The Delaware Fishing Report offers information on when to fish, where to fish, which species are biting, and how to catch them. It is written weekly by Eric Burnley, Sr.

Delaware Bay

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Patty at Captain Bones in Odessa said the usual white perch and catfish are found along the shoreline from Augustine Beach down to the fishing pier at Woodland Beach.

As the weather and the water begins to warm, croaker will begin to find their way into the mix. Bloodworms for the perch and croaker while the catfish like cut bait and stink baits made just for them.

Leipsic

Steve at Smith Bait said flounder have been caught from the jetty at Bowers Beach. One of his customers had two keepers on a bucktail.

Bucktails are also the lure of choice for catching slot stripers at Ship John Light although a few have been caught on swimshads.

Croakers have been caught at the Woodland Beach fishing pier on bloodworms and peeler crab.

Broadkill Beach

Dan at Dan’s Tackle told us Broadkill Beach has become a summer fishing location with spot, croaker, trout and kings all caught at some point during the day. Baits vary from bloodworms to peeler crab to FishBites to Gulp!

Blues may show up at any time and will hit cut bait, metal or surface lures.

Lewes

Lewes Harbour Marina reported that the charter boats caught both flounder and sea bass when the weather and the moon allowed a decent drift. Boat limits were rare, but most trips resulted in enough fish to make it worthwhile.

Breakwater Tackle on the fishing pier at Cape Henlopen State Park said they did see a few keeper flounder caught on minnows by anglers fishing close to the pier pilings. The vast majority of the fish caught from the pier were spot, croaker and kings taken on bloodworms, Gulp! and FishBites.

Indian River Inlet

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Old Inlet Bait and Tackle told us striped bass, with a few in the 28- to 31-inch slot, have been caught from the jetties early in the morning on swimshads, eels and SP Minnows.

Blues, some in the 7- to 8-pound class, come through on incoming water and will hit metal lures such as a Hopkins.

A few flounder have been caught on live minnows worked in the slow eddies.

On Wednesday morning, before light, anglers were catching stripers on live eels. Then a pack of blues came by and ate the eels, putting an end to that fishery.

Indian River Bay

Rick’s Bait and Tackle said flounder have been caught out of Indian River Bay on minnows and Gulp!

Surf Fishing

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Old Inlet Bait and Tackle reported blues, spot, kings and croaker caught from the surf, but most of the fish caught there are dogs and skates.

Inshore Ocean

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Burt at Hook ‘em and Cook ‘em said they weighed-in two thresher sharks over 300 pounds. I am sorry, but I misplaced the names of the boats they were caught on.

Flounder and sea bass are the primary targets of boats fishing ocean structure. There are plenty of both available, you simply have to cull out the shorts and look for the keepers.

The full moon did pose a problem, with strong currents during mid-week, but this should subside by the weekend.

Offshore Ocean

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Hook ‘em and Cook ‘em saw several yellowfin and bigeye tuna on their cleaning table during the week.

Freshwater

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Patty at Captain Bones had two citations, one is the first of its kind in Delaware.

In the Youth Division, six-year-old Hunter DeLeo caught a 5.71-pound catfish out of Appoquinimink Creek on a bloodworm.

Jason Wise has the honor of being the first person to enter his name under the Flathead Catfish category. He caught a 33.98-pound flathead catfish from Lums Pond.

Taylored Tackle had a customer come in as I was speaking with her and he had 10 big perch that he caught under the Bethel Bridge using a little pink grub with curly tail. She also told us the blue cats are still active in the Nanticoke River and will take cut bunker, perch, sunfish or chicken liver.

PFDs

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If you are putting you boat over for the first time, make sure all of the PFDs are in good working order.

If you store them together in a big bag, take them out and check each one for any damage that a critter might have done. Also look for dry rot and any other damage.

Then make sure all hands wear their PFDs whenever the boat is underway.

Related Topics:  delaware bay, dfw, fishing, freshwater, indian river inlet, ocean and coasts, outdoors and recreation, surf fishing, wildlife