Summer fishing rarely changes, just the frequency of catches. Some weeks it is pointless to do fishing reports, since nothing changes. What does change are the water temperatures. Now we are in the bathtub months.

Flounder become more frequent along the surf. Spot, croaker and the usual small fish still abide. Kingfish have been scarcer recently. You have to cast a little farther out and deeper on the higher tides. Fishing the surf at a dead low tide in the middle of the day is pointless. You can catch, but it is brutal. The surf is 80 degrees. Even the pompano have slowed down.

Now we finally have the puppy drum in the surf — the little juvenile black drum that many mistake for sheepshead. We use the same baits and DS Custom Tackle top and bottom or spot rigs we use for the other small fish.

Fishbites has been the easiest to use, as bloodworm availability is random. Sand fleas can be dug up or use the Fishbites sand flea formula. Puppy drum can still be caught in the surf and waterways as late as November. The puppies showing up marks another incoming visitor I love to catch in the surf — albies.

North Jersey to central Jersey and lower has come hot for albies in the surf. They are a blast to catch on spoons and other metals. Be sure to cast and reel very fast, like wrist-crushing fast, because they blitz bait. Deadly Dicks are perfect for that action, but spoons will surface too fast. It is like hooking an angry torpedo.

Finding albies is easy — just wait for them to come by in schools. The water will boil a little like bluefish, but it is different looking and easy to spot. The birds help, too. They will follow albies more than the bluefish schools. The albies will also porpoise while chasing bait, which is a really good indicator.

Based on reports up north, I’d expect to see them in a week or so in Delaware waters. The Delaware Bay boat anglers will catch them sooner than the surf anglers. If you are out on a weekday and the beach is empty, grab a rod for casting and be ready to move the vehicle in the direction of the fish. By the time you read this, I expect to see several boats flounder fishing offshore catching albies. Get a rod set up much like you would for catching striped bass.

The water temperatures are fire right now. Bathtub conditions which is perfect for more vibrio blooms. The inland bays recreational water advisory is 24/7 this time of year. Be careful wading in hotter than usual water, and bathe or wash off afterward. Wear old shoes walking the inland bays to prevent cuts from glass and shells.

Massey’s Ditch water temperatures are fluctuating between 81 and 84 degrees. Fish early mornings and late evenings for better luck at catching. The drive-on drinking beaches will be just that on the weekends at this point.

This is why we like that The Point opened. It’s much better water to fish — deeper, cooler, fast-moving. We do have schools of fish (bunker mostly) all over the place. You can check water conditions on the Delaware Bay Operational Forecast System. Just click on any of the red pins and it will pull up a page of all kinds of live data; wind, tide, salinity and water temperatures.

As mentioned, The Point is open! We waited all summer for this day, with gleeful anticipation. It is one of our favorite places to fish. Pro tip: For some reason, almost every year the fishing is horrible the first week or so. We don’t care and go out anyway, because you never know and we want to see our favorite place. I checked her out this morning and she looks great. Wide beaches, tons of wildlife, a perfect primitive beach setting, until all the day drinkers show up for the holiday weekend.

After the holiday, we will be sort of back to the days of no one on the beaches and ample room to fish, or do whatever out there, as it should be. Parks need to limit vehicles on the beaches to protect the resources and the user group’s feelings last. The beaches are getting hammered. The drive-on beaches need real stewardship.

The Point is often confused with Herring Point, which is on the opposite or Rehoboth Beach side of Cape Henlopen State Park. Back in the day, The Point was known as the Point of Cape before Fort Miles was established and then Cape Henlopen State Park renamed her The Point.

She changes shape every year. Sand moves north along Delaware’s beaches and is deposited at the point and the flats. The one issue now is The Point is growing, creating issues for the outer wall and the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse, that we call the spark plug. If it gets worse, she is in danger of toppling into the ocean. The scouring occurring is digging out more sand between the point and the lighthouse as The Point grows each year.

Fishing The Point has many options: oceanside back to the bayside flats, and the space in between the two. There are a few “rips” that start at the bayside point and push water to the churning rips of the point on the outgoing tide. The bayside point is where the bay flats area meets the edge of the point (shoal). Swimming in this area is not recommended and discouraged. A water rescue at The Point in 2018 was an interesting time. Read the story at www.delaware-surf-fishing.com/water-rescue-point-today-dsf-crew.

Many a time, we tell passing kayakers and SUP users to not go beyond this area. Some listen, others have a colorful reaction. So we dial 911 and wait to hit send. That is a great way to get shot out into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Point itself is like a large washing machine and is deceptive. The sand in the water reminds you of a sand bar in low water, but it is really the edge of a giant shoal, almost a hundred feet deep at the bottom toward the lighthouse.

Fishing there is different. Cast into the rips and churning water looking for bluefish, striped bass and weakfish. We “drift” the point on weekdays, casting eight- to 10-ounce-plus weights on a line with a fly and spoon, and letting it drift in the current around the “corner” hoping to get hammered by a big fish. You have to walk along the point, follow the current, and hold your surf rod straight up. When you complete the “drift,” reel in, walk back and repeat.

Holding bottom there is not possible, but many try. Sometimes you can hold along the edge and catch fish. It depends on how she is shaped up each year.
The space between the bayside point and the actual point is shallow on the edge then deep, much like a shoal or giant sand bar and we fish it as such.

Usually the bluefish schools will move along the shallow areas. You do not need to step into the water to cast. At that point, you are standing in the fish that are within 10 feet of the shoreline most times. We watch schools of bluefish move right down this shoreline all the time. This morning, I watched dolphin hammer fish 10 feet from my feet. When they show up, the fishing shuts down. Nothing feeds while it is swimming for its life. Think of it this way: If a crazy person is chasing you down the street with a knife, you aren’t going to stop for a cheeseburger.

Flounder will sit in these areas hitting mullet as the schools swim by, as well. This is a good place to cast net for mullet then use them for bait in the same spot just a little farther out. When you cast out farther, your weight will stick in the moving sand or get jammed up on the edge of what some think is an old wall. I have some scuba diver friends in town for a while. We might be sending them down to check this out this year.

The sights and sounds of The Point are like no other Delaware beach: pelicans diving on fish, horseback riders, planes, charter and head boats heading out to fish. The ferry floating by constantly loaded with cars and passengers headed to and from Cape May. Pilot boats ripping through the heavy currents taking their Delaware river pilots to the big ships offshore. SUPs and kayakers getting jammed up in the rough water, hoping we don’t have to rescue them. Gorgeous sailboats running the Delaware Bay to Cape May or just out for the day. You never know what you will see at The Point on the daily. Beach combing is amazing, too.

Overnight surf fishing trips are a blast there — the sunsets are dope!

We are also doing a beach cleanup there on Sept. 7. We had to postpone the one scheduled for Sept. 2 due to weather. We will host weekly beach cleanups every Tuesday until the season slows down, then move to Saturdays or Sundays.