Hope everyone has had a great week, some of our fellow folks have not. I had a lot of friends displaced by this hurricane at the coast and in the mountains. Imagine evacuating to the mountains to avoid a hurricane only to have the hurricane come to the mountains.

The mountains can’t take a hurricane. If you can help, please do so. I have a great way to help without being in the way and from afar. We all have stuff laying around we don’t need or in a pile for that yard sale. Keep that stuff and look for more. Use www.pirateship.com. Keep an eye out for places to donate these goods you have and mail them to places in need. Social media is already filling up with local groups and churches looking for donations. Just an idea to let people help out from afar and not get in the way. Also look for people locally loading trucks. Some of these people are going to need everything.

I just mailed a box of extra tools to a buddy of mine. He said, “I need my tools back so bad so I can clean up and get back to work.” They all went with the truck in a mudslide. He hasn’t found the truck yet, and possibly won’t. I haven’t used this old tool belt in years, so I sent it to him, loaded.

For us here in Delmarva, the weather has been slightly annoying — if it isn’t windy then it’s windy again. We did finally see some rain. It is fall fishing conditions, and the only issue is getting near water at high tide. I have to wear my high boots. Getting out in a boat has been hit or miss. It is not a lot of fun out there, one captain told me. Sure you can go out but it’s going to beat you up and that’s no fun for anyone. We are going out when we can get decent conditions. Then there is the question of if you will catch.

The beaches look pretty carved up still from storm surge. That always smooths out eventually. I’d expect the beaches above the Indian River Inlet to keep that structure longer with constant sand additions. The dune “whoopsie” in the north parking lot is nearly as tall as the bridge. These crews are moving an enormous amount of sand. All the while the inlet wall is being worked on in the corner of the north side. It looks like crews have a stable corner rebuilt and are now putting in a structure, I suppose to hold the sheet metal. Stay tuned. I should probably look at the ACOE announcements to see what is going on but guessing is more fun. Honestly it looks like the beginning of an epic pier. We could really use more fishing piers in Delaware. It’s weird to live in a state that has so much coastline and so little public access.

Anglers are fishing the southside of the Indian River Inlet. The front part of the northside is closed along the jetty cap and the beach. Surfers and anglers need to use the south side for access. There is fishing at the northside, inside the inlet from the campground back to the marina. I saw a few decent keeper tautog caught Wednesday around lunch at high tide. Many guys were casting lures for bluefish.

Bluefish are around and the surf has been active to not very active. It is fall, so it’s hit or miss. Most days you aren’t catching much at all. We fished last weekend and nary got more than a skate. ’Tis the season, I suppose. I do like catching the summer fish even if we didn’t see the variety this year. Croaker are still thick everywhere with spot mixed in in many areas. You just have to find the fish.

Flounder will start moving out of the estuaries and bays to the surf and eventually offshore. That fishing has also been hit or miss this past week.
Striped bass are schooling up around all the waterways. Getting to the water’s edge is the fun part. Wear your waders for mud and the bugs.

White swim shad season is upon us. I love the fall. You can always count on fall fish to hit pretty much the same thing every year. It makes it a lot easier selecting gear. Those little pearl swim shads are perfect and small bucktails, too.

The new Delaware state record snakehead was caught by Mike Gardner.

From Mike’s Facebook page: “I feel so blessed to finally catch what I believe to be the same fish I have been chasing over the past 4-5 years. She was 13 and very small change when she first come out of the water but these fish lose so much slime! I got her to the scale as fast as I could because I knew this fish had a chance… At 33 inches long with a 15 1/2 inch girth, this fish was a giant! Coming in at an official new Delaware state record weight of 12.95 pounds! She had a completely empty stomach and spit up a giant crappie during the fight. I believe I got this same fish to bite during the spawn but wasn’t able to drive a hook home. Only those of you that chase them know how big it could’ve been with a belly full of eggs! Cheers to a true Delaware dragon and finally catching the fish I knew would break the record!”