On May 31, my wife Barbara and I launched my 16-foot tin boat at the Lewes Boat Ramp around 8:30 a.m. to catch the last of the incoming and the first of the outgoing tide in the Delaware Bay. The weather forecast called for east winds at 10 knots and sunny skies. They lied. They did get the east wind correct, but it was a good 15 knots with gusts to 20 and a thick fog rolling in from the bay.
My plan was to fish the flats between the fishing pier at Cape Henlopen State Park and the Point as the tide rose, then work the river or the canal on the ebb. When we got to Roosevelt Inlet, I couldn’t see the markers at the end due to the fog, and the water was rough due to the wind. So much for plan A.
There were a lot of boats in the canal, so I decided to fish the river. Between the wind and the current, we were drifting up toward Milton at a pretty good clip.
I baited my green bucktail with a live minnow and Barbara’s top-bottom rig with Fishbites bloodworm. We drifted from the east side of the river to the west side, then ran back to the east side and started all over again.
Did I mention it was cold? I had dressed for a warm, sunny day, not a cold, foggy one. I was freezing. I don’t remember the last time my wife was cold. She generates more heat than a nuclear power plant.
By the time we got just south of Oyster Rocks Road, I was ready to call it a day. Then I had a hit. I missed it, but the fish came back and I hooked it. It only took a few seconds to determine this was no flounder. The fish took out across the river on a strong run, then splashed on the surface before diving back to the bottom.
I passed Barbara the net and told her to put it in the water and I would bring the fish to the net. I finally saw the big blue and, of course, I was excited. We tussled for at least five minutes until I was able to lead him, head first, to the net and both Barbara and I lifted him out of the water and into the boat. Suddenly, I wasn’t cold anymore.
Unfortunately, the warmth of victory was a fleeting thing. As Barbara and I enjoyed our peanut butter and jelly celebratory sandwiches, the cold returned and seeped into my bones. At that point, we made the decision to call it a day.
Back at the ramp, we were met by Barbara’s brother, D.R. Twilley. He and his friend Dave had decided to fish the canal and had two keeper flounder. Once again, my uncanny instinct had sent me in the wrong direction.
Back home, I made delicious fish cakes out of the bluefish. No one will ever mistake them for crab cakes, but I will get four meals from that one fish.
From one Monday to the next. My friend from New Jersey, Jerry Gomber, was in town June 6, so I took him fishing, first at Three Rs Road, then at Indian River Inlet.
We were on the beach a little after 8:30 a.m. to catch the first of the incoming tide. The water was very clear, and I had high hopes for a good day. I should have known better.
I rigged up for kings with a top-bottom rig baited with bloodworm Fishbites and Jerry began casting metal for blues. After proving there were no bluefish in the ocean, Jerry switched to a Tsunami Ball Head Jig baited with a Nuclear Chicken Gulp! twister tail and probed the depths for flounder.
By now, it was approaching 10 a.m. and the beach was getting crowded. Even the arrival of three lovely young ladies in very tiny swimsuits could not sway Jerry and me to stay any longer, so we packed up and headed to Indian River Inlet.
The current was running in hard when we arrived, and once again my hopes were high. And once again, my hopes were shattered. Jerry kept going after blues with metal lures, while I tried to find a flounder using my beloved green bucktail and Nuclear Chicken Gulp! I did get a solid hit, but I think he only grabbed the end of the Gulp! and never came near the hook. We did see one small bluefish caught right at the point under the bridge, but that was it.
Lunchtime was here, so we decided to call it a lost cause. When I got home, Dan Neumann emailed me to say right after we left, the 20- to 25-inch blues invaded both sides of the inlet and hit everything in the water. Thanks, Dan.
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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.
