Anglers flock to catch sea bass

OCEAN

The flounder bite has picked up at Reef Sites 9, and 10 with squid as the top bait. Sea bass are being caught in large amounts at Reef Site 11 and at the Del-Jersey-Land Reef on squid. Russ and Paul Howe fished with the Fish Whispers Charter at Del-Jersey-Land and the boat brought in about 60 sea bass using squid and clams. A few bluefish were caught on lures at the Indian River Inlet. At night time rockfish have been moving in with bucktails working well. There were a few reports of large flounder being caught at Massey’s Ditch on minnows and squid. Taylored Tackle reported excellent flounder fishing in Virginia at Folly Creek with numerous flounder up to 22 inches being hooked. In the surf, a few bluefish, small rockfish, and kingfish were caught this week. The rockfish and kingfish were caught on bloodworms.

DELAWARE BAY

I fished the Cape Henlopen fishing pier this past weekend hoping to get in on the last of the bluefish action before the big ones move on. I fished between 5 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and witnessed just one fish pulled from the pier. It was a decent size bluefish, but for everyone else the catch of the day was crabs. Other than the numerous blue crabs I pulled in, I did haul a new personal record stingray up the pier which was the highlight of my day. The stingray was around 4 feet wide. It would be worth bringing a few crab traps to the pier this weekend, as I am sure the crabs will still be there in numbers. Quinten Stokes brought a 12-pound bluefish into Captain Bones Bait & Tackle that he caught at Broadkill Beach on mullet. Anglers are still catching a few keeper rockfish at the Yellow Can, and at Collins Beach on bunker and bloodworms. The Coral Beds continue to produce large black drum on clams and crabs. Paul Stermer brought in a 70-pound 8-ounce black drum into Lewes Harbour Marina that he caught at the Coral Beds while night fishing with clams. The Katydid also found success at the Coral Beds bringing black drum, and dogfish back to port. Michael Radigan and Matthew Radigan spent the day fishing at South Bowers Beach and landed multiple dogfish using bunker, and even got one to hit on a minnow.

RIVERS

Anglers are catching white perch in the C&D Canal on bloodworms. Catfish are also plentiful in the canal with bunker as the top bait. Anglers are still reeling in snakeheads in the Nanticoke River on cut bait. A decent amount of flounder were caught in the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal this week. Aiden and Gracie Hudson along with KallieDangerfield brought a couple nice flounder to the Lewes Harbour Marina that they caught in the canal. Joe Twaddell Jr., Sandra Twaddell, and Daniel McDerby reeled in 8 flounder between 18-20 inches in the canal using bucktails with chartreuse gulp. Faith and John Mitchell also landed a few keeper flounder and a bluefish in the canal using minnows.

PONDS

Reports of large snakeheads were caught in Becks Pond this week. Jason Gary checked in at Captain Bones Bait & Tackle with a 4-pound 6-ounce pickerel that he caught at Records Pond on a senko. Anglers are catching largemouth bass at Garrisons Lake and Noxontown Pond on frogs and senkos. They are also catching crappie on minnows and jigs at the same locations.

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