Fishing Report

By Acie Mankins
Special to the Coastal Point

In talking to Tom, the new owner of Cedar Creek Bait & Tackle, he reported good flounder fishing near G and F buoys in about 60 feet of water. Also, Brown Shoal has produced good catches of flounder in around 40 feet of water. Bob Bryan of Pennsylvania had a nice 9.41-pound flounder on the old squid/minnow combo.

Croaker are starting to show up on the Coral Beds. Joe from Lewes Harbor Marina said there is decent croaker fishing on the star site reef.

As for flounder, try F and G, Brown Shoal, and between the Lower Middle Shoal and 14-foot Light. Allen Hobbs had a 6.75-pound flounder while fishing with Captain Tom on Doctor’s Orders. Captain Ted on the Indian had an 8.82-pound flounder.

In the canal, there continue to be a lot of undersize flounder. On the pier at Cape Henlopen State Park, Jo reported good spot and croaker fishing, with a lot of undersize trout and flounder.

From Rick’s Bait & Tackle, Walley said flounder fishing in the bay is fair to good. The hot spots are in front of Holt’s Landing and in front of White House beach. Bill Logan of Long Neck had a 9-pound, 14-ounce flounder, from an unknown area.

In the mouth of Massey’s Ditch, there have been small blues and at least one big blue caught by Donna Buroi of Long Neck. She caught the fish, weighing 12 pounds, 2 ounces, from the fishing pier at Massey’s Ditch.

Along the jetties at Indian River Inlet, blues are still being caught on the incoming tide, using bucktails, gotchas or metal of any type.

Striper action remains pretty good at night or in the early morning. Live eels, rigged eels or storm baits have worked well this week. Greg Showell of Frankford had a nice 40-inch, 22-pound, 10-ounce striper taken on a storm lure. A few trout have been taken this past week, but only a few.

Back in Indian River Bay, flounder fishing is fair to maybe good. John Klink of Ocean View had one nice flounder weighing 4 pounds, 3 ounces, at 22 inches long, taken on a squid/minnow combo.

Talking to various people over the course of the week, there are a good number of flounder, but most are undersize.

Surf fishing is changing gears from good numbers of bluefish to kingfish, spot, croaker, small trout and sandperch. Gene Reynolds of St. Georges had three blues, 22 inches to 30 inches, on whole mullet and bunker. Most of the smaller fish are hitting bloodworm, fish bites or sea clam. Kenny Hickman of Bethany Beach fished only 90 minutes and caught more than 20 fish, mostly kingfish and sand perch.

Inshore fishing continues to provide good action. The area around B buoy and the Old Grounds is producing good numbers of seabass with some nice flounder mixed in.

Offshore fishing really heated up over the past week.

Captain Paul on the Out of Bounds caught 16 yellowfin in the Washington Canyon. He kept eight, each weighing up to 75 pounds. Dan Devine on the Seaflame had six bluefin caught southeast of the Hotdog, ranging 25-30 pounds. The anglers included Rick Andrew and Sue Levinson.

From what we hear, there are a lot of bluefin out there, but they’re mostly small.

As for our local headboat out of Fisherman’s Wharf in Lewes, Captain H.D. Parsons said the half-day boat is doing well on croakers and the full-day boat is running up the bay and catching good numbers of flounder.

Out of Indian River, Captain Buzz Adams of the Judy V reported a mixed bag of seabass and flounder.

On a special note, Jesse Coulbourn, Ray Helfen, Erin Helfen and Travis Shockley hooked and landed a 267-pound (dressed) thrasher on 30-pound test from an 18-foot boat. If the boat had a name, it would be “No Limits.” Way to go, guys.

Until next week, good luck and see ya on the beach.

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