Big Dave's Tackle

Boaters fishing Delaware Bay are seeing a nice mix of flounder, weakfish, blues and croakers according to Big Dave and Big Dave’s Tackle. Drifting live minnows, spearing or squid strips has produced flounder to 23 inches and weakies to 19 inches. There have also been reports of some black drum in the teens being caught on clam baits. The lighthouses and sea walls are seeing tog and sheepshead being caught on sand fleas or green crabs. In the ocean, the deeper water reefs like the Old Grounds are giving up quick limits of keeper flounder to 6 pounds, especially for boaters getting out early in the morning. Anglers are finding these fish by fishing ball jigs tipped with fresh bluefish fillets or larger Gulp baits. Dave suggested anyone going offshore take some live eels with them as anglers have been coming across feeding cobia on a regular basis with fish to 48 inches caught this week.

Big Dave at Big Dave’s Tackle tells us that the late August fishing patterns are holding fast and true. The warm back bay waters have gotten the short flounder on an incredible feeding frenzy where they will accept just about anything (strip baits, live baits, Gulp, spearing, minnows) that’s drifted within 10 feet of them. Keeper flounder have been much more discerning and are looking for larger baits fished in deeper waters, either near the inlet or out that the wrecks and reef sites. The back bays and Delaware Bay are giving up plenty of tog and sheepshead for anglers fishing crabs on any type of structure. Triggerfish are also being caught in these areas as well as on the local jetties and nearshore reef sites. Just a few miles from the beach the summer inshore pelagics have shown up for anglers throwing lures and metals. Blues to 5 pounds, bonito and Spanish Mackerel all have been mixed together feeding on schools of whitebait. Don’t forget that the Big Dave’s Tackle Photo Contest runs through November 30th. $1,000 in store credit will be shared by the top six winners (three adult division, three youth division). Free entry by sending your best catch photo to bigdave08348@gmail.com along with your name, age (if 15 or under), date of catch, lure or bait used, weight, length and location.