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Tides and Fishing in Delaware

The best times to fish are just before and just after the high and low tides. There is something about the changing of the tides and fish behavior.  For instance, sea trout seem to feed voraciously for about 20 minutes at the high and at the low tide changes.  Rockfish or stripers like very turbulent water, so cast your lure or live eel into the eddy’s and you’ll better your chance of catching one.  Be sure not to eat more than one 8 ounce fillet per year since the Delaware Department of Public Health has warned that Rockfish contain PCB’s which causes cancer.  Best to have the fun of catching the rockfish and throwing them back in.  The rockfish are contaminated in the upper reaches of the Delaware Bay by feeding on bottom organisms and other sea life that have been contaminated. Rockfish migrate in and out of the Delaware Bay.  The toxins move up the food chain and you’re next if you eat it.

 Here in Delaware there is good fishing at the Indian River Inlet, which is 4 miles north of Bethany Beach on Route 1. The Atlantic ocean feeds massive amounts of water into the Indian River Bay, twice daily and along with it, flounder, sea trout, rockfish(stripers), tautog, bluefish and even an occasional whale!  There is no fishing allowed from the bridge but there is fishing allowed on both the north and south sides of the inlet. These areas are owned by the State of Delaware and managed by the Delaware Seashore State Parks. There are hundreds of parking places on each side, for a fee of about $3.50 per day or you can buy an annual parking pass:  $20.00 for residents and $40.00 for out-of state.

     To catch tautog, what I do is to get some of the “sand fleas”(mole crabs) on the beach near the water line by digging them up out of the sand.   Usually when the tide is just starting to go out after high tide along the waters edge and on into low tide is best for digging up sand fleas.   Hook them twice once through the head and once through the abdomen, with no sinker on the line, and toss it in the water just beyond the rocks.  Let your line sink but watch it carefully, since by the time the sand flea gets near the bottom, the tautog have already eaten it.  When you see your line straighten, yank it!  They are very difficult to catch.  Use about a 1.0 hook with long shaft.  Be prepared to change a lot of hooks, since the mussels on the rocks close up on your line and it usually breaks.  Take your time and have fun.

     In the bay area behind the inlet, many boaters fish for flounder.    Flounder are bottom feeders but on the incoming tide will be your best bets for fishing flounder.  Live minnows with a strip of squid or flounder-belly(white) are a good bait.  Even white bucktails with a piece of squid work well.  The white squid or flounder belly attracts the upward looking flounder to if nothing else, curiosity of what the heck is that?  Anything that is moving attracts a flounder’s attention, even the sinker rebel lures.  You may even pick up an occasional bluefish or seatrout with the rebel lure(my favorite).

    Bluefish fishing in the back bay is at times fantastic.  Go by boat, about an hour before high tide with a pair of binoculars.  Stop your boat and look for diving seagulls.  When you see gulls head towards them and look for fish jumping or splashing the water.  Do not drive your boat through the diving gulls where the school of bluefish are. You will upset the other fisherman and scare the blues away.  Stop you boat outside of the school of blues and cast your rebel around, all around and get ready for the yee ha!  They are one of the best fighting fish for their size and they don’t give up.  Do not use a net to bring the blue into the boat since you will spend a lot of  time, trying to untangle everything.  Unfortunately, the DOH has also warned against eating bluefish for the same reason as the rockfish.

     Make sure to watch your tide clock for inland bay fishing.  Since there are a lot of shoals that change every winter with the storms, it’s best to fish 3 hours before high to 3 hours after high if you don’t want to run aground if your boat draft is over 2.5 ft.  There are some channels marked, but be careful.  Watch the bottom. When you see the seaweed sticking up, it’s getting shallow.  We use a four foot oar sometimes to see how deep it is by plunging it down in the water until you hit the bottom.  When you get to half an oar, it’s time to move with most small boats to avoid grounding on the changing tide.  

     Be sure to get a fishing guide from a bait and tackle store before you start any fishing in the inlet or in the bays.  Each fish species has a size limit and a daily take limit.  There are undercover officers at the inlet and boating around the inland bays, watching for violators.  Be honest and have fun fishing.     And with your trusty tide clock securely mounted and displayed, you'll never miss a chance of landing a big one.

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