Hook'em & Cook'em
Fishing Report - Updated: 06/27/2010

06/20/2010
Happy Father's Day!!!!If you like tuna fishing then you are in luck. The yellow fin are here. Get in your boat and get out to Poor Man's. It all began on Friday afternoon around 2pm and never stopped until around 9pm that night.
The first boat to the dock was the "Stacey" that brought in 12 yellowfin totaling over 478lbs. and from then on they just kept coming. Four Play brought in 4 fish weighing in at 156.5lbs, Fish Whistle brought in 10 tuna weighing in at 356lbs, No Worries with 221lbs.
To mix it up a bit one Capt Doug Krisher, on the "Unbelievable" brought in the heaviest mako of the season weighing in at 180lbs with their tuna. And Todd Buchanan brought in a 120lb Mako while out to the Poor Man's.
Everyone was reporting the same thing....Poor Man's with Ballyhoo. The bite was red hot.
The Saturday bite was a bit slower with boats still bringing in about 2-5 per boat. And one with a White Release.
The inlet fishing has slowed down with fewer keeper stripers being caught during the day and only a few being caught at night. Most are using live spot, live eels or artificial lures such as the Tsunami and Storm Lures. John Shaffer, of York, PA, caught a 37.6lb rockfish while fishing with a rigged eel.
The flounder have also slowed but there are still nice flounder coming in with Kayla Speece, of PA, bringing in a 2.8lb flounder on squid and minnow. John Lindsay, of Dagsboro, caught one that weighed 8.4lbs while fishing on a fly; and Phillip Chandler caught 2 weighing in at 7.5lbs. These were are caught in the Inlet.
We also have had some bluefish caught in the Inlet, one weighed 6.5lbs and was caught by Chris Hey, of Pittsburg, PA.
The sea bass bite is still slower than it should be with a few keepers being brought in on the boat and an occasional flounder coming in from the ocean. Boats are having to go off to wrecks further out to get more keepers in the boat.
The surf report is still showing skates and sharks, but there have been a few people coming in reporting king fish still.
Until next time...Keep Casting,
Deanna

06/13/10
This week had a slow start but finished with a bang.
Reports in the surf are that there are a few king fish showing up, but very few. If you are going to try your hand at this use a king fish rig with the artificial bait Fishbites Bloodworm or the live bloodworms. And if you are looking for skates and sharks you are in luck. That seems to be what everyone is reporting back.
Fishing out in the ocean for black sea bass and flounder started the week very slow and finally turned around on Friday and Saturday. The headboat Judy V. has been getting out during the week but had been reporting just a few bites with no keepers at times. But Saturday that all changed with customers bringing home about 2-3 per person. Now that doesn't sound like a lot but it is a big improvement from what has been going on.
A few flounder have been coming in from out at D-B bouy. A nice one that weighed in at 5.25lbs.
The inlet fishing has slowed for the rockfishing but has improved for the flounder fishing. There are some still being caught in the inlet, but you will only see the keepers being reeled in at night. Frank Clark, of Ocean View, caught a 28.2lb rock fish while using a Wind Cheater plug on the end of the incoming tide.
Bluefish are running on the tides so throw out a bucktail with or without a worm and have some fun.
There have been flounder brought in while fishing in the inlet. Most people are using either minnow and squid combo or "Gulp" on a jig head. Tom Hargreaves, of Bethany Beach, caught a 7.8lb flounder using a Gulp eel. And John Lindsay, of Ocean View, caught a 3.3lb flounder on a "Gulp" bait while also fishing in the inlet.
Most fisherman are fishing on the north side of the inlet anywhere from the Coast Guard wall and westward to the bay.
Now lets move on to the offshore report....the week started slow for this fishing too. But with the IRBA having a shark tournament this past week we saw some nice action with the Makos and Threseher sharks. The excitement started on Friday when a 560lb Thresher Shark was caught by Jay Richwine off of the "Saltwater Cowboy" This shark was a female and when she was cut open to start the cleaning process 3 pups were pulled out. The pups appeared to be very very weak and we were unsure if they were going to live. So they were put in our bait tank to try to get them a little healthier. After about an hour or so they were let go in the marina. When they first entered the water they seemed to twist and turn in circles in the water and then they took a dive and came back up. After about 30 seconds or so they appeared to be doing well as we watched them swim around in the marina. Saturday morning we had a report that one had been spotted still swimming around in the marina by the fuel dock.
Back to the tournament fishing.....the heaviest mako was 172lb and caught by David Cropper while fishing on the "Gummy Bear".
The heaviest blue fish weighed 11.2lbs and was brought in by Joe Nobel on the Miss Donna.
And for the tuna report, Charlie Horning and his gang on the "Fish Whistle" brought in the first yellow fin tuna of the season with 7 tuna coming in to the dock. The heaviest one weighed in at 41lbs. Capt Charlie reported that they were fishing out at the Poor Man's Canyon. They were fishing with spreader bars with ballyhoo.
People are still bringing in some blue fin tuna also. We have been told that they have been caught out at Massy's Canyon.
That's all for now.
Keep Casting
Deanna :-)

