Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report! - 4-9-13 (DE, NJ, MD, PA)

Freshwater:

The Delaware trout fishing opened on Saturday. Despite crowded conditions, reports showed good fishing. I know of a few people getting their limits.

I fished in PA for trout on Saturday and ended up with my limit.

Anglers fishing for bass, crappies, and pickeral are reporting hot fishing all over the region. With the water warming up the freshwater ponds and lakes should be on fire.

Chesapeake Bay:

Striper fishing on the flats really heated up this past week. After reports showed slow fishing last week, this past weekend anglers reportedly had much better success. While most fish are still schoolies, there have been some bigger fish caught as well. With the warmer water temperatures the big breeders should become more and more common. Remember to treat these big fish carefully. Take a quick picture and get them back in the water. They are a blast to catch, but we need to make sure they are released healthy so they can complete their spawn. Bass Assassins and Storm lures are popular baits for these fish. You can also catch these stripers on bait. Bloodworms have been producing well for stripers.

The trophy striper trolling season opens in less than two weeks (April 20th). Some anglers fishing the C&R season are finding moderate success trolling for the big stripers. I expect reports to pick up this week with this warm weather.

Anglers are also catching white perch in the creeks and tributaries to the bay.

Delaware Bay:

Striper fishing in the Delaware Bay is slowly picking up. Reports from the upper bay showed decent catches of stripers on fresh bunker and clams. Many of these fish are too small to keep, but some keepers have been caught. With the warming water temps, the main body of spawning fish should be showing up soon.

Anglers are still finding good success on white perch and catfish in the tidal rivers and coves of the bay. Bloodworms have been the best bait for perch fishermen.
Inshore Ocean:

Tog fishing has been good on the inshore and offshore wrecks when the weather has allowed boats to get out. Captain Adam from Adam Bomb Sportfishing had a good day of tog fishing last week. They ended up with multiple fish over 10 pounds! Check out his website under Charters & Guide Services to set up a trip with him.

As the water continues to warm we should start seeing some striper reports coming in from the ocean side. Some anglers in New Jersey have tried, but no one is reporting any success on the linesiders out front yet. It wont be long now though.

There were a couple of stripers caught in Indian River Inlet this past week, and we got reports that a couple flounder were also caught behind the inlet. With New Jersey's and Maryland's flounder seasons set it is strange that Delaware is being so slow in setting the 2013 flounder limits. However, the 2012 season limits will apply until the 2013 limits are finalized.

Offshore Ocean:

Not much to report for Offshore yet. There are some boats who are targeting tilefish in the canyons this time of year, but with iffy weather the last few weeks few have gotten out after them.

Expect to see the first yellowfin or bluefin caught around the beginning of May out of either NJ, DE or MD. The early season yellowfin trolling bite has been on fire the last few years.

Also look for shark fishing to heat up as the water temps start to get warmer.
If you have any fishing reports and pictures, please email them to dtmasporstman@yahoo.com and I will post them up!

Tight Lines,

Dave