The striped bass run is on!

That is the buzz around the piers and beach.

A few weeks ago during the February warm up bass started to school up and feed heavier.

Then we had that cold snap and they slowed down feeding, but not migrating.

Now the Chesapeake bay and tributaries are filling up with striped bass.

The Delaware Bay just started to see some migratory bass and more are on the way.

We have seen large bass in the waves of the surf, passing the beaches in Delaware.

There are tons of bunker schools all over the Delaware Bay and herring are so thick in tidal creeks you could walk across the water without getting your feet wet.

This is the first phase of the run.  The fish will spawn and then head north for the summer. You have plenty of time to get in on the spring run.

 Schooling

Schooling bass are all over the tidal creeks and beaches of Delaware.

We have even caught a few keepers.

Michael Duncan of Helly Hansen caught the first documented keeper in Delaware for 2017 the other day when we were fishing the Indian River Inlet.

He released the rockfish since she was laden with eggs. We don’t keep spawning females, ever.

We were using white swim shads and white flies, the fish seemed to only want that color that afternoon.

A few days later they were hitting every color we threw at them.  Fish can be finicky some days and not the next.

Let the big girls go.

I can’t stress this enough, since the run has started early there are a lot of female bass being landed and kept.

Please let the big breeders go, we need them to help replenish the stocks.

Spawning season in Delaware starts the first of April and you will not be able to keep striped bass in certain areas.

“The spawning season for striped bass in Delaware is considered to begin at 12:01 a.m. on April 1 and continue through midnight on May 31 of each calendar year,” according to DNREC guidelines. “It is unlawful for any person to take and retain any striped bass during the spawning season from the Nanticoke River or its tributaries, the Delaware River and its tributaries to the north of a line extending due east beginning at and including the south jetty at the mouth of the C & D Canal, or the C & D Canal or its tributaries.

“Catch and release only during this season; no harvest is allowed.  It is unlawful for any person to fish during the striped bass pawning season on any striped bass spawning ground with natural bait using any hook other than a non-offset circlehook when the gap (the opening between the point to the shank) of said hook is greater than 3/8 inches”

Last of the cold?

Freshwater action has really picked up with the recent warm up and hopefully that was the last of the cold snaps.

Anglers fishing for white perch are getting surprised with large bass hitting bloodworms on small hooks on their top and bottom rigs.

That is always an exciting retrieve.  Large mouth bass and pickerel action is really picking up.  Crappie action is good as well in most areas.  It has been a decent spring so far even though a little off with the weather.

The first summer flounder of the year was landed recently in Virginia, it shouldn’t be long now for Delaware to see some flattie action.

Delmarva Outdoors Expo

Looking forward to seeing everyone April 28-30 for the first annual Delmarva Outdoors Expo.

We will have a booth there with apparel.  We will also be doing a few presentations on surf fishing throughout the event.