05/17/10
UPDATE TO THE WEEK END REPORT
On Sunday evening at 5pm I was about to close up the shop for the day when I received a phone call. It was from a cell phone and it was hard to hear. All I could make out was "is anyone going to be around to clean a tuna?" Then I heard "we won't be in until around 6-6:30." All I could think was...man I'm tired, but the first tuna of the year is coming in we had better stick around. So, I told the guy we would be here to take care of his fish.
5:30 comes around and here comes a boat. A boat that had decided to go out that morning to go sharking. I had thought they had already returned to the dock for the day. They surprised us with the First Thresher Shark of the season. The "Undertaker" with Bill, Bill Doherty, Jr and CJ Walus came to the dock with a 216lb shark. They had been out near the Twin Wrecks that afternoon and were using Hook 'em & Cook 'em's Special Chum Mix along with a blue fish fillet on the hook. Bill, Jr, the angler, said it took almost 2 hours to bring the fish to the boat. Congrats to them.
No sooner had I looked at the clock ,it was about 6:10pm, I looked out the window and the boat that had called about the tuna had arrived!!
"Margin" had come in with our first blue fin tuna of the year. It weighed 66.4lbs and was caught just north of the Norfolk. Tom Dorwalt, the angler, said they caught it on a blue Ilander while trolling.
After Christopher had cleaned,steaked and bagged the fish all that was left was the clean up.
So two and a half hours after that phone call we were finally on our way home. That was definitely worth it.

05/15/10
If you were looking for good fishing action, then it was a great week to fish the inlet and a bad week to be a rock fish.
The week had a slow start but then around Thursday that all changed.
Rock fish started showing up on Thursday at the mouth of the jetty and steadily moved in for this week-end.
Over all the bite improved both day and night. Sometimes it didn't seem to matter if it was day or night or what tide you were fishing on.
The night bite was great on Friday with some people refering to it as a "Frenzy" all along the inlet. This all happened between the beginning and the end of the tide with many fisherman catching there limits with an hour or two.
Paul Cronshaw and John Quattlebaum caught their limits Friday night before the thunderstorms. Others said they fished after the storms around 3am and they were still landing fish off the rocks or by boat.
Fisherman reported catching anywhere from the bridge to the Coast Guard Station on both the North and South sides of the Inlet.
Most fisherman have been catching there keepers using white bucktails with white worms, some have been fishing with Tsunami and Storm Lures. 5" & 6" lures in colors that range from golden mullet, shad or blue back herring.
Most of the fish have been reported from 30" up to 45". We have had several brought in to the fish cleaning table that ranged in weight from 13-24lbs.
Not to be out done by the inlet the surf had a few rock fish on Friday evening, before sunset. A 19lber was brought to our southern store in South Bethany from the surf at Bethany Beach. It was caught on a finger mullet. So you better have finger mullet along with that tried and true bunker bait.
Blue fish were also reportedly being caught in the inlet, but not in any large numbers yet. They were of the snapper variety and ranging from 12"-16".
Along with the blue fish the shad are schooling out in the inlet too. Most are snagging these fish with spec rigs of various sizes and colors. One man reported that he caught shad for almost 2 hours the other night.

