Fall is the best time to fish from the beach, but this year it will be more of a challenge. The recent series of storms brought excessive high tides and overwash to all of the Delaware beaches from Broadkill to Fenwick Island. The crossovers have been closed due to beach erosion, but will reopen as soon as repairs can be made. The beach itself will be completely different since the big surf has changed the bottom structure and created new washouts, bars and sloughs.
You should plan to visit the beach at low tide to study the new structure and look for the best place to set up shop for a day of fishing. Obvious locations such as the Point at Cape Henlopen will be covered up with anglers. I have found 3Rs Road south of Indian River Inlet to be a good place to fish since the beach drops off quickly there and deep water is close to shore.
There is usually a lot of structure a little north of the inlet in front of the old Coast Guard station, so you will have to check that out. Look for a lot of shells on the beach. That indicates a shell-covered bottom that will attract spot, croaker and kingfish.
Recently, I have been fishing Fenwick Island. Many years ago, when I was goose hunting at Snow Farm in Smyrna, I left my pit early because it was a bluebird day and the geese were flying at 10,000 feet. I drove down to Fenwick Island and made a couple of casts before low tide. Caught a blue and a trout.
Left and went to Murray’s Bait and Tackle, where I met up with Leonard Maull. We split three dozen live spot and headed back to Fenwick Island. Not a bird in the sky nor a ripple on the water. We caught 49 trout before dark. The last spot I used was deader than a doornail and had more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese.
Last year, I was fishing at Fenwick when a school of bunker came right up on the beach. Ospreys, dolphin and pelicans were all feeding on them, and I had a strike that I believe was a cobia. Like my friend Fuzzy Bear said, “If you never see it, it can be anything you want.” And after the fish emptied half a spool, it was gone.
My friends to the north have been catching big blues and striped bass. So far, those fish have not showed up in numbers along the Delaware coast. That situation can change without notice.
If the big blues are going to show, they may come at any time. Keep one rod rigged and baited with a whole fresh mullet, and have a big metal lure such as a Hopkins ready to cast to breaking fish.
As for striped bass, they are like unicorns in Delaware. We have not had a good run since Superstorm Sandy. A few were caught last winter after almost everyone had quit fishing.
The general surf-fishing in Delaware will be for croaker, spot, kings, small blues and a few flounder. Most of these fish will be caught on top-bottom rigs baited with mullet, bloodworms, Fishbites, Gulp! or shrimp.
The standard practice in Delaware is to cast this rig out, put the rod in a sand spike, then sit down and wait for a bite. I you are going to fish this way, use circle hooks and tongue sinkers.
I will set out one rod like that and fish another rod with a bank sinker that I will crank slowly back to the beach. If the crank rod keeps getting bites in the same location, I will try to cast the stationary rod to that spot.
Should you wish to target flounder, I suggest using a bucktail with a Gulp! swimming mullet. Cast the rig out as far as possible, then work it back on the bottom all the way to your feet. Flounder will feed right in the wash. Back in the trout heyday, we caught some impressive flounder on live spot that we were slowly cranking back to the beach.
There is the possibility that we could see false albacore in the surf this fall. Back when I was young and athletic – well, young anyway – I would chase these fish up and down the beach. Now, I wait for them to come to me. Metal lures that cast very well make the best presentation, and the thinner the better. There will be birds working above the fish, so you want to make your cast where the fish are going, not where they are. The retrieve should be as fast as you can crank the reel.
Good luck!
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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.
