Rob Wolhar of Milford caught this mahi mahi from his jet ski. (Submitted/Brian Stier)
It is the summer wind down and we are finally cooling off.
I am sure we will have more hot days, I just hope we don’t have any more heat waves, but summer isn’t over yet. This cooler weather is getting the hunters excited for the start of bow season. Anglers are starting to think about the fall striped bass run. Fall will be here soon enough.
Meanwhile, I want to enjoy second summer, September into October when it is warm during the day, but cooler at night and the fishing is still good. Most importantly it is when the beaches clear of tourists thanks to the kids going back to school.
The Delaware Jet Ski Anglers have been doing well offshore. Brian Stier caught a nice tuna from his ski a few days ago.
“We fished all day starting around old grounds I think,” he said. No drift, no bites. Went on to Delaware-New Jersey reef, same no drift, no bite. Started heading back, stopped, fished for some bait. Got one I thing it was a blue runner. Put it in the cooler and tried for another with no luck. Said what the heck. Put blue runner on a steel leader and booooom. The fight was on almost immediately. Fought it for probably 30 minutes or so.”
That is the first tuna caught from a jet ski in Delaware, way to go Brian.
Not to be outdone, Rob Wolhar went out the other day and managed to land a mahi mahi on his jet ski. They got back so late he didn’t get a chance to weigh it, but as you can see from the picture it is nice sized mahi.
The jet ski anglers have been having a blast out there, I need to look into a ski for fishing. They can go almost anywhere. However, I would not recommend going offshore for a novice. These boys have the set ups and the gear they need to make these trips. They are always willing to help anyone learn the ropes.
Fishing in new spots
Flounder fishing for the inland bays has been slow for keepers. If people are catching they are usually undersized flounder. Fishing in the traditional spots is not working. I keep telling people to try fishing elsewhere and see if their luck changes.
Offshore the action has been the hottest at sites 9 and 10. That changes up, and many just go to the old grounds and drift until they get into some fish. Lot of mahi mahi are hitting flounder rigs; the water out there is clear enough for them to chase bait fish.
Nick Chieffo was checking his crab pots near Augustine Beach and caught a numerous amount of juvenile fish.
“ I caught three blue fish, two needle fish, two flounder, three croaker and five baby stripers in my crab traps today,” he said. “Been crabbing here for seven years and I’ve never seen so may juveniles like this. Very exciting to see things are reproducing in numbers. Still waiting on the black drum. I usually catch a few black drum this time a year in my traps.”
There are a lot of small black drum around the inland bays. There have been decent sized drum and sheepshead caught near brown shoals recently.
The surf has been producing kingfish for the most part as the popular catch. Some anglers have been catching small thresher sharks. That really long tail makes even the smaller ones look like large sharks. That has freaked out a few beach-goers. These are juvenile thresher sharks, and are mostly hitting mullet rigs or cut bait in the surf. It is also OK to land them on the beach; they are not prohibited like the sand tigers, sand bars and dusky sharks.
Hiking the trails around the parks will be much more pleasant as the weather cools even more. Right now early morning and evenings are a great time to get outside to beat the heat and have some fun.
A different tournament
Here is a unique thing to do in the outdoors: Techno Goober & Delaware Surf Fishing have teamed up once again to bring you a unique fishing tournament, and it is free. It is during the Riverwalk Freedom Festival on Sept. 10 in downtown Milford from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
All Pokéstops along the Riverwalk “Freedom” Festival will have Lure Modules active courtesy of Techno Goober & Delaware Surf Fishing. The idea is to attract as many Magikarps as possible. Yes, that is a Pokémon “fish” for those that do not play.
We decided it would be fun to host a different kind of tournament and utilize the new game Pokémon Go. There are plans for more of these tournaments in the near future. I know many people who play Pokémon Go.
This game has gotten people outdoors more than ever, which is a little nutty that it took a video game to do that, but so be it. The rules are simple, the trainers who catch the three heaviest Magikarps that day will win trophies and a Pokéball power bank for your cellphone.
Rich King’s column is published Thursdays in the Delaware State News.