It has been a few straight surf fishing days on the beaches. It is that time of year. If you aren’t out there, you might miss it. What that “it” is depends on the angler. Some are out for the sheer joy, others are out to put meat in the freezer.

Striped bass are in town, but the big girls have to be let go. That is the only thing with the slot limit. It makes it harder to actually keep a fish when you are into the really big cows. Honestly never understood the fascination of eating striped bass, it has little flavor. Chefs love striped bass “You can make it taste like anything, even fish.”

Bunker chunks has been the bait of choice. Clam works well just harder to keep on a hook. Catching a migratory keeper at the beach has been tough but a few have been landed. No “Jersey” blitzes, just random fish biting while swimming up the coast.

Plenty of short striped bass in the surf on all of the beaches. Fishing structure is more popular, and the inlets will be crowded with people,especially on the weekends. Take off some weekdays and fish instead. It’s much more peaceful. Walking the beaches and casting is fun. Once you find a school of fish, it isn’t too hard to follow them up and down a beach.

The other surf catches have been dogfish and skates. We won’t start seeing the warmer water fish until mid to end of May. The surf fishing tournament May The Fish Be With You will be on May 1 in Delaware Seashore State Park. It’s an annual tournament put on by Delaware Surf Fishing, sponsored by DS Custom Tackle and Fishbites. Surf anglers will compete for upwards of $10,000 for first prize. It is $100 to enter and limited to 300 anglers. Check Delaware Surf Fishing’s website for details or Icehouse Bait and Tackle on Del. 1.

A single black drum was caught on Assateague last week. That started a flurry of angler migrations south, as far as Cape Hatteras for kingfish, puffers, and red drum. There are many black drum being caught in Virginia. That action is inbound so be prepared. The kings and puffers will be here in about a month or so, hopefully a little earlier.

Indian River Inlet beaches are seeing short striped bass action. Some action is along the walls inside the inlet. You can tell if the bite is good by how many people are standing on which wall. I’ve never seen six people manage to fish around the southside tower before. That was a first. No Tanks, too crowded. Get away from the crowds. There are fish up and down those areas.

The Inland Bays are quiet, but flounder will show up soon. Boaters beware, Baker’s Channel is shoaling back in on the Rehoboth Bay side. By mid-summer it will be as bad as it was before it was dredged last year. Delaware needs to stop Band-Aiding these projects and do some real work on these bays. At the rate they are filling in, we will have the inland marshes in no time, with a creek full of boats rolling through it.

White perch action is hot in all the waterways, canals and Delaware Bay beaches. Bloodworms is the best bait right now. Great for the table. Get in on that action.

Crabbing is picking up very slowly around the Inland Bays. Warmer days are producing crabs in the shallower back bay areas. It takes crab pots and a good two-day soak, but blue crabs are moving more.

Some food for thought. Last year COVID shut down many places. The one byproduct was a serious reduction in pollution — both air and water. Less shipping means less stirred-up waterways. Last year at one point there were mahi in the Delaware Bay on the weed line. A mackerel was up the Delaware River last week. My point is maybe the lack in traffic, Allowed the Delaware River to flush out a little more and come up a little cleaner. Just a thought but it would be nice to see that continue and maybe some studies done. Cleaner water means more fish.