Fishing Reports by Mike B. at Eastern Marine

Monday March 1st was the kick-off to catch and release season on the Susquehanna Flats in the northern Chesapeake Bay. Water temperatures are still considered to be a little on the cool side for providing a healthy Striper bite. When water temperatures reach 50 degrees out on the flats mature female Striped Bass in the 20-45 pound range will start smacking a variety of artificial baits. Large stick baits such as Cotton Cordell Red Fins, Still Waters Smack-It top water popper, and jig heads rigged with Bass Assassins 5 and 7” inch shads just to name a few. Bloodworms and Herring will be the go-to live baits on the flats and all baits live or artificial mentioned in this report are available here at Eastern Marine. Our first delivery of Bloodworms will arrive this Friday March 5th and in addition to our usual girthy worm we will be stocking a Jumbo Spring Worm for those fellow’s who like giant bloods. Every worm is graded to 10+ plus inches in length and shipped to us the day they’re harvested. Jumbo Spring Worms will retail for $15.99 and our regular Bloodworms will be priced at $8.99 doz.

April 3rd is opening day of Trout Season for New Castle County streams. White Clay Creek is the largest and attracts the most attention from area anglers. The state will be stocking a variety of Trout species including Rainbows, Palomino (albino rainbows), Brown, Tiger, and Brook Trout. Here at Eastern Marine we already have a full stock of live and artificial baits for your trout fishing pleasure. Wordens Rooster Tail, C.P. Swinger, Berkley Power Bait, Berkley Trout Worms, and new for this year Berkley Gulp Alive in 1” inch minnow and grub replicas. As usual we will have a full selection of live trout baits: Meal worms, Wax worms, Butter worms, Fat Head minnows, and Rosie Reds for you choosing. Well I hope this opening season blog has given you some hope for warmer sunnier days in the near future and gets you geared up for the fishing season ahead. Boy do we deserve it. Until next week think of things you can do to organize your self for the season ahead.

Alex Manelski, also of Bear Delaware, ventured to Lum’s and stuck an impressive Yellow Perch that weighed 2 lbs. even and taped out to 16 inches. Alex was suspending live shiners under a bobber when the big Yellow Ned hit. Manelski also received citation honors for his perch. Congrats on your fine catch Alex.

Steve Harrgin fished Lum’s On Saturday and said the pond was very active. Steve managed to boat 8 fish altogether with Large Mouth Bass to 2 lbs and White Crappies to 1-1/2 lbs.

John Shaffer traveled to Broad Creek Nov 29th and had a banner day. Shaffer caught 5 varieties of fish. Large Mouth Bass to 3 lbs, Bluegills, Yellow Perch, Chain Pickerel and a stringer of 15 Crappies that were all citation worthy up to 1-3/4 lbs. Shaffer was dialed in on the Crappies and fed them a steady diet of Grass Shrimp and Fat Head Minnows. Shaffer was also pitching artificials and said a 32nd oz white jig tipped with a 1-1/2″ Berkley Gulp Alive grub in pearl pattern was doing the trick as well. This is a new addition to the Berkley Gulp Alive product line and we have them in stock here at Eastern Marine. With the cold weather coming on we knew this would be a hit with fishermen as well as the pannies that keep us occupied during those winter months.

Fishing Reports by Mike B. at Eastern Marine

Just a reminder we are still issuing Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament Citations for trout 2 lbs and over. So if you think your catch is close to the 2 lb mark come over to Eastern Marine and if so we will draw up your citation papers on the spot. Our bait & tackle department is fully stocked with everything for the trout fishing enthusiast. Berkley 3″ trout worms, Berkley Power Bait, Rooster Tails Spinners and Joe’s Flies just to name a few. Those who ventured out over the weekend said that although the water was stained it was still fairly clear and was not running to hard to fish. Limits of mixed bags were not uncommon and I was informed that Fish and Game officials were issuing tickets to those over the 6 fish limit. So, if it’s not a fishable day in the bay or the ocean there is always your local trout stream to take the edge off and what better than a fresh trout dinner to wrap up a nice day out. Until next time tight lines and don’t cheap date the bait.

