Small showing for first weekend of trout season
I hope everyone was able to enjoy the spring season that fell on St. Patty’s Day, because looking at the long-term weather forecast it appears that is all we are going to get. They are even calling for snow on the first day of spring today. This is getting ridiculous!
I did drive over to Newton Pond March 15 and was a bit surprised by the very small crowd of trout fishermen. I had thought with the rain March 14 a lot more folks would come out on Sunday, but if they did, they left before I arrived. I stayed about 15 minutes and never saw a fish caught.
Once the ice came off the ponds, I began to see photos of anglers with large pickerel. These fish are fun to catch and will pretty much hit anything that passes by their nose. They like to lie in wait by structure, such as lilly pads or grass beds, and ambush their prey. When selecting a fishing location, choose a pond with lots of cover. The Nanticoke River and Broad Creek also hold some very big pickerel.
Saltwater fishermen still have a long wait before we see much in the way of catching. On Tuesday, the water temperature in the ocean had just cracked the 40-degree mark, and the bay was at 39 degrees. Before we can expect to catch the first flounder of the year, we will need to have water temperatures in the 55-degree range with 60 degrees a better choice. Tog will start feeding before then, first in the ocean and then in the bay.
Striped bass
We still don’t know what the Delaware striped bass regulations will be for the rest of the 2015 season, but currently you are allowed two fish over 28 inches. Most of the states to our north have reduced their limit to one fish over 28 inches, while Maryland has announced its trophy season with a one-fish limit of either one from 28 to 36 or one greater than 40 inches. The catch-and-release season in the upper bay is still on.
I have had reports that the migration of striped bass is underway in the Chesapeake Bay, so I expect the same is true in Delaware Bay. We seldom have much action until the spawn is over and the fish are moving back down the bay into the ocean. It will begin in the upper bay around Collins Beach, then move south with Broadkill Beach and the Coral Beds off Slaughter Beach seeing the first keepers. At best, I believe it will be mid-April before anything gets moving in Delaware Bay.
Free beach tags
A bill has been introduced in the Delaware Legislature that would grant the ladies auxiliary members of Delaware volunteer fire companies free surf fishing tags. Active firefighters already get free tags, with 1,100 issued last year.
It will be interesting to see how this bill moves through the Legislature. In Delaware, volunteer fire companies usually get what they want from the Legislature because they control a large voting bloc and because they protect our life and property. I’ll let you decide which of these two factors has the most influence on our elected representatives and senators.
The people at DNREC will probably not make a comment on this because they depend on the Legislature for funding, and opposing any one member can be costly. I do know the burden of 1,100 free surf fishing permits has added to the overcrowding problem, and giving out more free tags is not going to help the situation. It is also possible that once the volunteers of the ladies auxiliary are given free tags, every other volunteer group in the state will ask for the same privilege. A slippery slope indeed.
Cape Henlopen fishing pier
It is going to be a bit longer than originally thought before the fishing pier at Cape Henlopen State Park will be open to the public. The problem is the very cold winter that dropped water temperatures in the bay below 32 degrees. The epoxy used to fix the pilings needs at least a 40-degree temperature to cure properly, and we have yet to reach that level. Right now the best bet is late spring or early summer before the pier is fixed.
The repaired pier is supposed to last for three years, and then a new pier may be built. The last word was a location on the ocean side of the park will be considered due to shoaling on the bay side. That is a multimillion-dollar project that will have to be funded with a bond bill. Considering how important the pier is to recreational fishermen, I hope a solution can be found.
