Delaware coast
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TimMurphy
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Dear Pcray,
The picture you posted shows something different from what I saw last summer, and the summers before.
You should still have a bit of a hole there where the wall joins the bulkhead so when the tide is changing and the current is running it would definitely be worth your while to explore that area.
Yes, you can no longer go right to the sand at the water's edge but the reality is that it will just like fishing anywhere else on the North jetty in that you will be 3 to 6 feet from the water's surface depending on the tides.
Edited to add - If you are going to be fly fishing and expecting bluefish it will be worth your while to buy a spool of that American Fishing Wire knotable coated wire leader material to prevent bite-offs. You can also use 25 to 30 pound mono leader material as a bite guard.
Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
The picture you posted shows something different from what I saw last summer, and the summers before.
You should still have a bit of a hole there where the wall joins the bulkhead so when the tide is changing and the current is running it would definitely be worth your while to explore that area.
Yes, you can no longer go right to the sand at the water's edge but the reality is that it will just like fishing anywhere else on the North jetty in that you will be 3 to 6 feet from the water's surface depending on the tides.
Edited to add - If you are going to be fly fishing and expecting bluefish it will be worth your while to buy a spool of that American Fishing Wire knotable coated wire leader material to prevent bite-offs. You can also use 25 to 30 pound mono leader material as a bite guard.
Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
pcray1231
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Tim, I'll definitely check the area out and do some fishing, and let you know how it goes. Regarding filling the hole in, here's the before and after of the dredging, per the Army Corps. They deepened the channel a bit, filled in the "hole" near the coast guard station, and made the slope along the north wall more gradual.
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That "wall" is new for this season, was built of the winter (2011/2012). You can walk and fish most of that side heading back towards the IR Bay all the way to North Shore Marina.
Check out the "pipes" behind the marina as well. You can walk alot of bank area back there as well. Where pants and long sleeves though in the evening/morning, flies have been brutal.
Don't be afraid of fishing the North jetty ocean pocket early AM/late/dark...
Check out the "pipes" behind the marina as well. You can walk alot of bank area back there as well. Where pants and long sleeves though in the evening/morning, flies have been brutal.
Don't be afraid of fishing the North jetty ocean pocket early AM/late/dark...
pete41
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I use 25 pd flour,catch many bluefish up to five pounds and never lost a lure.Of course you know to hose off your tackle-flies and lures included.If you have to change fly or lure do not put them back in the cheap plastic carry box[hint] until rinsed and dried.Try not to open box if you don't have to but if you are the changing type,take all you intend to try out of box before you get salt on your hands.
Swattie87
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Just got back from a week's vacation...our rental was essentially right on IR Inlet and we were able to fish the inlet from our rental property.
We caught tons of Croaker (at times on every cast), and good numbers of short Black Sea Bass and Fluke, nothing of any real size though. Also pulled in a few small Spot, Bluefish, and Puffers in the inlet too. This was all on spin gear drifting bait (squid strips mostly) with 1 oz sinkers in the current and subsequent eddy that was formed by our rental property's bulkhead. There was a small marina in the community we rented in and all of the guys on boats were reporting the same thing...tons of Croaker (some up to 16"), and lots of sub-legal Black Bass and Fluke. According to the "bait shop guys" there were good pulls of larger Fluke in the previous weeks, but they seemed to disappear when the weather cooled this past week. I also caught wind of some sub-legal Stripers being caught in the ocean, just outside of the inlet.
We fished the surf a couple days too and caught some small Croaker and Spot just beyond the breakers, and a small Sand Shark a little further out. Fishing was definitely better in the Inlet though, so we spent most of our fishing time there...fished the mornings and then took the wives to the beach in the afternoon.
Pics:
001 - Atlantic Croaker...this was about average size. Biggest we caught was about 14"
002 - Black Sea Bass - Biggest we caught was only about 8", but the little ones (like this one) look a ton like freshwater Green Sunfish, just darker in color. Very pretty fish.
We caught tons of Croaker (at times on every cast), and good numbers of short Black Sea Bass and Fluke, nothing of any real size though. Also pulled in a few small Spot, Bluefish, and Puffers in the inlet too. This was all on spin gear drifting bait (squid strips mostly) with 1 oz sinkers in the current and subsequent eddy that was formed by our rental property's bulkhead. There was a small marina in the community we rented in and all of the guys on boats were reporting the same thing...tons of Croaker (some up to 16"), and lots of sub-legal Black Bass and Fluke. According to the "bait shop guys" there were good pulls of larger Fluke in the previous weeks, but they seemed to disappear when the weather cooled this past week. I also caught wind of some sub-legal Stripers being caught in the ocean, just outside of the inlet.