Flounder action has slowed a bit, but only more fisherman have turned their attention to fishing for the striper right now.
A few flounder were brought in on Saturday. Minnows on plain hooks or bucktails, or Gulp "Pearl White Swimming Mullet" on a 1/2 oz jig head are still the ticket when fishing for the flatties. These fish are still being caught in the back bay around the same areas....Massey's Ditch and the VFW Slough. It is still is too early to see them out in the ocean.
And while tog fishing is closed and black sea bass is still closed, ocean fishing is still in limbo.
Only one week left until we can fish for those sea bass, we are counting down the days!!! Come on May 22nd.
Until next time...keep casting,
Mrs Bert (Deanna)

05/07/10 @12:45pm
What a beautiful week it has been. Hope everyone has gotten out and enjoyed it whether you are a fisherman or not. (Hopefully you are, but I won't hold it against you! ;)

Rock fish have still been hitting in the Indian River Inlet, but have admittedly it has slowed down some now that the water temperature is on the rise. You will probably see smaller ones being brought in than the larger ones now. But with that said, Bill Winkler, of Frankford, brought in a 42.9lber that he caught while in the Inlet and using a live hickory shad. (Picture in gallery)
For fishing the Inlet, Storm Lures and flies are the tackle that most are choosing, but if you are able to catch bunker, herring or even a shad (and keep them alive) you can use them to land a nice keeper as well.

Rock fish are still in the surf, but word has it that the blues are starting to make it in to the shore too. Most are still using fresh bunker. Remember, the key to using bunker is to cut the head off about a 1/2" back from the gill and use that part. Use the remainder as chunks for the blue fish.

Tautog have slowed a bit in the Inlet. Most are reporting that they are catching much smaller ones now. Marcus Munday of Felton, De brought a 6.6lber in Thursday. He beat his father fishing, but we won't rub it in. (Picture in gallery)
REMEMBER: THE LAST DAY OF TOG FISHING IS MAY 11TH. SO GET THIS LAST WEEK-END IN!!!!

Flounder are still being caught in the back bays, Debbie Roach , of Wilm., DE broughtin a 4lb flounder on Sunday. She was fishing with her family (the only girl and the only one to catch a fish and on a pink rod) in the inlet. She was using a minnow on a bucktail. (picture in gallery)
The bait of choice has now changed to minnows and squid. The tackle has been a variety of things...from plain bottom hooks to bucktails to green machines. I guess the fish are hungry and not to picky about color.

I checked on www.saltfish.net and found out that the drum fishing is starting up in the Delaware Bay on the Coral Beds. An 85lber was caught by a young man named Lucas. The fish looked to be as big if not bigger than him. Luck he didn't get pulled over! Use whole surf clams for those monsters.

Off-shore fishing has not started yet, but we can't wait to see the first yellow fin to hit the table.

I have not heard of any blues being fished for out in the ocean...let's hope that they will fill the void when tog closes and while we wait for sea bass to open. Let's all pray to the fishing gods to make something happen!! ;)

Till next time, keep fishing.
Mrs. Bert (Deanna)
Hook 'em & Cook 'em

04/27/2010
Well the weather has warmed up and with that the fishing has also picked up.

We will start with rock fishing.....Striper fishing in the inlet has been very good either by land or boat. The guys that are doing well by land are using flies, the best color seems to be pink and white. The guys that are fishing by boat are using white bucktails or fishing with artificial lures such as a Storm or Tsunami.
If you go to the Delaware Bay you will find the best fishing up around the wall or the mouth of the bay. And if you travel further north you will find them in the channels around the spawning grounds. Check out our fishing gallery for a rock fish caught by John Coleman of Middletown, DE. He caught and released some nice trophy sized fish.
The surf has been producing some rock fish, most are being caught using fresh bunker. They are being caught from Cape Henlopen to Fenwick Island.

