Latest storm brought impressive waves to coast

By Rich King
Posted 12/20/23

It’s been a rough few days around here with all that weather. Now we are cleaning up the debris. There was standing water all over the roads for a couple days. Flooded ditches and waterways …

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Latest storm brought impressive waves to coast

Posted

It’s been a rough few days around here with all that weather. Now we are cleaning up the debris. There was standing water all over the roads for a couple days. Flooded ditches and waterways make for rough fishing conditions. The ocean was angrier than we have seen in a while. It’s strange how a storm not as powerful as a hurricane can produce some of the biggest waves many have ever seen in their life. There has been a small craft advisory since Sunday evening into this afternoon. To say we have barely been out fishing would not be an understatement. Wind is no fun to fish with flying debris, it tends to keep us indoors. That being said, there are always out-of-the-way places to fish, but most are still flooded. Conditions will be much better this weekend.

There was decent bluefin tuna action close to shore before this storm and some striped bass action mixed in as well. It is illegal to target striped bass beyond the EEZ, but you can’t help if they hit your gear trolling for tuna, which happen to be chasing the bunker and other “bait” with the striped bass. On some shoals (giant sand bars offshore), the tuna and bass will find sand eels and gorge themselves. Following bunker is just fast food on the run. Fish follow the food — find the food, find the fish. It seems so simple, doesn’t it?

There were a few flocks of diving birds working fish close to the back side of those monster waves Tuesday. That morning a 20-foot swell was recorded by buoy 44009 offshore of Bethany Beach. The breakers on the offshore shoals out front were also the biggest anyone has seen. I wanted to spend hours taking wave pictures. It is fascinating watching that power in motion. But I know this isn’t the last storm like this we will see, or the strongest. I just want that one picture where a 20-foot wave sucks up all the water off the beach till it is a desert, then crashes down with the sound of thunder from the gods, shaking the shoreline as it hits. You can feel the big ones. I am sure I missed several of those Tuesday and saw a few candidates from afar. Note to self: Never forget the big lens. That was a fail on my part.

The inlet fishing action was good before the storm showed up and the flooded conditions. There were a lot of throw-back tautog, with some short striped bass and keepers along the rock walls. During these storms it is a great idea to fish, just pick a decent spot for safety. Water crashing over the inlet wall is no fun. The beach is OK but debris can sweep your legs out from under you and casting into those waves is futile. So we travel inland to the bays and estuaries and hit the ponds for some pickerel action. There’s nothing like catching ditch pickles on spoons. Even in winter they hit hard. They are really fun to catch with a fly rod.

The winter tie meetings with the Saltwater Fly Anglers of Delaware will start up in January — great times on a Saturday tying flies and telling lies. The shows are coming after the first of the year, too.

The surf has some more structure along the edge but it will even back out soon enough. The beaches didn’t get as carved up as they usually do. They were more flattened out. Skates and dogfish have been the catch of the day. Striped bass were around before the storm. Most usually move into the bays to ride out rough weather and hunt for unsuspecting fish avoiding the rough water or they go farther out and hug the bottom. When you fish rough weather, it is best to find a “pocket” where water is being pushed into structure that usually holds fish pushed in waiting out the crazy currents. We always look for pockets with small rips to fish, like a corner where the beach meets a jetty, for example.

Fish always eat and expel more energy dealing with these conditions. Fish eat more before a storm to have that energy for stronger currents. That is why you fish before a storm. They will eat during the storm, too, if the right presentation shows up in front of them. Think of it like fish in a barrel with a selective palate. You just have to figure out what they want then keep throwing it at them.

The white perch will be feeding heavy around the area. You just have to find them as this water settles down. You never know until you go, and expect to get a little muddy in some areas. When the water in the creeks calms down, we can get back to catching grass shrimp for bait. My little desktop aquariums are empty of life. The schooling striped bass will get back on their constant fall and winter feeding. There were plenty of fish still north of us so we will see how that action plays out soon and if any are headed toward Delaware.

Beachcombers are out in droves this week. The treasures are always popping up. So far it has been a plethora of car tires that have been found. I don’t know why but for some reason a lot of tires washed up onto many Delaware beaches. It’s weird where things come from that wash up. In all nor’easters, hundreds of sunglasses are found on the beaches in the same areas, especially Cape Henlopen on Gordons Pond Beach to Herring Point. We always think there is a giant pile of them out there just waiting to be released by storm surge, but who knows. I figure since the current moves everything north along Delaware beaches, the sunglasses collect from all the swimmers losing them. Then eventually the collection breaks free in a storm.

Years ago off the coast of France, a ship container was found in an underwater cave or shelf. When a storm would hit just right, this container would release some of its contents — which were Garfield phones. It took years for people to figure out why these phones kept washing up on the beach.

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