report - Delaware shore

[Andrew LaVigne]

After getting a little stir crazy last month, my wife booked us a place on Broadkill Beach, just northwest of Cape Henlopen on Delaware bay. I wasn't super enthused about fly rod possibilities in the area, but brought gear anyway, just got back after a week. Couple of notes: 

-First, I wish I had a kayak on this trip. not for the salt, but for the blackwater ponds in the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Our beach house was only about 10 mins from a couple of really nice looking ponds, but as it's a refuge, shore access was nonexistent beyond the boat launches and a small dock intended for disabled access.  In the hour I fished there, though, I caught a couple decent Largemouth on a swimming frog. With a kayak or canoe or even SUP,  you would have a ton of water to cover. 

Second,  I was able to line up a nighttime guide trip with Capt. Chris Cook (firstlightcharters.net). I meet up with him Thursday night at a boat launch on the back side of Rehoboth Bay (Massey's landing), and we went in to hit the moving tide in the Indian River Inlet. The current was absolutely ripping when we got there, Chris had to really work to get us in position to hit the seawall, but was able eventually to use a trolling motor to hold position. First fish was within 2 mins, an 18 inch schoolie striper, and within 30 mins of us arriving, the place was exploding with bluefish. Stopped counting after a dozen of those, and continued to mix in schoolies up to 20 inches. Later on, started getting some hickory shad mixed in.  It was the fastest fishing I've had in a long time, definitely beat my expectations. If you're out there for a family vacation, the 3-hour night trip is a great way to get some fishing time in if you're not a surf rod guy. 

Bass pic below - wasn't able to get any during the Inlet trip. 

[Neil Chilson]

Andrew - thanks for this awesome report! I'm spending a month in Bethany beach in October, so even though that's a different season, I'm going to hope to experience something similar. I'll definitely hit up Captain Cook. But can I ask what weight rod you were using? I have a 5wt but I expect that is too light, right? Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks! 

[Andrew LaVigne]

I was throwing a 9 weight, mainly because that's what I had sinking line for. I switched up to an 8 weight with intermediate at one point, and it just wasn't getting down fast enough - so I would make sure to have sinking line regardless of what rod weight you throw. I would guess you could get away with a 7 weight, but 8 or 9 would be preferable, especially if there are bigger fish in the area in the fall. You also may be able to do some surf fishing for stripers at that point - I'll leave it to people with more experience on that front to recommend setups that work for that. 

If you're going to do any of the freshwater, a 5 probably works, but a 7 or 8 makes it much easier with bigger flies.