Well, the White Marlin Open is in the books and soon we should get more reports of where the fish are actually being caught. The boats have been kind of tight-lipped during tournament time. There were numerous releases in the Tournament, which is good news for those venturing out for White Marlin and other offshore species. This is evident by all the blue flags flying in the basin this morning. Another good sign was the Big Eye Tuna that were being brought in to the scales. None of our boats won any of the divisions in the Tournament, but I’m happy to say the Marina Manager’s husband won the Blue Marlin category. Congratulations to Capt. Todd Kurtz on the “Restless Lady” for the first place 699.5 lb. Blue Marlin and the second place Wahoo.
There are Yellowfin being caught out in the canyons, along with the White Marlin. Capt. Smallwood on the charter boat “Dana Lynn” had a good trip out to the canyons Saturday and caught 21 Dolphin (Mahi) up to 20 lbs., most in the Wilmington. Closer to shore, the Dolphin (Mahi) have finally shown up in the area around the Lightship Buoy, which opens up some offshore species to the smaller boat anglers.
Further inshore, they are getting Flounder and Sea Bass from the area of “B” Buoy, the Old Grounds and on the reef sites. There are also some Ling being caught out there by fisherman fishing for Sea Bass and Flounder.
Sunday morning Update for Inshore: some of the boats fishing the Old Grounds on Saturday reported that a nice school of Mahi (Dolphinfish) passed through the area, with one boat boating 21 of the great tasting fish. So, have a rod ready with a plug or have cut bait ready to chum them in, then cast a unweighted baited hook into the fray.
In the Inlet and Back Bays, there are still Flounder being caught along with some Bluefish, Rockfish and finally, Croaker. The Croaker have moved into the Back Bays in numbers, which is putting some smiles on anglers faces. Many of these fish are of the larger size and double headers are common. Along with the Croaker, fisherman are catching Sand Perch, Spot, Porgy, Flounder and even some short Seatrout. So for those with smaller boats, the fishing has gotten much better.
Wednesday there was an important event with the sinking of the USS Arthur W. Radford on the Del-Jersey-Land Reef, 26 miles out of Indian River Inlet. The 564′ Spruance class destroyer was sunk in 130′ of water and is the largest ship ever sunk off the East Coast for the purpose of making an artificial reef. This was a joint effort by Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland and many thanks go out to Jeff Tinsman of Delaware Fish & Wildlife for making it happen. The ship will rise up off of the bottom to about 60 to 65 feet below the surface. Not only will this make fantastic habitat for bottom species, it will attract the Pelegic species as well. I’m fortunate to have witnessed this event and am looking forward to fishing it in the future. Below are some photos of the sinking (by the way disregard the date, camera went to reset)
There are Charters still available for both Offshore and Inshore. Just call at the Marina at 302-227-3071 and ask for Carolyn; she’ll be glad to get you in contact with one of the charter boats.
