Miss Debby is arriving this weekend in a flurry. Conditions have been calm up until the weekend. All of that rain isn’t fun but my gardens need a drink — just not all at once. Note to self: If you are going to leave for a week to fish, make sure you tend the gardens before you leave. There will be random zucchini and cucumbers left in many vehicles at the beach this weekend. At least I give you a zucchini bread and a bread and butter pickle recipe card, too.

The season is coming to a change eventually. I must prepare for fall runs, meanwhile summer fishing is in full swing, and that upwelling has been productive.

The coast’s fishing action has been good with this upwelling constantly feeding the estuaries and shoreline. Upwellings create more food for baitfish (plankton) which in turn bring in more fish to feed on bait fish and so on. The food chain moves around. When the food chain moves in close to the coast, we see a lot more fish and a wider variety.

The spot and kingfish action has been great around the beaches. The croaker action is insane in some areas — to the point some people are tired of catching croaker. Sharks, skates and rays will always be a constant catch.

We are seeing an abundance (compared to normal) of angel shark catches in the surf this year. Either people are reporting more for once or there are that many more being caught due to the upwellings. Either way it is a neat catch to see. Be careful handling angel sharks, they are protected. Most if not all anglers seem to recognize this shark is not your ordinary species and release it quickly. They are kind of freaky looking. I mean with the name angel shark, apparently they didn’t do it for the good looks.

Flounder fishing has been OK for this time of year. I think the upwelling has thrown off the offshore flounder fishing. I would fish closer to shore. We keep seeing more catches that are normally unusual. Follow the food.

Catfish have been hitting good. I am still playing with the Fishbites catfish baits and will let you know more on that soon.

The inlets have a variety of fish to catch. The bluefish move through with Spanish mackerel in the mix. Netters are finding both in their bunker nets around the inland bays.

Catching either is fun on shiny spoons or metal jigs. Reel fast for the Spanish mackerels — they like a fast meal. Think of a quick darting action, like a spearing. A spoon mimics the swish-swash tail and side action of a fish. The larger the spoon, the larger the presentation or mimic. The metal jigs like a Deadly Dick make more of the darting minnow motions, like a needle fish. Both will mimic fish well enough to catch blues or Spanish.

Slot striped bass season has been productive around the Delaware Bay and her tributaries. Three more weeks of slot fishing left. Slot season is like surf rat season but around the back bays and waterways of the Delaware Bay. Same fun, same techniques and gear. If you can fish a jetty or rock structure, use sand fleas like we do at the inlets. Even heavy structure hold striped bass. Seed the water with some fleas and then start tossing in baited circle hooks. A 4/0 to 6/0 hook is perfect.

There is a staggering amount of grass growing in a few areas of the Chesapeake Bay. We need that grass back in our inland bays and the Delaware Bay. Instead, our inland bays are full of sand bars covered with boats full of people who are walking around in fragile estuaries using them as toilets. You can’t walk a dog in a few areas down here on land because they are “protected” but the inland bays is a wide open toilet on the sand bars for pets.
We are never going to get the bays clean and back to supporting a variety of life if we keep allowing these to fill in and using them poorly. Just an observation from this past weekend. I honestly don’t think legally I can write what I saw in a public paper. That water is foul around those crowded sandbars. Maybe do some water tests during peak drinking hours to see how bad the bacteria level gets. The inland bays are under a 24/7 swim advisory in the summer. People barely know that is an issue, since there aren’t any signs at public boat ramps.

At least the ocean water is cooler and cleaner.

Get your summer fishing in. We will be seeing these fish for much longer this year is my guess. It certainly isn’t getting any cooler. So far it was the hottest summer in a very long time and broke records. The fact this could be the coolest summer we ever see for the future is the real problem people need to wrap their head around.