass. Offshore activity on tuna is spotty. Dolphin can be trolled up anywhere from the Lightship on out. In the deep there are plenty of white marlin and a few blue marlin.

Henlopen Bait and Tackle on Savannah Road in Lewes reports sharks

and skates are plentiful.

Capt. Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said bottom action was decent, with a mix of flounder, croakers, kingfish, puffers and snapper blues. Fish continue to prefer the cover and availability of food offered by artificial reefs. Bay sites 5,6,7 and 8 have all produced fluke, but most flatties were shy of legal size. However, crews that persisted were able to cull enough keepers to make the trip worthwhile. Captain Vince’s guys on Miss Kirstin put six nice fluke in the box at Site 6 Thursday. Captain Pete had some pretty flatfish this past week while working the rubble aboard Top Fin. Pete himself decked a doormat of 7.41 pounds Wednesday, and another weighing 8.44 pounds Thursday. Captain Les brought back five flounder to 5 pounds and a pile of hardheads for his Saturday group. Evan Armstrong traveled from Pittsburgh to catch a 5-pound Delaware Bay flounder with Captain Ted on the Indian. Neal Crosley captured a 5.72-pound flattie while drifting a squid and minnow sandwich in the rips outside the Outer Wall. Captain Chet on the Lil’ Angler had some good morning trips during the week, returning with flounder and croakers before the afternoon heat. The better concentrations of hardheads were found on reef 8, the Star Site, and reef 5 in Broadkill Slough. Croakers were also reported along the eastern edge of the Anchorage near F Buoy. Often, croakers were most active in the evenings and after dark. Clams, bloodworms and FishBites worked best as baits. Fluke fishermen found strips of fresh spot or bluefish, shiners and smelt, and Gulp! to be effective offerings. When a fast drift hampered proper bait presentation, some boaters did well with fluke by anchoring on structure and casting jigs tipped with bait or Gulp!, to stay in the strike zone. Ocean bottom fishermen found flounder and sea bass between DB and DA Buoys. Bluefish were found in the same area. Trollers pulling Clarkspoons behind an inline weight or small planer caught bluefish and Spanish mackerel at Fenwick Shoal. Spot have been plentiful in Lewes Canal and other shallow water areas. Spot fishermen also did well on the feisty panfish from Cape Henlopen Pier. Pieces of real bloodworms or FishBites and Gulp! artificial worms on small hooks or sabiki rigs are the ticket for spot. Stripers were caught in Lewes Canal by anglers using clams on bottom rigs during the last hour of incoming tide. Captain Chuck Cook reported nice stripers at night while casting Purple Demon MirrOLures to the Ice Breakers. The 20 to 26 inch slot size for Delaware Bay stripers is in effect until August 31. The White Marlin Open drew many offshore fishermen this week, and some impressive billfish were brought in during the event. A 97.5 pound white caught by Brian Roberts on the Shelly II was the big winner. Tommy Fowler had the second largest white, a 92 pounder aboard the Sea Toy. An awesome blue marlin weighing 1010.5 was landed by James Kontos on the Let It Ride. Much of the marlin action took place early in the week in Poor Man’s Canyon. Tuna and dolphin catches were scattered throughout 40 to 50 fathoms between the Poor Man’s and Wilmington Canyons, but no big concentrations were found. Jay Leibforth and Pablo Alvarado stopped by the shop with mahis of 22.1 and 22.8 pounds they boated in 40 fathoms aboard Spoiled III. Some crews told of true albacore caught in 500 fathoms of the Baltimore Canyon.

Until next week, Have fun and be safe!!!!!

"Ricks Bait and Tackle
26019 Julia's Lane
Millsboro
DE 19966
info@ricksbaitandtackle.com
Telephone: 866-766-3792
Fax: 302-945-2193
http://www.ricksbaitandtackle.com"