Where did the bluefish go?

That’s the question of the last couple of days.

Everyone is wondering will the bluefish still be here or where did they go? The weather change made fishing a little difficult in some areas. The blues were hot and heavy at the beaches, but then the short striped bass turned back on.

Large migratory striped bass are showing up around Assateague Island and even in Jersey.

So where are the fish in Delaware?

They are here you just have to be there.

There are a lot of bluefish around the inland bays now schooled up and feeding heavily. They are also running the beaches in schools.

So if you aren’t there when they run by you will miss them, such is the nature of fishing.

Large migratory bass tend to follow these schools either behind them or under them. That can make fishing for striped bass difficult when these blues are running or schooled up. Especially if they are schooled up in deeper water.

It is hard to get through them to the striped bass. Best thing to do is keep trying, that is all I can tell you.

Beating the drum

Black drum action in the Delaware bay is picking up.

The boats out of Lewes are starting to catch large black drum up in the usual areas, like the coral beds off Slaughter Beach.

Clam is the ticket for these behemoths.  Even in the surf you need to use clam, but going for them in boats is a much better way to catch. Even though us surf anglers say boat fish don’t count.

I’m kidding, all fish count!

Check out Skipjack charters for a trip. They landed the first recorded drum this year out of Lewes the other night. One weighed in over 60 pounds. They managed to land two after a long night of fishing.

More reports

Tautog fishing ends today and then black sea bass starts up on May 15.

Several of my charter captain buddies are looking forward to that break to go fish for striped bass and bluefish.

Kingfish are showing up more and more in the surf, but the only problem is the bluefish. Best thing to do is if you aren’t catching the big blues, throw out a few top and bottom rigs and see what little fish are out there.

Chances are if the blues aren’t around, there will be smaller fish to catch.

Baitfish are thick around the Delaware Bay and Inland Bays. They are so thick in some areas you could walk across them to the other side of an inlet.

Bluefish are all over the place still, so you don’t have to look too hard.

They have moved into back bays and tidal rivers looking for food. Like a friend of mine said, if all of these fish school up it’s going to get ugly.

We may be too that point, we shall see. We spent hours on the beaches the last few days and barely caught any blues, but friends in other locations tore them up.

We spent three days chasing fish from land, some days were good, but for the most part it was horrible action. We chased the skunk big time. It happens.

Flounder action is slow but doable.  There are tiny croaker at the Cape Henlopen pier.  Summer fishing is coming — we just have to get past the spring bluefish madness and hope there are some fish left after they leave.

Thresher

There was a thresher shark spotted at the Indian River inlet yesterday and people are really freaking out about that.

In a video the shark looks distressed. I have no idea what was going on and I hope it made it out OK.

Just because we fish doesn’t mean we want all fish to be caught. Most of the time we want the life out there to thrive and survive for the future of the fishery.