Surf’s up! If you are at the northbeach of Indian River Inlet, the beach is washed out on the daily now. I feel for the workers dealing with all of that mess. Props to the folks working day and night to keep sand in place to protect Route 1 and the bridge. Now let’s talk causeway for the future. In the meantime, I totally understand this is the process to do what needs to be done to protect what needs to be protected. However, I do enjoy all the armchair engineers on the internet, and they are fun to stir up on occasion. Kudos to the crews. Look on the bright side, you’re being paid to play in the sand in big Tonka toys. Lemonade. So give these crews the space, it will be over soon enough, maybe.

Weather is subpar at best all week into the weekend. It might be time to do some shopping and fish inland more, coastal less. Striped bass like gnarly water conditions and buddy do we have those. The bass are schooling up already around the waterways. You know where to go look, try that spot you like. Check the lights at night. Try sand fleas or shrimp for bait. Throw small white or pearl swim shads. The 2-ounce red/white bucktail never fails single or in tandem.
The fishing is a little rough around the Indian River Inlet, but people are catching. The water is grungy from stirred up sand. The sand is from one side of the inlet mostly, so that might help get some fish excited. That could go two ways. Usually stirred up replenishment sand is bad for fishing (dead sand). Stirring up sand on a shoal full of food (live sand) for replenishment stirs up food and attracts fish. It’s been hit or miss in the surf as it is the past week anyway. Bluefish catches are picking up.

Bull red drum are still off the surf around Assateague. We caught a lot of spot to use as bait at Cupola Park using Fishbites earthworm formula.
I’ve seen some trigger and sheepshead come off structure. Flounder are around the bays and waterways. It takes a lot of throwbacks to to get that keeper. Spotted trout are around as well as weakfish. We have been making perch rigs for weeks for fall into winter fishing.

I’m going to quote these folks’ page because I think this is amazing and they could use some help. From the Delaware Riverkeeper Network Facebook page: “A few miles below the Delaware River Water Gap sits the Paulins Kill River, a tributary to the Delaware River. More than 6 years ago, if you tried to go up the Paulins Kill, you’d be met by the 300 foot wide, 18 foot high Columbia Lake Dam, which stood for 110 years. In 2018, the dam was removed, allowing fish and aquatic life to move freely up and down the river as that once had before. This past week, DRN Restoration Director, Erik Silldorff, took a handful of volunteers on the Paulins Kill to survey for freshwater mussels as part of our multiyear monitoring efforts to track the progress of the return of aquatic life following the removal of the dam. Surveys are being conducted for the remainder of September and we’re inviting members of the public to take part snorkeling for mussels with us. If you’re interested, please contact erik@delawareriverkeeper.org and/or visit the site below for more information: https://delawareriverkeeper.org.”

Before you head out to the beaches or tidal waterways connected to the Atlantic Ocean, check for closed beaches and look around for any medical waste debris, mostly needles. Be on the lookout for medical waste debris in any back bay area thanks to these strong east winds. This is an ongoing issue as far down as Chincoteague the past few days. The other issue many seem to forget is waves and wind action bury debris fast. It will not take long with the current conditions to cover said medical waste. Just a heads up, it would be a good idea to wear footwear on our beaches for a while. I think people would be surprised what is under our sand. Most beaches along Delmarva are all closed to swimming and wading. Wear shoes, preferably thick-soled shoes. It’s work boot season anyway.

The annual drum tournament has been postponed until next weekend due to weather and probably medical waste, which has closed the OSV at Assateague Island.

Some cool news: A tarpon was caught from the surf at Martha’s Vineyard. Yes that far up north and yes it is possible, just rare.

You may see what appears to be a shrimp trawler off our coast on occasion. You are not seeing things, and Forrest is not lost. The Atlantic white shrimp fishery has boosted up in our waters and allowed room for a pilot commercial “shrimp’n” program Maryland is running. You can literally catch a shrimp cocktail in the right places without the help of Lieutenant Dan or Bubba, even around the inland bays and Delaware Bay without a boat.

I am sad to hear of the passing of Terry Peach, owner of A Marblehead Flyfisher. Terry was a great fly angler, dearly missed by many wand wizards. My prayers to his family, friends and loved ones.