Fishing report

By Acie Mankins
Special to the Coastal Point

Over the past week, fishing was pretty good all over.

George at Cedar Creek said flounder fishing picked up. F buoy in the anchorage, at about 55 feet of water, was the hot spot. Also, a few croaker have started to show up at Brown Shoal. As for trout, it’s a slow pick.

From Lewes Harbor Marina, Joe reported good flounder fishing on the eastern side of the Lower Middle Shoal and at E buoy. There are a fair amount of keepers but a lot of undersized catches.

In the Lewes Canal, it’s the same – a lot of flounder but not many legal-sized. Along the jetty or from the beach at Roosevelt Inlet, there’s a mixed bag of small flounder, trout and blues.

On the pier at Cape Henlopen State Park, Jo reported a lot of undersized flounder. The big news is that spot have moved in. Also croaker, bluefish and kingfish are being pulled over the rail.

Rick of Rick’s Bait and Tackle reported fair to good flounder fishing in the Indian River Bay. Don Roth weighed one in at 7.75 pounds, and Bob Watson had a 5-pound, 11-ounce flounder. Massey’s Ditch continues to produce small blues, a few flounder and, in the evening, some stripers are being taken from the pier.

Indian River Inlet gave us some good striper fishing this past week.

John and Larry Krawczyk of Germantown, Md., had stripers up to 34 inches and bluefish up to 33 inches, all taken on 3-ounce bucktails. Dan and Joe Slautterback of Mifflin, Pa., had stripers up to 35 inches. These fish were taken on 3-ounce Chartspro bucktails.

Frank Clark of Dagsboro had two nice stripers: 22 pounds, 12 ounces and 14 pounds, 11 ounces, both taken on storm baits. Captain Ken Savage II, on board the Gail Force, had an impressive 41-inch, 26-pound, 1-ounce striper on a live eel.

As for flounder fishing in Indian River Bay, it’s not hot but there are some keepers to be had. Dan and Joe Slautterback had a 20-inch flounder and three stripers up to 36.5 inches.

Surf fishing remains pretty good. Bluefish ranging from 14 inches to 35 inches are still taking whole mullet or cut bunker. Kevin Haines of Westminster, Md., had 11 blues up to 35 inches on the Fenwick Island beach. Kingfish have also provided some good action taken on bloodworms or Fish-bites. We’ve also had reports of croaker being taken from 3 R’s up to the Cape.

Inshore bottom fishing is still pretty good. Seabass might have slowed up a little this past week. Between B and A buoy, we’ve also heard of some flounder starting to show. Thrasher fishing is also good near B buoy or just southeast of B.

Jesse Coulburn, Ray Helfer and Travis Shockley, using only Calcutta 400-sized reels, fought 4.5 hours, only to break off a 15- to 18-foot thrasher on 20-pound test. They had the big shark next to the boat a number of times but were unable to do anything with it.

Bluefish are still in good numbers at Jackspot and Massey’s Canyon.

Offshore fishing is finally heating up. Bluefin and muse makos have decided to appear. Tom Gessler and Fred Wetzstien, on the Boys Toy, had two bluefin up to 36 pounds in the Wilmington Canyon. Captain Chris on the Reel-istic had one bluefin and 37 bluefish, up to 15 pounds, taken at Massey’s Canyon.

Listening to the VHF on Saturday morning, I heard a few people talking about bluefin, but most have been undersized. Dr. Rick, on the Bones, had an impressive 522-pound thrasher taken in the Fingers. The fish took 3.5 hours on an 80 to get in.

As for our local headboats, Captain H.D. out of Fisherman’s Wharf in Lewes said the half-day boat is catching a mixed bag of flounder, croaker, trout and blues. The full-day trip is catching mostly flounder out of the Indian River Inlet. Captain Buzz on the Judy V reported a mixed bag of seabass and flounder. Captain Buzz said fishing picked up for him over the last week.

Until next week, good luck and great fishing. Let the grass grow and see ya on the beach.

Acie Mankins is the manager at B & R Bait & Tackle in South Bethany.