Tautog....Tog fishing in the inlet is still going on, but you will find that most of them are on the small side. If you go out to the in-shore wrecks you will still find fish from 2-3lbs and a few larger ones in the mix from 5-10lbs. Capt. John Nedelka, of the Karen Sue had some citation fish along with others in the mix. Check that out in the fishing gallery. The bait of choice has primarily been green crabs, but some days they bite on clam or shrimp. So, take a little bit of everything to be prepared. Remember that the tog limits have changed...they are now 3 per person per day and 15" size limit. Tog will close on May 12th and open back up on July 1st.

Flounder have been showing up in the inlet and the back bays of Rehoboth and Indian River. They are biting on shiner, minnows or herring. Some have been trying the tried and true Gulp. Gale Force charters caught a couple keepers over the week end with minnows. (Their picture is also in the gallery)
It is still a little cold in the ocean for the flatties to be showing up, but you never know. I have heard of one or two showing up in the surf last week.

This year the flounder fishery will see a closure. DNREC, in their infinite wisdom, has put a closure for the first time ever beginning Oct 13th until December 31st. The size limit is still 18.5" and 4 per person per day.

A small school of blues showed up in the inlet and on the surf last week, but not many have been seen since then. But don't give up hope. Where there is one there will be more following soon. Just throw out something shiney or some oily bait like bunker when you see the birds circling. Hopefully we will see the large blues next month out in the ocean too.

We all have to wait until May 22nd to go sea bass fishing. NMFS has put an emergency closure on these fish. They have also stated that they reserve the right to close this fishery again if they deem necessary due to a quota being reached. So thank you federal government.

We are open everyday so come by and visit. Go ahead and get that fishing license now to avoid forgetting. Don't forget you will also need a Delaware FIN number. My advice is to go on line and get that number. The web address is www.delaware-fin.com. This is the quickest and least frustrating way to get one. And you do not need to get your fishing license first to get a FIN number.
Until next time, happy fishing.
Deanna

04/05/10 Things have slowed down since this past week-end, but the weather has remained beautiful. Unfortunately the weather might not cooperate this week-end. We will have to wait and see. We are open everyday, stop by and visit us.

04/02/10
Heard this morning that rockfish have started to show up in the surf from Cape Henlopen to Fenwick Island Beaches. They are being caught on fresh bunker.

04/01/10
Word is that a major winter storm will hit for the upcoming Easter Week-end. APRIL FOOL'S!!!!!
I don't want to see another snow flake or rain drop until this fall.
We are now open daily!! Friday and Saturday 7am-6pm, Sunday 7am-4pm and Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm.
We have a good supply of live green crabs and blue crab along with a large supply of frozen baits. We do have some freshly frozen herring too.
We have someone out today trying to get us some bunker. Hopefully he will find them.
The weather is beautiful today and the weather report says we are in for a great, fantastic and all around georgous forecast for about the next four to five days.
With these warming tempertures and lots of sunshine that should warm the water up and start bringing in some fish. Thank goodness, because everyone has to be tired of those gray skies.
There have been some reports of fish being caught around our area. The tautog were showing up in the inlet near the bridge. A kid came in earlier today and said he had caught a few undersize tautog up by the bridge. Larger tautog have been showing up on the local inshore wrecks. Site 10 has been showing some. Get the green crabs for those tasty fish.
A flounder or two have shown themselves at the VFW slough. Heard they were caught with herring. We've got some freshly frozen herring.
Don't know how true this is, but someone told a freind that told another friend and so on, that a striper or two have been caught.
Things remain pretty quiet on the surf right now with a report of a sand shark or two showing up. Things are still getting cleaned up in some areas. It might take a while, we have had some nasty weather this past winter.
Some of the boats here at Indian River have made there way down to North Carolina for the Blue Fin run. And apparently, it has been spectacular. Free Spool is headed down south and is hoping to get in on the action, while a boater just got back from there and said they had non-stop action for 2 weeks. Hope it continues.
So, everyone get out and enjoy this beautiful weather and go get your lines wet.

