Surf-fishing reservations continue in 2024

The surf-fishing pilot program at Delaware State Parks’ drive-on beaches will continue this year.

Last year, the cap of 17,000 issued surf-fishing permits was lifted and a reservation system was put into place on Saturdays, Sundays and Monday holidays from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend. Reservations must be made for the peak time of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations are not required before and after the time slot.

Cape Henlopen State Park Assistant Supervisor Sean Cain said for the 36 reservable dates in 2023, there were 65,955 permits available with 46,258 reservations made. More than 70% were made by Delaware residents.

Cain said Cape Henlopen State Park and Three Rs Road Beach in Delaware Seashore State Park were the most popular drive-on beaches. While those locations were almost always at capacity for reservations, Cain said, reservations for other locations were never sold out.

Most reservations were made within three hours of the opening of the reservation window. In 2023, there was a maximum of 641 reservations for all Cape Henlopen Park beach crossovers, including Beach Plum Island, Naval Jetty, The Point crossing and Gordons Pond/Herring Point. Reservations are subject to change when the beach around The Point is closed to protect nesting piping plovers, said Shauna McVey, communications manager.

Cain was one of the guest speakers at the Friends of Cape Henlopen State Park’s annual meeting March 9 in the park’s officers’ quarters.

Reservation system

Reservations open weekly at 11 a.m. Tuesday for Saturdays, Wednesday for Sundays, and Thursday for holiday Mondays. 

There are seven beach crossings, including three in Cape Henlopen Park, two in Delaware Seashore Park and one each at Beach Plum Island and Fenwick Island State Park.

Reservations can’t be made in person; they must be made online or by calling 1-800-499-8221. Check the website for times to call.

All surf-fishing permits were sold out within four hours in 2022, the last year with a permit cap. At one point, 742 permits per minute were being requested online.

The number of reservations made by permit holders varied from more than 20 by 216 permit holders to one by 2,511 permit holders.

At Cape Henlopen State Park, 77% of reservations were made by Delaware residents.

Numbers and projects

The number of visitors at Cape Henlopen State Park in fiscal year 2023 dropped slightly to 1.9 million compared to 2.2 million in fiscal year 2022.

Numbers for areas in the park:

• Fort Miles Historical Area and Museum – 38,360 visitors and 6,636 program participants
• Seaside Nature Center – 74,600 visitors and 7,600 program participants
• Family campground – 13,249 reservations, an average of 80 per site
• Youth camps – 1,900 campers
• Primitive campgrounds – 1,800 campers.

Cain said park staff and contractors completed several projects in 2023, including the addition of a cellphone booster at Herring Point, three additional pull-through camping sites, paving repairs on roads to the campground and fishing pier, leveling out of uneven areas on the Gordons Pond Trail and replacing the roof on the seasonal workers cottage. Cain said the cellphone booster will now allow visitors and staff making 911 calls to be routed to the dispatch center in Georgetown instead of New Jersey.

A new trail is under construction from the main beach parking lot to The Point.

Cain said the Biden Center renovation project, which began in 2022, is scheduled to be completed this summer.

“This will be a huge asset to the park because we have indoor meeting space,” he said, adding a full-time staff member will be hired to manage the center.

There will be three meeting rooms, and rooms for those attending overnight events at the center.

He said while the boardwalk leading up to the bathhouse was replaced during the parking lot paving project, the Friends have been able to leverage state funds to replace the remainder of the boardwalk leading to the beach. Sen. Russ Huxtable, D-Lewes, was instrumental in securing funding for the project.

For more information on the surf-fishing permit process, go to destateparks.com/wwwroot/downloads/surfFishing/PilotReservationSystemReport.pdf.