An unusual catch using a popular bait of the past

By Rich King
Posted 8/3/23

Finally, we are getting a little reprieve from the heat and a reminder that fall weather will be coming next. There is plenty of summertime left and that shoulder season should be rather long, too. …

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An unusual catch using a popular bait of the past

Posted

Finally, we are getting a little reprieve from the heat and a reminder that fall weather will be coming next. There is plenty of summertime left and that shoulder season should be rather long, too. There’s nothing like catching summer fish in fall.

The fishing always changes up and at times old techniques or methods come back. Sometimes an old popular bait comes back — this one never really left, but it is out in the forefront: Yard bird is catching spade fish in crab ring traps. I mean, this is Sussex County, so are you even surprised?

Last week, a gentleman caught a spade fish at the Cape Henlopen pier using chicken as bait. People have used chicken for years. Back in the day it was the “secret” bait. Add a little of the original WD-40 or shedder oil and you had a fish killer. Letting the chicken sit in the sun for a bit gives it a little bit of a hard skin to help keep it on a hook.

Or you could just go crabbing at the Cape Henlopen Fishing Pier. Everyone loves a good fishing story, especially a true one.

Over the weekend, the Hill family scored an unusual catch, twice: spade fish in a crab ring trap off a pier, using chicken necks for crab bait. That wins for catch of the month.

Joleen Hill: “We do a yearly family beach week at Rehoboth and always spend a day fishing at the pier and beaching at Cape Henlopen. This year we came with our crabbing nets for the girls to use and pier rods for the boys. This all started with the purchase of chicken necks at the Breakwater bait and tackle shop on the Cape Henlopen Pier. A previous crabbing family gave us their leftover chicken necks so we loaded up our nets and tossed them in the water. On the first check of the crabbing net, my daughter had two small sea bass in the net. We were so excited that the girls were beating the boys by catching fish in the crabbing nets. Hahaha. After fishing for 30 minutes or so with no bites on the rods, Spencer (11y/o) brought up the crabbing net again and said it was so heavy he couldn’t lift it so my daughter Zoe (13y/o) helped bring up the net and in it was a 17 inch spade fish! All the kids on the pier came to look as we couldn’t believe we just hauled in this huge fish. The pier workers helped to identify the fish, took us back for ice at the shop, and a plastic bag to put the fish in. We didn’t bring a cooler bc we usually don’t catch big keeper fish on the pier. The spade fish was now literally hanging out of my dad’s bait cooler! Not 10 minutes later we bring up the crabbing net again and we have another spade fish!! Now the bait shop guy is with us again and takes pics and gives us a ride back to the shop again and this time I had to buy a cooler and more ice! ALL the little boys in the pier were lined up shoulder to shoulder with us trying to get more spade fish. When buying the cooler I also bought another pack of chicken necks for the other boys to use. They were so excited but now all the dads who were fishing had to figure out how to put a chicken neck on a fishing line!! We ended up missing a third spade fish who flipped out of the crabbing net while we were bringing it up, but we did catch a puffer fish in the crabbing net. NOTHING was caught with a fishing rod. So five fish in a crabbing net on chicken necks. Too fun! We truly had a blast and all the kids were so excited to be part of this crazy adventure! Included fishing were my dad Matthew Meyers, my husband Jeff Hill, my son Spencer Hill, my daughter Zoe Hill and myself Joleen Hill. We are all from York, Pennsylvania, and have been coming to the beach and fishing at Cape Henlopen since I was a kid. My dad has been coming to Rehoboth since his childhood. Lots of traditions. ‘Crashing,’ crab/fishing as we are now calling it, will become a new tradition for our family!! What a blast of a day!”

Now that is a great adventure for a yearly family trip to the beach. The family that crabs together, catches fish like no other.

The fishing is summer fish and conditions so you know the drill. Put in some time and soak a line. You might be able to pick up a red drum, they have been around as random catches. Spot is the best bait. There have been bulls at Assateague but smaller reds around our waterways. Check your local shops for availability but many have spot, live or fresh.

The little summer bluefish are showing up more and more, so that is always fun with light gear. The blues are not as heavy in numbers as years past, but they are around. The blues will travel all around the inland bays and along the beaches. Looking for them in the evenings on flat calm water in a kayak in the back bays is fun.

Flounder fishing has been decent for most anglers, with a lot of inland bay throw backs. Offshore is larger fish and better action for keepers. It’s that time of year again. Get your soft plastics for flounder. The distributors will rethink their stock so they aren’t left with artificial baits with a shelf life.

Offshore action has been good for the private and charters. Head boats are doing decent. Get in on the action and hire your favorite boat. I prefer the weekdays to avoid the weekend fleet. You have more options of the weekdays, too.
Crabbing has been amazing around the inland bays. Clamming is good, too. The locally farmed oysters are delicious, as well.

Summer slot striped bass fishing around the Delaware Bay and her tributaries has been fire. The Kings Highway Bridge to the Roosevelt Inlet is within the legal fishing area. The canal is loaded with structure and rips. The Broadkill River is producing redfish, short bass, bluefish and trout. The short bass action is a blast on light gear. The slot fish are the best to eat, in my opinion. They haven’t had as much time to collect toxins. Put in the time and you will have some fun. The reward is the action itself, the bonus are the catches. It is fishing, but it was never about the fish.

Antares has left the pad for the last time. It was sad and fun to watch the last launch of the Antares to the ISS. It was also the loudest I have ever heard that rocket. I haven’t been to the media viewing area since Covid. We were just doing the remote pad access to get better shots and refine our engine shots. Congrats to NASA and Northrop Grumman. I hope the Antares comes back, she is a sweet ride to space. But if I know these rocket scientists, they are cooking up something bigger and better.

Wallops Island is a really cool place. Take the trip sometime and check out the Wallops visitor center. The kids will love it. The best time is when there isn’t a launch. It isn’t madhouse crowded, and there are neat activities for the kids and adults.

Chincoteague is just down the road after that, for a great meal or some fun fishing. Thank you NASA for the access over the years, my inner space nerd is very pleased. I’m looking forward to the new kids on the block blasting off with Firefly.

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