# Are the Sea Trout running yet???



## WarMachine (Mar 7, 2003)

I was just wondering if anyone has been catching Sea Trout yet. If so where are they biting???

MC


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

Large trout have been taken at IRI up to 9 lbs. Drifting cut mullet is the bait of choice along with bucktails with some meat on them.


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

*Sandcrab New Spokesman for IRI*

Sandcrab you should be their spokesman on the website. I don't know why you just didn't move there instead of bowie. I just wish I could have half as much results as you post.


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

Jason,

I wish I could fish there more often. Long two hour drive to contend with.

IRI is like surf fishing - very frustrating unless you stay with it and try new stuff. I've been skunked plenty of times at IRI but I still go, observe, and learn. Lot of people fish a couple of times, get very frustrated, and say the place is over rated. The fish are there nearly all year long too...

Read the posts on other sites too...and the Delaware DNR site...lots of good info on what's hitting and where.

Really like IRI...but the Tank is one sweet 1 hour drive for me!

Maybe next year they will break this forum up so the Delaware guys can have their own site...bet it would get a lot more posts than some of the other states.


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## HuskyMD (May 19, 2000)

*Would you stop already!?*

Sandcrab is the only guy here who wanted DE as a separate site.
8(---)


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## BigJeff823 (Oct 14, 2002)

You got that right. Most of them don't even post on our sight.I have yet to see a Trout this year,but with the warmer weather they should turn on in Deleware.Roosevelt Inlet,Cape Henlopen,and the beaches in the Deleware Bay should all be good with Peelers, Chicken,or jigs.


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## Smoothbore54 (Jun 8, 2003)

I was at IRI Friday and Saturday night. Saw 1 (count em') 1 Nice trout and caught the biggest eel (42") I've ever seen.

Basicly a waste of time and money.

On the plus side, I only got rained on once.

You guys that report all these nice catches of this and that, here and there, must all own bait shops.

Show Me the fish!!!


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

Smoothbore,

Send me an email and I'll send you a photo of the fish! The fish are there.


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## Smoothbore54 (Jun 8, 2003)

That's 1. 

Do I hear 2?

You make my point better than I can.

Where are the fish !!!!


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

I bet they are at Cape Helopen and people are having a ball catching them on small lures and jigs...just a hunch...


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## Hat80 (Sep 22, 2002)

Hey MC, just look what you have started...lol Sandcrab, post the photos here and let the public decide. Maybe it's not the fish but the fisher person?..Tightlines


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## lakeside (Nov 10, 2002)

I didn't make it to IRI or the Cape this weekend, but I did run into one friend who had fished Roosevelt Inlet from 3-4 AM on Saturday. They didn't get any weakfish, but they were getting a lot of action from the blue's on bucktails. 

We tried some crabbing on Sat. and did not have many over 4" - maybe the water has to warm up a bit more, get the crabs more active, and then the weakies will hit.


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

I'm really surprised that no one has reported taking any trout in the bay yet. They should be at Matapeake (night fishing - crabs) or at SPSP (Purdue Peelers) at least.

Any reports of trout being caught at PLO, Solomons, or NAS PAX River?


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

Just in case anyone wants to read Bills Sport Shop highlights.

"FISHING REPORT
FROM
THE STAFF OF BILL’S SPORT SHOP
6-15-03
WATER TEMP: 59.4

FISHING NEWS!

The weather is hot and so is the fishing! Everything seems to be biting and the area fishermen are all smiles. Delaware Bay has been giving up tau tog to the folks fishing green crabs and sand fleas. Eric Sullivan, captain of the Aquaholic sent us some pictures showing John Jackson with a 13lb, 8 oz tog. The group on board limited out at the 14 foot light with all fish measuring over 20”. Dave Hilly made 2 trips to the outer wall and limited out both trips fishing fleas for tog. Hilly said that he caught about 50 blackfish on one of his excursions. Diver Gene has been drifting minnows and squid in and around Roosevelt Inlet and has limited out on flounder on a couple different days.

The pier and the adjacent area around the structure has also been a favored destination. Pops Mawry nailed a 29” striper on whole mullet to go along with 5 nice blues and a keeper 19” striper. Thomas Hengst brought a citation 32 ½” 9.5lb trout over the rails that he caught on peeler crab. John Williams was drifting minnows and twister tails around the pier and caught 3 flounder up to 20”. Mark Olock and Mike Hnot had a banner time on the pier last week. They caught loads of blues between 20” to 25” and two 25” sea trout. Mike and Mark also said that they brought up a few flounders just under the magic 17 ½” mark. Joel Robinson was wading on the flats between the pier and the point and caught an 8.5lb and 9 lb citation trout. He had several others on including a huge weakie, but he lost it when he went to tail grab it. Joel also caught 2 legal flounder on his recent trip.

