Fishing Reports

Here's your chance to catch up on what's biting and where. If you have a fishing report you would like to share, email info@dmsclub.org with your catch info. Include your DMS number to identify yourself.

2012 Delaware River Herring regulations, effective February 11, 2012

River Herring(blueback and alewife herring) is closed to harvest in Delaware, and it is unlawful to possess river herring without a valid receipt or bill of sale from a state or jurisdiction where harvest is lawful.  Please note that this regulation is in effect for much of the East Coast of the US.

2012 Delaware Tautog Regulations, effective February 11, 2012

 When:                 Limit:         Minimum length
1/1 to 3/31         5                    16"
4/1 to 5/11         3                    16"
5/12 to 7/16       CLOSED
7/17 to 8/31       5                    16"
9/1 to 9/28         CLOSED
9/29 to 12/31     5                    16"

February, 2012

If you were wondering what happened to the fishing reports, the reason is simple: January happened.  The action, as it was, was "down South", off the VA and NC coasts, to be exact.  We'll be watching the water temperatures.
"Reeper" reported that blue fin tuna off Fenwick had pushed some stripers closer to the coast.  Boaters were netting fish within 1/4 mile of the beach.  Longliners at the Inlet landed shad and a few shorts.

January, 2012

Happy New Year!  We will continue to publish reports as we receive them. 
Bill Weiss reported that one of his customers at Bill's Sport Shop landed blues in the 30+-inch range in close and a 31 inch rockfish further out.  All fell to salted clam. 

December 25 - 31, 2012

Good weather and the occasional keeper continues to bring anglers to the beach.  Bruce West landed a 29-inch striper on the last day of the year.

December 19 - 24, 2011

Fresh bait is hard to find.  Bill Weiss ventured to 3Rs Road and landed 1 ling on Monday.

December 12 - 18, 2011

In what is becoming a common event, Bill Weiss enjoyed another great day at CHSP on Tuesday, where he landed more than a handful of  ling on mullet chunks.  Find Bill on Friday and learn the secrets from the ling-master.
Bill continued his ways with landing ling on Friday at CHSP.  He took home 5 of them.

December 5 - 11, 2011

Bill Weiss had a great bite at CHSP Tuesday.  He landed over a half-dozen ling (on mullet chunks).  Each of these ling we at least 12 inches long.
A DMS member who only wants to be known as Reeper reported flounder, blues and keeper striper were taken in DSSP Monday and Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Jim Sapp had a great day at 3Rs Road.  In the cooler were a striped bass at 41 inches and 31 lbs. and a 34 inch bluefish.  He closed out the day with a short striper.
Friday had a light south-east wind.  It was also a good day for Bruce West.  Bruce landed a flounder and a shorty, about 20 inches, as a cold front approached the beaches.  Andy Twardus kept Bruce company, landing all the skates.
Saturday featured a strong west wind and much cooler temperatures.  Shawn Smith lost what a couple of observers thought was a keeper striper in the wash.   Bad or no luck was the result for a near-dozen DMS members fishing 3Rs Road.
Sunday featured temps in the mid 20's to start the day with a freshening NE wind.  Tim Wallace had a 25" short at 3Rs Road around sun-up.  George Mood had a 22 " short in the North Pocket a bit later on the start of the outgoing.

November 28 - December 4, 2011

On Monday, a passing cold front preceeding Tuesday's rain caused the fish to develop lockjaw.
On Wednesday, the fish got hungry.  Tim Wallace landed a handful of big blues while fishing the Gordons Pond area.  The largest was 34 inches, weighing in at 10 lbs plus.
Tim had another good day on Thursday at 3Rs Road, landing 2 blues in the 30"+ range.  Bill Weiss and Bill Luciana both reporting that keeper stripers and big bluefish being caught at 3Rs Road on mullet!
Got some encouraging word on Friday from Gene Reynolds, who made a rare trip north to CHSP, foregoing his usual Bethany haunt.  Gene said the on-going beach replenishment in the Bethany-Fenwick area was just about completed.  Hopefully, the fish will show up once the dredging eqipment leaves and the water settles down.
On Saturday, things were looking better with a cooler morning and a north-east wind churning up whitecaps and big surf. 
Shawn Smith got a 36-inch striper while his fishing partner, Chris Tenbush, landed a 30-inch blue while fishing 3Rs Road, both fish falling to bunker chunks.  Both fish were caught around 7 AM. 
Morty reported seeing many shorts being pulled in Saturday at 3Rs.
George Mood landed a 29-inch rockfish in the North Pocket on a bunker chunk. 
Sunday was a day of shorts or skates.  Stan Wierzbecki and Jim Peel kept a small audience of DMS members entertained between casts. 
No reports have been received yet of any notable action at Cape Henlopen.
Late on Sunday, a number of vessels servicing the beach replenishment in the Bethany Beach-Fenwick Island area were seen headed north to start work at Rehoboth Beach. 