We fished the surf a couple days too and caught some small Croaker and Spot just beyond the breakers, and a small Sand Shark a little further out. Fishing was definitely better in the Inlet though, so we spent most of our fishing time there...fished the mornings and then took the wives to the beach in the afternoon.
Pics:
001 - Atlantic Croaker...this was about average size. Biggest we caught was about 14"
002 - Black Sea Bass - Biggest we caught was only about 8", but the little ones (like this one) look a ton like freshwater Green Sunfish, just darker in color. Very pretty fish.
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Looks like a great time Matt. Those croakers are some mighty fine eating. I've caught a couple on small flies over the years but when they're running, they're mighty easy to catch on bait. When I was a kid in TX, we used to bring 'em home by the stringer near Corpus Christie - a fun rite of summer.
Swattie87
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Yeah...they're a mild, tender fish, but they're a lot of work for what they yield, especially if you want your fillets boneless. Bigger ones (say 14"+) will give you a couple nice fillets if you're careful and patient when cleaning them.
Was talking to one of the locals at the bait shop...when they're catching boat loads of them in August each year they don't even bother to fillet/de-bone them. Just cut the head/tail/fins, gut, and skin. Batter, deep fry, and eat with your hands, pulling the meat off the bones.
Was talking to one of the locals at the bait shop...when they're catching boat loads of them in August each year they don't even bother to fillet/de-bone them. Just cut the head/tail/fins, gut, and skin. Batter, deep fry, and eat with your hands, pulling the meat off the bones.
pcray1231
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Thanks for the report. I wouldn't mind running into a bunch of croakers, but I'm thinking they may be waning in Sept. Snapper blues probably coming on, though. Oily, but not bad eating themselves.
sandfly
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cut the dark meat away the white meat on small blues is really good.
swattie I learned that on I.B.S.P. when I lived on the beach in the van, had to eat what i caught cause i didn't take much meat with me..ate off the land, crabs,clams from bay and whatever I caught off beach. Did that for 2 years straight.
swattie I learned that on I.B.S.P. when I lived on the beach in the van, had to eat what i caught cause i didn't take much meat with me..ate off the land, crabs,clams from bay and whatever I caught off beach. Did that for 2 years straight.
pcray1231
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Well, just got back. Didn't even fish the surf, as reports were bad and taking care of the baby was hard enough in the sand. He loved it though, he'd have crawled to Europe if we weren't there to stop him.
Did fish some in the inlet, just behind the cabin. Our cabins were really nice, 50 feet from the water, behind the coast guard station there. Fly fishing was a no go, had to cast 150 ft to even be in the ball game, and you're much better off if you are casting well over 200 ft with several ounces of weight to get down once you get it there. Otherwise, you were in rocks near shore in no time. Cast as far as you can angling upstream, leave the bail open till it hits bottom, tighten up, and let it drift till it gets to be about a 45 degree angle downstream, then reel like your life depended on it to lift it over the rocks.
My medium action trout rod wouldn't do the trick either. Quite simply, didn't hold enough line. Cast till you hit the spool knot, and it'd yank it in mid-air. So I mostly used the surf rod, which wasn't ideal either.
Croakers nowhere to be seen. Nor blues. It was a fairly popular spot, and among the species I saw caught were eels, shad, oyster toads, and weakfish. But mostly flounder. I caught around 15 flounder and one weakfish in about 6 or 7 total hours of fishing, which ain't too bad IMO. 2 of the slabs were keepers (18+ inches to be legal). Kept one, and gave the other away (was on our last day, and we had plans to go out for dinner).
Every night, under the lights of the coast guard station, there were just stuff churning up the water. It was crazy. Shad, I think, perhaps being chased from underneath. I couldn't reach the "magic zone" with my gear. Action started about 250 ft out and I was coming up 20 ft short or so. There were a handful of regulars who were reaching them, but I can't say they were catching much. If they put something small enough on they'd catch the shad, but struck out on bigger game while I was there. One guy hooked into something pretty big on a huge surface lure but lost it. Striper maybe.
