Jeff Taviano's Delaware Regional Fishing Report

OCEAN

The Del-Jersey-Land Reef, and Site 10 are holding a lot of tog and sea bass, but rough sea conditions have made it difficult for boaters to reach them. The Indian River Inlet didn’t surrender much this week. Most of the action has been on short rockfish on the incoming tides, but the action was anything but consistent. Lures have been the most popular method at the Inlet. A few tog were also caught along the rocks at the Inlet on green crab. Surf anglers had decent luck on snapper blues at Bethany Beach this past week, however, most of the action along the Delaware coast has been from skates and dogfish. With the beach replenishment going on in Rehoboth Beach I expect surf fishing conditions to take a turn for the worst. For anglers that are either impatient, or worried that the rockfish may miss Delaware ... New Jersey is still producing keepers from Atlantic City to Sea Isle City. Surf fishing has really picked up along the Jersey Shore with hundreds of anglers hitting the beach for the striper blitzes.

DELAWARE BAY

Strong winds continue to make fishing difficult. Tog action has slowed down as a result of the poor weather, but I expect the fishing action to pick up once pleasant fishing weather returns. For anglers that don’t mind the weather ... white perch and catfish continue to bite in the upper bay along with short rockfish and the occasional keeper. Evan Falgowski netted a 37-pound, 7-ounce keeper and a 37-pound, 2-ounce keeper while trolling near the mouth of the bay. Bloodworms have been the main bait of choice for the perch and stripers, and chicken liver has worked well on the catfish.

RIVERS

Anglers fishing the Leipsic River have had decent luck on white perch, catfish and short rockfish on the usual baits. Bloodworms for the stripers and perch, and chicken liver for the catfish. I continue to catch three to four trout every trip I make to White Clay Creek, and there really hasn’t been too many anglers fishing. The fly section has been virtually untouched from what I’ve seen. Earthworms have been my bait of choice in the bait sections. In the fly section, I didn’t have much luck using egg flies, but the brown trout have really liked my black woolly bugger.

PONDS

I’ve heard good things from Delaware ponds in all three counties. Bass, pickerel, and large crappies have been active. Most anglers have been using shiners, but good action was reported at Beck’s Pond, Horseys Pond, Garrisons Lake, and Silver Lake.

Email your fishing info and fishing photos to jtaviano@delawareonline.com or tweet @JeffreyTaviano.