We are starting to get a few reports of fish being caught in the ocean when anglers can get out. Dan Langdon, Jim Leupold were fishing off their boat, the Ofishal, and caught blues to 10lbs south of the Lightship. John Perrin was fishing green crabs on an ocean wreck and boated a 12.28lb tog that brought him a citation. The Lucky “R” captained by Mike Lancaster took Eric Vitelli and Joe Catalano out to “B” buoy and the guys used squid to catch a load of sea bass to 2.65lbs. Mike Flemming also took a trip to “B” and said the sea bass were so thick, it was hard to get the bait to the bottom before he was hooked up. 

Indian River Inlet is still producing striper, trout and tons of blues. John Christian brought an 18.97lb rockfish to the jetty. His buddy, Steven Smith, caught his first striper from the rocks and it measured in at 26”. The guys were using rigged eels for bait. Bobby from Bills, Jimmy Childs, and Tom Stebner were fishing the jetty the other night when the stripers hit the inlet. The action began on a Kastmaster and after that got the fish fired up, they were hitting anything and everything thrown in the water. The jetty jockeys continued with rigged eels and all kinds of plugs and said they bailed fish for quite a while. Victor Thao was casting a Mirrolure into the current and caught 2 trout including one that hit the scales at 8.68lbs. Ron from Bills and Jake Schirmer took another trip to IRI with bucktails and caught 13 nice bluefish before they ran out of white worms used to dress their lures. Billy Purnell was drifting minnows in the back part of the inlet and caught a 23” flattie that weighed 4 lbs. "


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## neuman (Oct 30, 2002)

i was down 2weeks ago and got afew tiderunners not big#s yet but wait till the spawns through its going to get interesting i believe they havnt even started as of 2 weeks ago the trout i caught had very tight eggs in them just my thoughts !!ZOOM


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## John K (May 25, 2000)

*IRI......*

Everyone is right about IRI...

It's both a great fishing spot where lots of nice fish are caught and also a horribly overrated location where a lot of people who drive a long way can be really disappointed.

There is a degree of tackle shop hype about IRI. The key issues are (and if you read, say, The Fisherman carefully,you'll see) is that 1) sometimes catches by boaters in the inlet and from shore aren't differentiated 2) 95% of the really nice fish are caught by 5% of the fishermen (particularly Stripers) who LITERALLY FISH THERE ALMOST EVERY NIGHT. It's the same names over and over and over and over again. These people know the tides there by heart, they're out there thick and thin, they're outfitted with corkers and often go out to the end of the jetties, etc.

The currents are unbelievably strong and the fishing there is very timing related.

A recipe for complete dissapointment is someone who is a somewhat novice fisherman used to just fishing a few easy access piers, reading about IRI and then driving down some summer weekend for the first time. They're going to lose insane amounts of tackle in the rocks, get tangled constantly, and go home grumbling. 


Locations can be VERY erratic; the FIRST time I fished the bank of the Broadkill River north of Lewes three years ago, in ONE hour I caught 6 trout between 7 and 8 lbs. and 2 more between 5 and 6 lbs. And I was there by myself. 

I've never done as well since and do worse every time I go; got skunked there a few weeks ago


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Amen!


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

John,

I think you've said it well. Bottom line is you have to put in the time and pay your dues to be a successfull IRI fisherman/fisherwoman.


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## BigJeff823 (Oct 14, 2002)

I've never did good on anything there execpt for Tog.Roosevelt Inlet is better;if the conditions are right I can catch Flounder till my arms get sore.Though,95% of those are undersized,but still fun.Weakfishing is good at Roosevelt if your timming is right.Its deserves to be a Deleware hot spot more than IRI.IRI is overated  .Cape Henlopen is probily most fisherman freindly.


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

Happy,

If RI deserves to be a "Hotspot", stop talking about it and start writing up an article for site. It's not that hard. 

There is only one "Hot Spots" article for the entire Delaware area even though there are dozens of really good fishing spots there. Here's the article on IRI that I wrote up after fishing IRI several times last year (And I don't even live in Delaware!).

http://www.pierandsurf.com/onthewater/de/iri.shtml

Back to IRI... overated? Lot of people like you who fish it one time, throw in the towel, and say its overated. It's like anywhere else, the more you fish it, the more you understand what works and what doesn't. You didn't get to catch all those flounder at RI just from using one lure or technique. It's called "Paying your dues".  

