Beach-Net!'s
Lewes, Delaware
Fishing Report

(February 3, 2001)

Water Temp: Lewes - Lewes: 37' ~ De. Lightship: 39' as of Feb 3, 2001

Bill's Sport Shop is proud to announce the appointment of Captain Les Clemmer to our staff. Captain Les has been a Captain and Mate on several of the charter and head boats fishing on the Delaware Bay for many years and his experience will be extremely helpful to our customers. This week Capatin Les is going to talk about Striper fishing in the Delaware Bay.

Spring is just around the corner and stripers will be moving back up the bay. Whether using bucktails or eels I recomend that you have both baits available when fishing for stripers in the spring because each day is different. Whether you are fishing Overfalls Shoal, Brown Shoal or the 8's you really don't need to use more than 4oz total weight most of the time. In the early spring and late fall you may need more weight to hold the bottom.

Make sure your leaders are 50Lb test and at least 36" to 40" in length with an inline sinker tied directly to your line. I use 30Lb test line on my charter boat and set the drag so that you can pull it out by hand under some pressure. Once hooked up on a striper keep the tip of the rod at 45' angle and don't lower the rod tip or the fish might jump off.

For better bait presentation, you want to bounce your bucktails or eels along the bottom. Presentation has everything to do with whether you catch or not. Most stripers will be found in rapid moving water over uneven bottom creating what we call rips. When fishing the rips, go around them and drift through them, never run back through the rips as it will scatter the feeding fish.

EEls are best if kept on ice because this slows them down making them easier to handle and stops them from curling back up your line. White bucktails tipped with white grubs are usually the most effective. If you elect to troll, do it very slowly and again troll around the flock of working birds, not through them. Bombers, Rebel's and spoons are effective trolling lures.

In the next few weeks, Captain les will be talking about Drum fishing and Wreck fishing.

Thank you, Captain Les Clemmer, Martha Marie Charters, 302-947-9027