Did fish some in the inlet, just behind the cabin. Our cabins were really nice, 50 feet from the water, behind the coast guard station there. Fly fishing was a no go, had to cast 150 ft to even be in the ball game, and you're much better off if you are casting well over 200 ft with several ounces of weight to get down once you get it there. Otherwise, you were in rocks near shore in no time. Cast as far as you can angling upstream, leave the bail open till it hits bottom, tighten up, and let it drift till it gets to be about a 45 degree angle downstream, then reel like your life depended on it to lift it over the rocks.
My medium action trout rod wouldn't do the trick either. Quite simply, didn't hold enough line. Cast till you hit the spool knot, and it'd yank it in mid-air. So I mostly used the surf rod, which wasn't ideal either.
Croakers nowhere to be seen. Nor blues. It was a fairly popular spot, and among the species I saw caught were eels, shad, oyster toads, and weakfish. But mostly flounder. I caught around 15 flounder and one weakfish in about 6 or 7 total hours of fishing, which ain't too bad IMO. 2 of the slabs were keepers (18+ inches to be legal). Kept one, and gave the other away (was on our last day, and we had plans to go out for dinner).
Every night, under the lights of the coast guard station, there were just stuff churning up the water. It was crazy. Shad, I think, perhaps being chased from underneath. I couldn't reach the "magic zone" with my gear. Action started about 250 ft out and I was coming up 20 ft short or so. There were a handful of regulars who were reaching them, but I can't say they were catching much. If they put something small enough on they'd catch the shad, but struck out on bigger game while I was there. One guy hooked into something pretty big on a huge surface lure but lost it. Striper maybe.
pcray1231
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Swattie87
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Nice report pcray...glad you were able to get some "pullage." My tactics were more or less identical to yours, just from the other side of the inlet. I guess the Croakers must have taken off since I was down there. I woulda traded a few Croakers for a legal Fluke though...nothing but shorts when I was there.
As far as the surf goes, probably a good move to skip it...I don't think you missed much. My brother was in Fenwick Island this past week and he said he tried to fish the surf one morning...he was tossing 4 oz's and said it almost immediately was winding up back on the shore. Pretty sure there were a couple hurricanes out in the open Atlantic churning up the waves last week.
As far as the surf goes, probably a good move to skip it...I don't think you missed much. My brother was in Fenwick Island this past week and he said he tried to fish the surf one morning...he was tossing 4 oz's and said it almost immediately was winding up back on the shore. Pretty sure there were a couple hurricanes out in the open Atlantic churning up the waves last week.
pcray1231
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Well, we were there Monday to Friday. Monday was rough, 6 foot seas, and yes, it was due to hurricane Leslie. Tuesday through Thurs, though, were pretty calm. 1-3 foot seas. (which is still HUGE surf for a 9 month old, lol).
Just that the reports at the shops were that the surf sucked. When we were out there it didn't look like anybody else was catching anything. And unlike previous years, we kinda had a full time job in watching the baby when we were on the beach. Wherever you put him, he'd crawl full speed directly towards the water. Then you had to "save him" when a wave came in. But if you put him down, he'd aim directly towards the water again. He loves the water. Perhaps just like daddy.
Yeah, I was happy to get into the slabs. I didn't think it was bad fishing at all.
Just that the reports at the shops were that the surf sucked. When we were out there it didn't look like anybody else was catching anything. And unlike previous years, we kinda had a full time job in watching the baby when we were on the beach. Wherever you put him, he'd crawl full speed directly towards the water. Then you had to "save him" when a wave came in. But if you put him down, he'd aim directly towards the water again. He loves the water. Perhaps just like daddy.
Yeah, I was happy to get into the slabs. I didn't think it was bad fishing at all.
TimMurphy
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Dear pcray,
Hey, for not having all the right gear at your disposal you did pretty well.
It sounds like the construction/dredging altered the flow along the north jetty quite a bit? You'd be surprised at the fish that hold right along that jetty wall though. I watched guy drfiting live eels take 3 stripers one afternoon and his eel wasn't ten feet off the wall for any of the fish.
Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
Hey, for not having all the right gear at your disposal you did pretty well.
It sounds like the construction/dredging altered the flow along the north jetty quite a bit? You'd be surprised at the fish that hold right along that jetty wall though. I watched guy drfiting live eels take 3 stripers one afternoon and his eel wasn't ten feet off the wall for any of the fish.
Regards,
Tim Murphy 🙂
