Fishing: Cold weather means tardy stripers coming soon

“In the sea, Corr’s clumsiness will disappear, his weight cradled by the saltwater. I don’t want to say goodbye. I blink to clear my vision and reach up. I pull off his halter. The ocean is his love and now, finally, he’ll have it. I back out of the surf ... Corr takes a labored step away from the November sea. And another. He is slow, and the sea sings to us both, but he returns to me.” — Maggie Stiefvater

Half of November is already in the books, and the overbearing and overarching NFL season already at the halfway marker. Hard to believe Harry but that’s sure the case. 

Now, the real deal widows dotting the widow’s walks often slapped on McMansions for show, we wait, and watch, out to sea, for the stripers to swing by.

Rumor has it, the fish are up north still, held from their southward migration by the incredibly unusual warm weather. Each year, we anglers comment on how it seems warmer and warmer each fall, and each fall we seem to be proven right. Not, of course, that it’s anything to worry about.

Colder winds are blowing now, though, and some sub-freezing weather is on tap. That should help to send water temperatures plummeting and those tails wagging up north.  Last year’s trolling bite was even shorter-lived than the year before, so hopefully we’ll get the fish to linger around somewhat longer than normal.

Anglers normally connect with migrating rockfish around the lumps and shoals dotting the entrance to the Delaware Bay. Famous names like “The 8’s” and “Overfalls” are storied in this regard as fishermen would bounce bucktails, live eels or troll Stretch 25s through the turbulent water formed by the water rushing over the upwelling bottom. The ridges held baitfish which in turn held the stripers. Maybe this year, we’ll get a little taste of what it used to be like and they’ll not only show up, but stay around a little.

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz was able to report through the wind and the scent of Buck Bomb that he is sailing for tog Thursday through Sunday each week. Fisherman’s Wharf is also running 10-hour sea bass trips on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

Reservations are recommended for these trips and the bass fishing has been good (unlike the somewhat understandably disappointing start to the tog season). 

Additionally, the sea bass anglers have been intercepting some really nice flounder on their migration out to the east, with fish pulling the balance down into the 9-pound range being caught. That’s some kind of flattie!

As noted, tog action has been slow to get going this year. In a familiar refrain, there seem to be some fish around but the majority fall short of the minimum size. There have been some legal fish on the Outer Wall in Lewes, and a few more legal fish starting to show along the rocks at Indian River Inlet, but it’s slow for sure.

Speaking of the inlet, there have been some blues still filing in on the flood tides. The fish are falling victim to bucktails, metal lures and, on the incredibly rare days the wind isn’t blowing, topwater lures. Small blues are still showing in the surf, too, along with the occasional striped bass.

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Crazy as it seems, the fishing in tidal tributaries to the Delaware Bay has been very good. Perhaps it makes sense, actually, as warm as the weather has been. The creeks have been chock full of chunky white perch seemingly the whole length of the Delaware shoreline. 

We had Leslie and Greer Stayton out to nab a bunch of nice perch last week, along with Dr. Mark McDaniel of Prime Hook Neck on another. Interestingly, many of the fish are males and have developed milt. 

Once when I was just a kid, I fished Thanksgiving Day with my grandfather. I remember the vulcanized rubber waders becoming white with salt from the sea spray as he stepped into the waves to cast. 

The fish were big, brawling blues, which the men raked to shore with long-handled gaffs that they stuck in the sand. Things seem to be shaping up for some Thanksgiving fishing again this year, be it from a boat or the surf. 

Let’s hope so anyway! Good luck and good fishing.

Reports, comments or questions to captjackrodgers@comcast.net.

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