A couple of weeks ago, we looked at what the government is going to allow us to catch in 2024. This week, let’s look at what I think the fish are going to let us catch.
Due to the same reasons the government has put a 28% reduction on recreational flounder landings – poor reproduction and low biomass – believe flounder fishing is going to be tough. Those who work at it will still do well, while those who go out, pick a spot and just drift along with no attention paid to bottom structure, tide, current, time of day and moon phase will luck into a few.
Last year saw lots of croaker around. I think 2024 will see those fish return in a larger size. This will be good news for the headboat fleet in Delaware Bay. It is also good news for me since there is no fish I enjoy catching more than a nice, big croaker.
Croaker fishing is really stupid fishing. Once you get on a school of fish, all you have to do is drop down a baited hook or two and you will catch a croaker or two on every drop. No fancy bait required. Squid, cut clam, strips of any bait fish, or any flavor Gulp! or Fishbites.
Once the croaker arrive, you will find them in the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal, on all Delaware Bay reef sites, on the ocean reef sites and in Indian River and Rehoboth bays. They congregate over just about any type of structure, and you can catch them drifting or on the anchor. Just be sure that everyone in the area is on the hook before dropping yours.
The one species that is definitely on the comeback is the weakfish, aka trout or gray trout. Last year, I had them in my reports to 7 pounds, and I expect to see more large ones this year. Right now, the size limit is 13 inches and the bag limit is one fish per day. If you plan to target trout, I suggest casting a white or yellow bucktail with a purple worm or Gulp! to hard structure such as the Inner or Outer walls, the Ice Breakers, the rocks at Indian River Inlet, or jig the bucktail over any of the reef sites.
I had always considered weakfish an inshore species, but my son Roger recently went on an offshore bottom fishing trip 60 miles out of Belmar, N.J. It was an overnight trip that left the dock at 7 p.m. During the predawn hours, some of the anglers caught 3- to 5-pound weakfish. This was 60 miles out and in 200 feet of water. First, I find out that striped bass go as far out as the Hudson Canyon and now it appears that weakfish go out to deep water as well.
As many of you know, surf-fishing is my first love. It was terrible in 2023 due to some early storms that flattened the beach and left us no structure at all. It will be interesting to see what the winter has in store for us and what the beach will look like come spring. There is no shortage of bait, with bunker as plentiful as anyone can remember. We just need some beach structure to attract the gamefish to the shoreline.
Bluefish are another species that should be more plentiful in 2024 than they were in 2023. I saw some decent-size blues caught on the Angler out of Ocean City, Md., in late November. While I don’t expect the kind of action we had back in the ’70s and ’80s, I do believe there will be more blues around.
I did catch a few solid 3- to 4-pound blues out of Indian River Inlet last spring on metal lures. It was far from a blitz, but the fish were there and everybody fishing the area near the bridge on the northside had fish to take home.
Getting farther offshore, the tuna fishing should also be good. When I covered the 50th White Marlin Open, all we saw for the first four days were yellowfin and bigeye tuna. Not only that, but when I call my two reporting stations for the radio fishing report on WGMD, if the weather is good, I can count on tuna being caught on charter and private boats out of Lewes and Indian River. And then to top the tuna season off, we had bluefins in the 100- to 150-pound class caught at Fenwick Shoals in December.
The year 2024 will come and go, and the fish will do what fish will do, paying no attention to people like me who try to predict their behavior. One thing is true: You gotta go out to catch ’em.
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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.