Fishing Reports by Mike B. at Eastern Marine

On the fresh water scene Bill Weitzenecker ventured to Lum’s Pond and caught a splendid 7 lb 15 oz Hybrid Striped Bass that measured 26 -1/2″inches with a 17″ inch girth. Congratulations Bill on your outstanding catch and thanks for your patronage. Larry Guthrie said the Rainbow bite was a little slower in White Clay Creek but he was having good success on Small Mouth Bass using Heddon Tiny Torpedo’s which we stock here at Eastern Marine in all colors and sizes. Larry also said he has relied on Berkley 3″ Trout Worms in a tequila sunrise pattern to combat the fast moving and muddy water when targeting Rainbows. We also stock a full line of Berkley Trout Worms in 9 different colors. You may want to call us and find out when we will be getting our next shipment, because these baits fly of the peg hook. Beck’s Pond has produced some enormous Chain Pickerel. Jeff Short had pictures of Pickerel that he said went 28 inches and folks I was impressed with the girth of these fish. They reminded me more of Northern Pike as opposed to the thinner snake like Chains we normally catch. A trip to Haven Lake was an especially interesting piece of news and I would like to share it with you. An Eastern Marine customer who wished to remain nameless (so his boss wouldn’t find out he was playing HOOKIE) conducted an experiment while having a slow day with his fishing partner, who is also his brother. This point of the story is key due to the fact that both brothers are fiercely competitive, especially with each other. Brother #1 wanted to increase his chances due to the water conditions as we spoke about earlier and purchased a bottle of Berkley Gulp Alive, in the Crawfish scent. Brother #2 scoffs at #1 saying if your technique was as professional as mine you wouldn’t have to blow money trying to keep pace with me. After a slow morning brother #2 had 3 Largemouth to #1’s skunk and the two decided to fish until evening after having a nice lunch. During lunch brother #2 says, ” Why don’t you break out some of that Berkley Gulp Crawfish attractant” and started to laugh loudly. This was when the idea hit brother #1 to truly field test his new purchase. Both brothers 1 and 2 threw exactly the same swim bait in size and color scheme. They both used medium action 6′6″ rods, Shimano 4000 class reels, and 10# monofilament. They even slowly fished the same structure and shoreline. The results were amazing! Brother #2 had to admit that brother # 1 out-fished him 3 to 1. “It was tough watching my brother put it to me like that but we had a deal and I couldn’t get a squirt of that stuff to save my life” My brother kept saying it wont be a true test if we switch up now, while he tried hiding a big cheesy grin. Anyone who is interested in these new Berkley products should come here to Eastern Marine where we have the largest selection of Berkley Power Baits, Gulp & Gulp Alive in the area. I myself was on this bandwagon 3 years ago and never leave for a trip without some representative of this product weather it be fresh or saltwater. This product has my endorsement.

On the salt water side of things news from the upper Delaware Bay has been positive while the lower bay has been a little slow. Anglers fishing the Cross Ledge have gotten into some impressive stripers to the 40″ range while chunking fresh bunker. Matt Campbell and uncle Dave said for this time of the year the fish are long, stout and plentiful on the ledge. Ship John as we spoke in my last blog is still producing good stripers and a few Weakfish. In the lower bay, buoys F and G have been giving good reports out of Mispillion. Out of Lewes the outlook was a bit brighter. Robert Smith Jr. caught Small Black Sea Bass, Trigger Fish and Croakers to 10″inches, hopefully this means we will have a good Croaker run this year in the Delaware Bay. Robert also said he got into some spot while drifting the Lewes area. Verizon Mike went on a trip with the crew of the Karen Sue and hammered enormous white chins. Mike is going to be sending pictures to our store of these Tautog and the biggest is 14 lbs. Congrats Mike and thanks for your report, patronage and willingness to share good fishing news with us here at Eastern. A few anglers also reported some small Weakies out of Lewes near the Hay Stacks. For those interested in slamming big Sea Trout we have live Peeler Crabs in stock all summer long. Nothing gets a big Tide-runners attention like a live peeler!

On the Crabby side of things reports are improving every day. The Tred Avon, Wye and Chester Rivers are giving up crabs. It wont be long now and we will be trotting and potting in our local rivers like the Sassafras and the Bohemia. Jamie White went to the Tred Avon today and collected a bushel and 1/2 of nice 7 3/4″-8 1/2″ crabs. Jamie said a lot of the crabs were nice heavy blackbacks. Barber Bob Whited also crabbed the Tred and managed 3/4 bushel last Saturday and another 1/2 bushel on Sunday. Bob said he was in 9-14 ft of water and his crabs averaged 6+ inches. Greg got 2 bushels while Trot lining in 8-9ft of water on the Chester River. Anyone in need of flats of chicken necks call Eastern Marine on Tuesday mornings and ask for me Mike Bowen and we will special order you what amount you need for next crabbing trip. Orders are placed and pre-paid on Tuesday and pick up is on Fridays.

Out in the ocean on the offshore scene reports of big sharks at B buoy have been received. Some of our customers claimed anglers spent hours and multiple pass offs but to no avail. Rich Krump said they were hooked up before they had a chance to get a good slick working. Rich said fishermen on his boat became dehydrated and cramped after strapping in to what he claims was a Thrasher or an enormous Bull Shark. Yellow fin Tuna are abundant all over the Poor Mans Canyon and are averaging about 40 lbs. Anglers are catching them on the troll with Bally Hoo, Sea Witches and Green Machines. Well until next report lets hope for some good weather and better fishing.