Fishing is picking up but slowly

Fishing from the surf has been bleak the past few days.  There are some short striped bass here and there, small flounder, little bluefish and by little I mean size.  Ling are in the surf here and there and we still have sand eels.  There is plenty of food in the surf, just not much there feeding.  I have seen a lot of birds half a mile offshore recently.  A few spot were even caught a few days ago.  Bunker chunks and cut mullet have worked when fish are caught.  Bloodworms will work better than fishbites.  Wish I had more to report for the surf.  I went out on Thursday and fished the south rock wall at Indian River Inlet, saw a lot of baitfish and birds working the water, but not much was caught.  Tautog are still plentiful in the rocks.  I was throwing metals and plugs, but to no avail.  I fished a few different beaches in the rain and still as the saying goes … a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.  The back bays are still heavy with shorty striped bass, and little poppers, plugs and spoons are working.  White bucktails in the 2 ounce range are producing as well.  The Indian River Inlet has seen some nice keepers late at night and even Masseys Landing has produced a few keepers, all late at night.  The best colors have been white or yellow for plugs and white bucktails with white worms.  Farther up the Delaware River and Bay has been good.  The bay beaches are still doing well.  Bowers has seen a lot of shorts, Dobbinsville, Woodland, and Port Penn have seen shorts and keepers.  Lots of catfish are being caught on mullet chunks and bunker up and down the Delaware River and in many of our tidal rivers.  Surf clam is doing well as bait, and a few nice redfish were caught a few days ago.  The fishing has been hit or miss, depending on the timing, and tides.  Friends of mine have been doing better on the low tides in the Lewes Canal and in the Delaware Bay, but that has been hit or miss.  Some nights there are lots of fish and others there is nothing but dogfish.  The beaches are still a little carved up, but filling back in daily.  We will have to just wait and see as the fish are on the move.  There are reports coming from the Chesapeake Bay that migratory bass have shown up there already.  The striped bass have been on the move and are still as far up as North Jersey.   A few friends have been doing good soaking crap pots for blue claw crabs, and catching a few dozen with a two day soak.  On a side note there is a new air station at Savages Ditch in Delaware Seashore state Park.  That is good news, now you don’t have to line up in the entrance to the parking lot to refill your tires.  Tomorrow I get to go out on a buddy’s boat and see what we can do in the Delaware bay. Until then …

Fish On!!

Rich King