Happy Easter!!!!
Deanna

12/15/09
Fishing for the past two weeks has been off and on depending on the weather. We have had quite a few windy and rainy days where people either did not fish, or they were skunked! But between those nasty days, people have been doing decent on the Tautog, Bluefish & Rockfish. On the inshore wrecks, they have been catching many tautog & seabass. Sadly, they have to throw all the seabass back because the season is closed. Yesterday the Karen Sue fished out of the Indian River Marina & they came in with over 35 keeper tautog! The inlet fishing has been up and down. Catching keeper Rockfish on stretch 25, Bucktails, Spoons, Live Spot & Live Eel. There are still a few Flounder out there, fishermen are catching on stretch 25 while trolling for Rockfish. Along the beach, there have been a few rockfish & bluefish caught on fresh bunker, spot, & finger mullet. Wish there was more to say about the fishing atmosphere, but the weather has really slowed fishing down a lot. Lets just hope we can have better weather this week!!

WE NOW HAVE LIVE SPOT!!!!!!

If you have any questions, you can always call Hook 'em & Cook 'em & we give you the current fishing report to the best of our abilities!

Hook 'em & Cook 'em
(302) 226-8220

hi test

November 2, 2009 Fishing Report
Over the weekend, there were not too many people around fishing. But there were still some Rockfish, Tautog, Bluefish & some Flounder Caught.

Inlet: There are quite a few small Rockfish being caught in the inlet. There are some keepers in either early morning or late night. They have been using live eel & spot, or something as simple as a Bucktail and worm. Also, trolling Chesapeake Bay Lures and Stretch 25+.

Surf: There have been a couple of Rockfish coming up from Fenwick Island. Some Big Snapper Bluefish in the surf they are catching them on finger mullet & fresh bunker!

Offshore Wrecks & Junk Piles: Catching keeper Tautog on Site 10 & other structures. They have been using either green crab, or sand flea. Some flounder have also been found scattered around B Buoy. Using any type of cut bait or spot.

Its been a rather slow fishing weekend. But we are hoping that it picks up as the water temperature gets colder & the Rockfish move in.:)

October 10, 2009

Okay, I know I have not updated all summer. And some of you have let me know about it. Just tell Bert to hire someone else so I can just do this job full time.
Enough of my excuses here is the latest report....Black sea bass fishing has been closed due to an emergency regulations. Yes, we all know the powers that "BE" in their infinite wisdom have come to the conclusion that the quota has been over harvested for the year.
But ask any fisherman that has been out trying to bottom fish and you hear the same story over and over again. Sure they caught the heck out of them, but they kept next to nothing. The best day for black sea bass was last Sunday, the last day you were allowed to keep them. We had several boats come in with some nice catches and just as it was starting to look good they go and close it down.
Keeper rock fish have started showing up in the Inlet up by the bridge. Live spot, artificial lures or plugs have been the key.
The flounder have really slowed to a crawl this past week. There have been a few still caught out in the inlet. They have been using live spot or minnows.
We have both the spot and the minnows available right now. But as the weather gets cooler it will be harder and harder to find the minnows.
Tautog season opened back up on Sept. 29th and it was a little slow going in the beginning but things are starting to turn on in the Inlet. Remember the size limit is 14" and you are allowed to keep 10 per person. As for fishing out on the wrecks....not a lot of people have been out there fishing so I can't really say.
The bait of choice is either green crab or sand fleas. We currently have both the green crabs and the sand fleas, but the sand fleas are in very limited supply and will go fast I am sure.
The offshore report is pretty much non-existent. There has not been a boat to go out offshore from the marina in over 2 weeks. And when they went out they were going for the white marlin. Some boats did also catch some wahoo and dolphin while in the search for the whites.
Surf fishing starting picking up with some blue fish in the surf at 3R's road. Use fresh finger mullet, which you can find at our southern store in Bethany Beach.
That is all for now, I will try to keep up with the reporting.

Deanna