Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report - 5/9/14

Fishing has really begun to heat up all over the region this past week. Don't forget to send your personal reports and pictures to dtmasportsman@yahoo.com to have them posted on the blog!

Offshore Ocean:

Bluefin Tuna have been caught in the offshore canyon. One report from a tile fishing head boat out of NJ reported an angler catching a bluefin on a tile rig just off the bottom. Hoffman's marina in Manasquan, NJ also had the first bluefin brought back to their docks this past week. This fish was caught in the Toms canyon.

Tile fishing has been good when the weather allows anglers to get out. Captain Phil Leo of Ductwork Sport Fishing has had a couple of good tile trips recently catching a mix of blue lines and goldens with some of the golden tilefish over 30 pounds! Captain Phil has another trip scheduled for today so I hope to have another good report from him this evening.

There is some nice water within reach and with the nice weather this week we should see more offshore reports flooding in by the weekend. The Muff Diver Charters crew dropped the boat in the water last weekend and tried out their new greenstick. Their first trip is scheduled for May 15th, stay tuned for a report.

I have not heard of anyone shark fishing yet, but the water temperatures are almost perfect for that big early season mako. It would not surprise me to hear of a mako caught this week. Inshore threshers will also be caught in the next couple of weeks.

Inshore Ocean:

Striper fishing is one of the only games in town with tog being closed in NJ and closing on Sunday here in Delaware. Anglers trolling and live lining for stripers reported spotty success off of the New Jersey Coast. The local inlets in NJ and DE are seeing an increase in the number of school sized stripers. There have been a couple of keepers caught but for the most part the inlets are producing under sized fish.

Sea bass season opens up on May 19th in the Mid-Atlantic region. Fishing has been good when the season has been open so I expect fishing to be great. Look for anglers to connect on sea bass at the mid shore and inshore reef and wreck sites throughout the region.

Chesapeake Bay:

A 48.8 pound striper won the MSSA tournament last weekend. I was worried with the rainy weather fishing would be slow, but to my surprise the fishing was very good throughout the bay during the tournament.

Big stripers are continuing to be caught all throughout the bay. Solomon's Island and other lower bay areas are producing some big bruiser fish. Breezy Point and Love Point further up the bay have also produced good catches of big stripers this past week. Tandem Parachute rigs and umbrella rigs in the traditional colors of white and chartruce have been the most successful baits when trolling for these big stripers. Bunker spoons, swim shads and bucktails have also taken their share of fish as well.

Delaware Bay:

Anglers fishing the upper bay this week reported slower striper fishing. I did get a report from a friend who caught 5 keeper stripers out of Augustine on Wednesday, but the better fishing has been further down the bay.

Mid bay anglers reported better fishing this past week. Ship John and the Miah Maul both produced keeper stripers.

The lower bay has given up the first few black drum of the year. Anglers fishing off of Broadkill beach have reported good action on big drum with fresh clams being the best bait.

Anglers fishing the lower bay have also connected on some nice weakfish. Sea trout over 6 pounds have been reported from the Broadkill Beach area.

Freshwater:

Anglers are still catching trout in all the local stocked streams and ponds.

Bass, pickeral, and crappies are all being caught in the local ponds and lakes throughout the region. With the weather warming up lily pads and other vegetation will start popping up which may make freshwater anglers change up their tactics a bit, but should make for some great fishing!


Tight Lines,

Dave