November 21 - 27, 2011

Great weather over the Thanksgiving weekend saw a large number of anglers hit the beach. There were scattered reports of short stripers taken from the surf.  George Mood, #2409, landed a short and a windowpane flounder near Gordons Pond access. 
Past President Joe DiBatista spent a day fishing the Overfalls area with his sons.  Joe boated a 40-inch 20 pound rockfish.  Congrats Pappa Joe!
Local legend Bucktail Bob limited out on rockfish in the 30"+ range at the Inlet.
Ok, so it is not a fishing report, but John Meade, DMS#178, bagged a 7-point buck in WV on Opening Day.  John also harvested an antlerless deer the next day. Congrats, John, and enjoy the venison steaks!
Heard numerous reports of a tremendous 4 days of catching large stripers from the surf at Island Beach State Park in central NJ.  Words like EPIC and BLITZ were thrown around.  Here's hoping not all the big-uns were not caught and they make their way to Delaware beaches soon!

November 19, 2011

The 2011 DMS Intra-Club tournament was held.  Sadly, not a lot of fish were caught.  Results of this tournament can be found on the Home Page.

October 30 - November 13, 2011

Rick Ranalli landed more than a few shorts on a fly at Herring Point over a 2 day period.
Morty landed a 36 inch striper while fishing Assateague island. 
George Mood ventured north to LBI for an overnight trip, getting a handful of shorts on clam and bunker chunks. 

October 19-22, 2011

A few DMS members participated in the 3rd Annual Red Drum Tournament hosted by our sister organization, the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association (NCBBA), on Hatteras Island.  Shawn Smith, Steve Merrick and "Morty" had a good bite on drum during pre-fishing, but their spot turned cold during the tourny itself.  George Mood took the lead in the Sea Mullet/Kingfish division early on, but, like leading at half-time in a football game, the lead was lost.  Shawn did report that after the tournament, he, Steve and Morty got into some nice drum at the Point in Buxton.

October 18, 2011

Fishing remains slow with reports of some small blues, a few kings among skates and dogfish.  Let us know what you catch .

Good luck to all who are traveling to Annual Drum Tournament in North Carolina, the road is open!!!

October 8-9, 2011

The 5th Annual DMS Invitational Surf-fishing Tournament was held at CHSP.  Great weather, great food, and close results!  Check the results here.

September 23, 2011

What's up with this?   Weeks between reports?  What is going on? The answer, quite simply, is not much. If you don't send in your reports we have nothing to report.   There have been many small blues caught and some good size kingfish at CHSP.

April 20, 2011

George Mood, DMS# 2409, landed a 41-inch, 25 inch girth, 33 pound striped bass near Herring Point.  The fish qualified for a citation from DNREC's Division of Fish and Wildlife.  The fish hit a single-dropper rig baited with bunker.

 OLDER NEWS

Report from Bill T, DMS #2830

Bill sent us an e-mail at info@dmsclub.org, reporting he spent a large amount of time fishing the beaches recently, mostly in the DSSP area.  Over a 2 week period, he landed 6 stripers in one day!  His largest was a personal best 45-incher!  He also caught bluefish and flounder.  He resorted to using frozen bunker for 2 days when there was no fresh to be found.  At one point, Bill was about to leave the beach when another DMS member gave him some fresh shad.  Twenty minutes later, it was FISH ON!  He will be back during the week of May 31, looking for more fish and fellow DMS members.  Look for his burgandy Ford F-250.

May 25 - 31

Some others shared Bill's luck in fishing from the sand.  Herring Point yielded stripers on bunker, as well as flounder taken from the surf using bloodworms at Rehoboth Beach.  Bluefish and kingfish were being taken further south, as well as the occasional striper.  Surf zone water temperature was at 60 degrees over the weekend.  Morty, DMS#807, ventured onto Assateague Island with friends early in the week and landed stripers.

Railbirds and jetty jockies at The Inlet continued to land a mix of stripers, flounder, bluefish and shad.  Bucktails tipped with plastics and plastic swim baits were effective.  Massey's Landing was giving up bluefish, flounder and striped bass.

Bruce, DMS#2552, fished Beach Plum on Saturday.  He was rewarded with a 32" linesider while his partner landed one at 27.5 inches.  Others reported snaper blues taken in the Broadkill area, as well as small weakfish.

Boaters in the Inland Bays were netting flounder on minnows and squid farther inland.  Blues were also plentiful.  Roosevelt Inlet and the Lewes Canal gave up flounder on minnows.  Those venturing into the Delaware Bay were boating some seriously large black drum.

