DELAWARE REEF SITE 10, DE

While Reef Site 11 gets most of the headlines, and the sinking of the Radford was big news last year, Reef Site 10 off the Coast of Delaware and within reach of Cape May boaters is often shuffled under the charts of many captain’s tables. In early 2010, Delaware reef site 10 received its first deployment of reefing material in more than a year with the sinking of two barges whose length exceeded 100 feet and four sectional barges each approximately 25 feet long. One of the barges sunk at "10" was the retired Navy barge YC-725.

The total area of the site is 0.69 square nautical miles with a depth range of 56-66 feet. It is 5.5 nautical miles from Indian River Inlet and loaded with blue mussels which in turn attract sea bass, tautog, scup, weakfish, bluefish and most recently, cod. It all started with a previously existing wreck at N 38° 36.934’ W 074° 55.821’ and has expanded with recent additions that have included all sorts of reef material, tire units and a 110-foot Navy Barge sunk in 2002.

Capt. Joe Morris of Lewes Harbor Marina in Lewes, Delaware is chained to the counter at the store for the summer, but his customers laud the praises of Site 10. “That reef has been very good so far this year with flounder anglers employing a simple one-hook rig with a long leader and teaser or using bucktails straight up and down,” said Morris. He added that, “It’s a great spot for boats shooting out of Indian River and while flounder are the top quarry right now, the spot really lights up in the fall when the tog start hitting.”

Delaware has one of the best reef-building programs in the country and hopefully neighboring states can get back on the ball when it comes to adding structure for anglers to enjoy without having to work around hoards of commercial pots. Site 10 is a fish producer through and through and is worth a look this season when sailing out of Delaware or Cape May.