Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report

🎯 Where & When

• Cape Henlopen Pier: Best at high tide ± 2 hours. Fish the pilings for flounder with minnows. Blues show on surface lures.
• Broken pilings at pier's end: Kayak anglers finding flounder and over-slot stripers.
• Surf (3Rs Road): Blues and stripers showing here and there as surf settled down.
• Kingfish expected to arrive in surf mid-June.

🪝 What's Working

• Spot & Croaker: Bloodworms on a simple top-bottom rig, small hooks, enough weight to hold bottom.
• Blues: Cut mullet (bait) or surface lures when they're aggressive.
• Flounder (short): Live minnows near pilings.
• Fishbites are a solid, cheaper alternative to bloodworms right now — bloodworm prices are very high.

💧 Conditions

Water temps running ~60°F — about 5 degrees below normal for June. Expect things to heat up as we push through mid-month. Clarity has been a challenge (stained water from recent bad weather). Fish are adjusting — use scent-heavy baits.

🎯 Where & When

• Flounder concentrate along channel edges and the B-Buoy area.
• Spot and croaker spread throughout the bay on shallow flats.
• Fish the rising and falling tide on channel drop-offs for best flounder action.
• Canal mouth and the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal has produced a few keeper flounder on minnows.

🪝 What's Working

• Flounder: Live minnows are the #1 bait. A few keepers at and above the new 17.5" minimum. Patience required.
• Spot/Croaker: Bloodworms on a two-hook bottom rig. Clams and squid also work.
• Small 1 oz bucktails in tandem (speck rigs) producing panfish.
• Swim shads working well for various species.

🎯 Where & When

• Outer ocean structure: The Katydid (out of Lewes Harbour Marina) hit another limit of black sea bass early week — structure fishing is on fire.
• Canal: A few flounder over 17.5" on live minnows; blues on cut mullet; short stripers.
• Cape Henlopen Pier: Best at high tide ± 2 hours. Spot and croaker most popular. Short flounder near pilings.
• Breakwater area: Broadkill Beach seeing black drum on clams/crab; blues on cut mullet.

🪝 What's Working

• Sea bass: All-day boats are loading up on ocean structure.
• Canal flounder: Live minnows fished slow near bottom and drop-offs.
• Blues: Cut mullet and cast lures.
• Stripers (canal): Cut bait and bloodworms.
• Spot/Croaker (pier): Bloodworms, Fishbites, clams, squid.
• Black drum (Broadkill): Clams and blue crab.

📌 Pro Tips

The inshore all-day boats out of Lewes are getting the best sea bass action right now — these trips are worth booking if sea bass is your target. Canal flounder are slow but producing a few keepers; expect improvement as water temps rise. Bloodworm prices are sky-high this year — pick up Fishbites as a backup.

🎯 Where & When

• Jetties (both sides): Best from first light to dawn. Stripers and blues are stacked.
• Under the bridge: Night and early morning producing the most fish.
• Site 11: A few flounder being picked up here despite dirty water.
• DelJerseyLand reef site: Better sea bass action than the inlet proper.
• Bay behind the inlet has scattered flounder — slow but fishable.

🪝 What's Working

• Night stripers: Dark plugs, live eels, sand fleas
• Early morning stripers: Storm Lure paddle shads
• Blues (aggressive): Metal lures — Hopkins is the go-to
• Blues (early light): Cut bait, bucktails, plugs
• Flounder (dirty water): Yellow and chartreuse Gulp — color contrast is key in stained water
• Sea bass (reef): Squid, cut bait, jigs

💧 Conditions & Notes

Water temp: ~60°F — 5 degrees below seasonal average. Dirty/stained water has been the main challenge. Use bright or dark contrast colors (chartreuse/yellow for flounder, dark plugs for stripers at night).

Tautog season is closed through June 30 in Delaware. Any togs caught must be immediately released.

🎯 Inshore: OC Inlet & Bridges

• OC Inlet and Route 50 Bridge: Bluefish are the dominant catch right now — most common fish anglers are landing this week.
• Striped bass mixed in — soft plastic jigs or drifted cut bait.
• Sheepshead becoming more common around inlet structure on sand fleas.
• Flounder moving through the inlet channels — fish the channel edges.
• Big tautog showing around structure but must be released until July 1.

🎯 Nearshore: Sea Bass & Structure

• Sea bass: EXCEPTIONAL. One trip on June 9 reported 300+ fish in a day. This is the best nearshore fishery right now.
• Monster tautog (10+ lbs) are being hooked on structure — all must be released until July 1.
• Head boats and charters running to local wrecks and reefs are cleaning up on sea bass.
• Flounder on channel drops adjacent to the inlet.

🎯 Offshore: Tuna & Mahi

• Yellowfin and bluefin tuna at the canyons — boats running 70–90 miles east.
• "TomCat" came back with 3 yellowfin + 9 mahi.
• Canyon boats (Norfolk Canyon and nearby) finding the best concentration.
• Spreader bars, trolling lures for tuna; dolphinfish on pitch baits.
• First thresher shark of season: 130-lb beast brought in by "M&M".
• Bite expected to strengthen as offshore water temps improve through June.