Once Flea processes my donation and upgrades my profile to "Pier and Surf Supporter" status, I'll be able to post photos. I think this is a great option an encourage others to do the same. Fishing photos make a site more interesting!!!


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## BigJeff823 (Oct 14, 2002)

I allready E-mailed Sand Flea about it but;I think that was a good write-up.But, its missing a picture.I probily be able to get it sooner or later.


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## BigJeff823 (Oct 14, 2002)

Can someone get the Picture of Roosevelt Inlet for me.I hope Flea still has my write up? 8(---)


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

Happy,

Glad to see you wrote up RI as a Hotspot!  We have quite a few people who fish DE beaches, piers, and inlets and the site does not have any articles on the Hotspots Forum to show for it. I think that with time, if everyone helped out and wrote up an article or two, all of the DE hotspots would be listed. This would definately encourage newbies to try new spots. 

I like to try as many new spots as I possibly can during the year and RI is one of them! Look forward to seeing the writeup. 

I can take some photos of RI the next time I go down to fish the DE areas. It may be awhile though...I might as well shoot photos of the Cape too - I promised that article to Flea awhile back.


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## split/shot (Jun 5, 2003)

amen too that


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## split/shot (Jun 5, 2003)

hey happy, i fish broadkill alot lately but cars down its been a week anda half . have you heard anything on there or rosey .thanks pappy


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## Smoothbore54 (Jun 8, 2003)

*Where are the Fish .......*

I failed to properly communicate the issue I was trying to raise in reguard to IRI.

I've fished IRI for nearly 40 years, and am well aware of it's unpredictable nature.

My point is NOT that you have to be a Seasoned, Veteran, Fishing GURU in order to catch fish in the inlet. (That's only true when there are NO FISH there.)

My point is that, traditionally, if there are No Significant Numbers of Fish being caught at IRI, or RI or the Cape or in the Surf, then there are NO BAITFISH in those places.

They are catching Stripers all the way up the Chesapeake into the Susquehanna River, because there's White Perch and Herring in good supply there.

The fact that in 3 days, I didn't see so much as a Bluefish come over the rail at IRI is unfathomable. 

The postings from 1 or 2 very experienced guys, who caught 1 or 2 fish prove my point better than anything I can write.

On Saturday evening there had to be 200 people fishing the inlet. Now maybe they were ALL ignorant newbies who must "pay thier dues" to Neptune, and learn "how to hold thier mouth just right" before they become SKILLFUL enough to entice a Bluefish into taking a bait. 

But I respectfully submit that maybe we should be looking for a more plausible answer.


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## Billr (May 26, 2002)

you can get shutout ar IRI very easily. you have to put in time, and learn how to fish it.the problem is that you get some people at the rails that are self proclaimed experts that don't know which end to wipe. they don't listen and all they do is tangle up two or three people on almost every cast. it's not the easiest place to fish and common sense will go sa long way. the biggest proble is , when you catch a fish everyone crowds yuou ,iguess because they think that's the only place there is fish. during the summer months IRI is a place to visit only to see what is going on.. i'm getting to the point where i pick and choose where i go. i live here and avoid crowds whenever i can. it has changed so much in recent years it's amazing.


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## FL FISHERMAN (Sep 30, 2002)

Well didn't mean to get everyone angry... Put it this way iri is an excellent fishing spot if you have a boat. Iri is a good spot from shore if you know when to go, what to use, where to go, and have a little luck on your side.

Of course that is the problem with all spots what/when/where???


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## BigJeff823 (Oct 14, 2002)

I think IRI is more crowed and harder to fish than other spots in Deleware.Even my snag hole at Roosevelt Inlet can be hard to catch Flounder out of at times.At this time of year I see everyone and their brother fish IRI and give B.S information.RI isn't like that.Cape Henlopen can get crowed from time to time,but it isn't like IRI.Tog fishing is great at IRI and if you try it this time of year you could be surprized by some Drum(I've read about that is it true)


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## Sandcrab (Mar 20, 2002)

*Re: Where are the Fish .......*



Smoothbore54 said:


> *...if there are No Significant Numbers of Fish being caught at IRI, or RI or the Cape or in the Surf, then there are NO BAITFISH in those places. *


SB...

Well said... Baitfish=Fish. The times that I have done well at IRI there were loads of baitfish in the inlet.


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