I have been fishing Indian River Inlet since I was a boy and my parents would go there for the day. We stayed at the cottage of my parents’ friends in Dewey Beach, and a day at the inlet was just something a lot of people did back in the 1950s.
In those days, the bulkhead was a sheet of steel that got really hot during the day. I caught a lot of very small black sea bass and the occasional flounder. I still have the rod and reel I used back then.
On Wednesday, I went to the inlet intent on catching some hickory shad. I was there a week ago and got skunked. While fishing was a tad on the slow side, at least I managed to catch a couple. Everyone around me was using small silver spoons and catching at least two for every one I caught.
I knew when I arrived that fishing was going to be slow. The birds that were diving on the rips were terns, not black-backed or laughing gulls. I don’t know what those terns are eating, but whatever it was, it wasn’t being chased to the surface by feeding fish. When the gulls get in on the action, you can bet there are fish under them. It may be shad, blues, trout or striped bass.
Indian River Inlet provides fishing access pretty much all year. And while you do have to pay to enter Delaware Seashore State Park, if you are going to fish there on a regular basis, you can get an annual pass.
Right now, shad are the best bet, and they can be caught from the sidewalk just west of the bridge, down the north side where the bank turns more to the north, on the south side under the bridge or at the corner at the end of the campground.
Tackle is pretty basic: a spinning rod and reel that will handle an ounce or two of weight. I like to use 20-pound braid with about 3 or 4 feet of 30-pound fluorocarbon leader. Most of the fishermen I see use a 1- or 2-ounce trolling sinker and about 12 to 18 inches mono or fluorocarbon leader to the small silver spoon. I do the same, only I have been using a shad dart.
Catching flounder from the inlet is a bit more difficult. Some folks use a live minnow on a circle hook with little or no weight. The bait is allowed to swim down in the rocks and hopefully find a hungry flounder. One of the better locations to do this is the calm water west of the bridge that runs alongside the campground. Flounder lie along the bottom there and I have seen anglers catch one after another doing exactly what I just described. Of course, most were short, but they caught enough keepers to limit out.
A few years ago, I saw a couple just setting up to fish the inlet. The young man had a wire top-bottom rig and a box of frozen squid. His sinker was a 4-ounce pyramid. In an effort to help him, I told him if he cast that rig out into the inlet, he would never see it again. He sort of gave me a snort, like, what does that old man know. Made the cast and said goodbye to his only rig.
If you are going to fish bait on the bottom for tog, you should use the longest rod you can find. I use a 12-foot surf rod and have seen other anglers using rods that measured at least 13 or 14 feet. The idea is to drop your bait straight down from the rod tip. If you can do this, there is less chance that the current will carry the rig into the rocks and lodge it there. I use a regular bank sinker.
Floating sand fleas is an old technique that is very effective on striped bass and trout. I have even caught a few tog doing this. All you do is tie a circle hook on a 2- or 3-foot section of 30-pound fluorocarbon line and attach this to your running line. Bait the hook with a sand flea and cast it up current, then allow it to drift down past your position. You can stay in one place or move along trying different locations. If you want to fish a bit deeper, you can add a split shot or two where the leader attaches to the running line.
I have my best luck during incoming water. This usually begins about an hour and a half after the tide chart calls for low tide. During that time, the water at the inlet will be going in on the bottom and out on the top.
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Eric Burnley is a Delaware native who has fished and hunted the state from an early age. Since 1978 he has written countless articles about hunting and fishing in Delaware and elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast. He has been the regional editor for several publications and was the founding editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman magazine. Eric is the author of three books: Surf Fishing the Atlantic Coast, The Ultimate Guide to Striped Bass Fishing and Fishing Saltwater Baits. He and his wife Barbara live near Milton, Delaware. Eric can be reached at Eburnle@aol.com.
