I had a blast fishing the tournament with my friends. We helped raise money for a great organization, and had a blast doing it.

Cast For A Cure is a team surf fishing tournament held annually in Delaware. Proceeds go to the Tunnel Cancer Center Special Needs Fund.

We had two teams for Lewes Harbor and, if we were scoring the amount of fish caught, Gary Basehore would have killed it. He caught a hundred sand perch. Mike Basehore, Ed Borys, and Tyler Speraw had the same action, a lot of small unscoreable fish.

The food on the beach and off the beach was excellent. We always eat well when we fish or hang out.

The excitement was extended to Sunday for the awards ceremony at Delaware Distilling Company. No one knew the winners yet, that would not be tallied until the next day. Rumors were it was close. We had a great buffet at Delaware Distilling Company and  the awards were announced. The second place winner was team “3 Guys And A Girl” with 77 points. Third place was a three way tie, between, teams Retired, Working, and Learning, Red Dog, and Team Lil Angler II.

Congratulations to all of the teams. Over the years, since we are not washing our lucky shirts, we may not have company in a couple of years.

Fishing report

The surf has been decent some days and quiet the next. The heat waves don’t help.

The tournament had three beaches covered and the fishing was tough for sure. A lot of people didn’t land much fish at all.

Big bluefish action is about done since the water is warming up fast. Eventually, it will just be the summer snappers. Same for the striped bass that is pretty much over until the fall run.

Kingfish action is decent, with a lot of small perch and spotted hake. I fished the entire tournament with fishbites, they were catching fine, just small kings, they will get bigger.

There have been some citation sizes caught.  Still seeing a lot of burrfish in the mix with northern puffers. Skates, digs, big rays, and sharks are a given this time of year.

Flounder action at the old grounds and reef sites is picking up and will continue to do so.

The inland bays are getting better and so is the Lewes Canal and Broadkill River. A lot of small croaker and weakfish around Broadkill beach and other Delaware Bay beaches are hitting bloodworms and fishbites. They are small for keepers but several have been caught in the 15-inch range. There were some in the five-pound range around the Delaware Bay and still are out there, somewhere.

Crabbing is excellent and the pots are filling up nicely.  Those summer snapper blues carcasses make great crab bait for traps.  Add some chicken to keep the crabs interest for a long soak. When your trap is out of bait, crabs will leave the trap, they have little to do all day but keep moving around until they find a way out. They don’t know they are in a crab trap, they just eventually find the way out because they lost interest in the food at the center of the trap. They are looking for their next meal.

Off shore action has been awesome for yellow fins and mahi.  Lot of wildlife being seen at sea, even a whale shark. Marlin action is picking up and when the weather allows boats are loading the boxes.  Cobia are starting to show up in the Chesapeake Bay.

Short striped bass action is decent at night at Masseys Landing. Lures like small poppers or small swims shads are great, but sand fleas will really catch ‘em up. Get about half a bucket at the beach. Use the fleas like you are feeding pigeons. Chum up the water with a few fleas, then throw one in on a hook. No weight, just let it live line so to speak. The rockfish will slam the flea in no time. This also works well at the Indian River Inlet. There have been a few large bass at the inlet but all have been in the release size for the slot limit.