Robbie Baxley shows off his winning flounder at the Canal flounder tournament. (Submitted photo)

Well we finally got some nice weather. Higher temperatures will bring the water temperatures up and fish should start being more active in the tidal waters.

Despite the low temperature, there were some decent catches at the annual Canal Flounder Tournament in Lewes last weekend.  Robbie Baxley of Milton bested 390 anglers to take first place with a 6.7-pound flounder.

Robbie said they almost lost the fish on the retrieve.

“We were netting the fish when my line snapped, the teaser hook got caught up in the net and we were able to put the fish in the boat,” he said. “It was hanging from the rig, or I would have lost the flounder.”

The tidal creeks and bays are still stirred up from all of the rain. The water starts to clear up, and then we get hit again.

Hopefully a few days of clear weather will remedy the chocolate look to the surf in

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell fishes off the reopened Cape Henlopen pier. (Submitted photo)

Cape Henlopen. The southern beaches form Dewey to Fenwick Island have the cleanest looking water.

Back on the pier

The Cape Henlopen fishing pier opened Wednesday at noon.

There was a “ribbon-cutting” with Gov. Jack Markell and DNREC Secretary David Small, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Acting Assistant Director Paul Rauch, Delaware Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf, Delaware State Parks Director Ray Bivens, Representatives Stephen Smyk, Tim Dukes, Dave Wilson, and Sen. Ernie Lopez.

Millsboro Middle School brought 20 kids to fish and they threw out the first casts.

Delaware Mobile Surf fishermen President Bruce West and club members helped the kids fish, I helped out as well.  It was fun to be the first people to fish the new pier.

Would have been better had we caught something.

We did that in the form of fish tacos from the Taco Reho food truck.

Good to see the pier back in action, when I left it was crowded like it normally would be on a day like Wednesday, it was gorgeous outside.

What’s biting

Still decent striped bass catches in the surf on bunker chunks.

Boats should be seeing fish moving along the shore and around the Indian River Inlet and places between.  Lot of big bluefish action still here, and the summer snapper blues are showing up at the Indian River Inlet and surrounding beaches.  Those sized blues are a lot of fun on light gear.

Some nice Gar action hitting in the Nanticoke river.  Decent carp action in all the creeks.  Bass action is great with cranks and buzz baits. Lot of frogs are working for top water weedy action.

Pickerel are hitting hard as usual, I like that action on ultralight gear. Those little beasts are a fun fight.

Crappie action has been decent. You can always bait up some pure stink and go for big blue cats in the tidal creeks. That is a fun fight and some serious pull.  Blue cats are invasive so they need  to be removed as much as possible, or as I like to say, another good excuse to go fishing.  “Honey I have to go fishing, I have to do my part.”

Park it

Don’t forget June 5 is free parks admission day in all Delaware State Parks. That weekend is also free fishing, you don’t need a license that Saturday and Sunday.  You can rent fishing gear at the Cape Henlopen Pier from Lighthouse View Bait and Tackle.

If fishing and such is not your thing, you should hit Lums Pond and try the Go Ape ropes course.  It is not just  a bunch of zip lines, it is a full blown high ropes course and will challenge anyone.  Great fun for a whole family.  There are five different courses with difficulty ratings. Each course ends with a zip line, and the last one is seven hundred feet long across the water, it is exhilarating.  Especially for someone who doesn’t like heights, like me.

Rich King’s column appears Thursdays in the Delaware State News.