May 19 - 24

You should have been here!  Every angler has heard this, and the last 7 days were no exception. Quite a few large striped bass were taken from the surf up and down the coast.  Quite a few, as over 12 published reports.  Large, as in 40"+, in some reports.  Rockfish were landed at Naval Crossing, Herring Point, 3Rs and Fenwick Island SP.  Bunker was the popular bait, with clams also taken by fish.  Most strikes came late afternoon to near dusk. 

Large black drum have showed up in the surf also.  An un-named DMS member landed one at 3Rs on Sunday, using soft-shell crab.  Another fell to clam further south.  Check the forums in the links section for photos.

Completing the surf trifecta was snapper bluefish being landed anywhere from Herring Point to 3Rs on typical bluefish baits and rigs.

The Indian River Inlet continues to give up flounder, stripers, bluefish and shad.  Baits included plastic-tipped bucktails, speck rigs tipped with white or chartruese Gulp!, minnows and strips of herring, bunker and bluefish.

Keeper flounder and blues up to 22 inches were taken all over the Inland Bays.  Drifting minnows, squid, herring strips and speck rigs tipped with Gulp! were the ticket for flounder.  Blues and shad were had on bucktails and speck rigs, with and without plastic.  Blues were so think and active that they were being caught on every cast inland of the Marina entrance.  Wore me out...

Back at the Pier at CHSP, flounder and bluefish continued to come over the rail. Canary Creek, the Lewes Canal and the Roosevelt Inlet were holding flounder anywhere between 15" throw-backs to 5 lb doormats.

Broadkill/Beach Plum beaches gave up bluefish ranging from 12 to 15 inches.

May 13 - 18

Widely scattered reports of fish taken from the surf was the good news.  DMS444 reported bluefish up to 20" at the Point access ramp, while Bill's Sport Shop reported a striper at 50".  Four more up to 37" were taken on clam strips at Herring Point by un-named DMS members. The Bethany Beach area yielded at 19-lb rockfish Friday evening, taken on a mullet rig.

The Inlet is still holding rockfish.  Rick's reported weighing in 21, 22 and 29-lb linesiders landed by jetty jockies and railbirds.  Hook 'Em and Cook 'em reported boaters bring in stripers between 30" to 45 ".  Bucktails tipped with white plastics, Gulp!-tipped jigs and 5 or 6 inch Tsunami/Storm shads were used. Bluefish and shad were sighted in the Inlet and were taken on bucktails and spec rigs. 

Back Bays continued to give up large flounder - 25" range -  at theVFW Slough, Burton's Island and Massey's Ditch area, mostly on drifted minnows and jigs tipped with white Gulp! mullet. DMS2409 boated blues ranging from 16 to 20 inches from Rehoboth Bay, using spec rigs tipped with chartruese or white Gulp! mullet. If you're fishing the Rehoboth Bay, keep an eye out for working birds as fast-moving schools of bluefish drive the bait to the surface.

Near the Pier at CHSP, dophin had pushed bunker up to the beach.  One angler tossed a Gulp! palstic into the school and landed a 38" striper.  Flounder were still being pulled over the rail.

Lewes Harbor Marina reported Bay anglers catching large black drum.  Roosevelt Inlet area gave up flatties, with the ever-popular Gulp! swimming mullet in white or chartruese being the hot bait.

May 6 - May 12

Beach anglers were blasted by sand whipped up by steady NW winds the past week.  A slow pick of stripers was had at Herring Point.  Other than that, the skunk prevailed all along the coast -  if you didn't count the skates and large spiny dogfish that are ready to give birth, that is.  Nearly 300 anglers in the Old Inlet Spring Surf Fishing Tournament caught 7 scorable fish.  All were kingfish.

In better news, the fish are still in the Indian River Inlet.  Large stripers are still being caught, although the numbers are down as the temperatures rise.  Shad have moved into the Inlet.

Inland Bays: Flounder are being found in the usual summer locations, with the areas around Burton's Island and the holes at Gull's point yielding keeper fish. A 5lb 14 oz flounder was taken from the pier at Massey's Landing.  Water temp in the bays are in the mid-60's.

The Pier at Cape Henlopen yielded a mix of blues and flounder.

Boaters that ventured out to the Outer Wall were rewared with tautog and stripers.  Black drum wer found along the edges of the Broadkill Slough.  Roosevelt Inlet and the Canal were holding mostly short flounder.

April 28 - May 5

Surf fishing produced a mixed bag of results during this time.  Some folks were getting nothing but skates and spiny dogfish, while others were hauling in legal and citation-sized striped bass; one was weighed in at 21.4 lbs from Cape Henlopen.  The suds gave up bluefish in the 20-inch range.  Bill's Sport Shop weigned in a 43-inch, 24 lb linesider.  DMS#807 reports landing a ~20-lb rock at the 3Rs Road access area on a bunker head, then watched a 40"+ striper spit the hook at Gordons Pond.  DMS#807 also was pulling keeper flatties and some blues from the pier at Cape Henlopen.  Some of the better fishing came at night at the pier.

The IRI is still giving up large stripers.  Bucktails, herring, bloodworms, GULP!, shad body artificials are all working quite well.  Shawn reports that action from the pier and dock at  Massey's Landing is picking up.  Shad, stripers and flounder are being taken on almost any type of jig-head tipped with plastic. An incoming current during late afternoon into the evening was the hot time.

Rick's Bait & Tackle reports that boaters working the Inland Bays are still netting keeper flounder and rockfish on a variety of artificials and drifting minnows.  Some bluefish have been taken also.  The fish are getting well into the shallow bays, although the VFW slough and the Inlet are still the top producers.

Roosevelt Inlet gave up a 19.5" flounder on bloodworms.  One report of a striper taken from Broadkill Beach, but it was not known if it was from the beach or a boat in the area.

April 22-27

Fishing everwhere is picking up.  The most notable part of the reports was water clarity is increasing.  The dogwood are beginning to bloom; it will soon be time for perdue peelers and Broadkill beach.

Anglers working the beach were having good outings.  Legal stripers, up to 32", were taken with bloodworms, bunker chunks and noggins.  Bluefish up to 18" fell to mullet rigs.  Throwback flounder were taken from the surf as the flatties hit on mullet rigs.

Pier anglers at Cape Henlopen reported flatties and blues being landed.  Flounder were taken on a variety of jigs tiped with white plastic.  Railbirds and jetty jockies at the Inlet reported a mix of legal and short stripers and some bluefish.

Fish are spreading out in in the Inland Bays.  Legal striper and legal flounder were boated in the Massey's Landing area.  A variety of baits were used.  Long Neck area residents were enjoying crab dinners, with crabpots being set from docks, piers and anywhere there was access.

Roosevelt Inlet action included TB flounder and blues.

April 15-21

More of the same at the beaches, with the occasional keeper striper being landed along with a few shorts.  Skates and dogfish are in abundance.

The railbirds along the Indian River Inlet were getting striper and flounder with a "I heard a guy say he saw a guy pull in a blue earlier" report. Inland bays continue to yield legal flounder.  A few reports indicated that the keeper-to-throw-back ratio was a very encouraging 6-1!  Boaters are drifting minnows and a variety of jigs tipped with Gulp! plastics.  White and Chartruese continue to be the ticket.

At the pier in Cape Henlopen State Park, more keeper-size flounder are coming over the rail.  Baits include Gulp! baits on jigs and minnows

Recreational boaters out of the Lewes area are pulling in flounder and striped bass.

April 8-14

Water temperatures continue to inch upward along the beach. A few short stripers were taken from the surf using bloodworms. Anglers using mullet and or bunker in the hope of being on the leading edge of the anticipated arrival of bluefish were catching skate The Indian River Inlet gave up keeper-sized striper bass using bucktails tipped with smelt.
Some large flounder were taken from the Inland Bays, the largest being a 31-inch doormat that weighed 11 pounds. Baits included white and chartreuse Gulp! and minnows.
Along the Delaware estuary, stripers were reported to have been taken off the Woodland Pier. Moderate striper action was found further up the Delaware River both north and south of the C&R area, with fish up to 35 inches being caught and released.

April 1-7

April 1 marks the beginning of the special restrictions for striped bass north of the C&D Canal. Anglers must use in-line circle hooks and NO striped bass can be harvested in this area.
Beaches had little action, while some short flounder were taken from the Inland Bays, mostly by drifting minnows. The pier at Cape Henlopen State Park gave up some nice keeper flounder.
Upstate along the Delaware River, DMS members reported stripers up to 33" were landed and released, mostly in the C&R area north of the C&D Canal. Perch and channel catfish also provided some action.

March

March 1 marks the annual closure of The Point area at Cape Henlopen State Park for protected birds. This area begins on the ocean side of The Point just north of the Point Beach access, continuing around The Point to the pier area. Contact State Henlopen State Park for more information on the closure area.

A break in cold and foul weather brought out the anglers along the beaches in mid-to-late March. DMS#2409 landed a 29" striped bass from the surf in DSSP on March 20, with 3 keeper-sized rockfish taken the following week at Cape Henlopen State Park. The Inland Bays gave up flounder up to 27". Up the Delaware River, action was heating up with a few legal-size stripers C&R'ed along with some fat perch.