An abundance of croaker for your summer fishing

I’ve been in the clouds fishing — literally stuck in clouds, hovering in the mountains. The fish are biting and it is not hot at all. It is cold inside clouds, even in July. I was not prepared for this weather. This is what happens when you leave the beach for a little bit and forget your cold and wet gear. It’s July, why would it be even slightly cold? It’s chilly at night. I forgot about the summers up here. It’s been a good time. Fishing all the old known waters like nothing has changed, but almost everything has changed. The fish are still as dumb as us anglers, so that hasn’t changed.

Shout out to Lucy Moore for making MDDNR fishing history. She is the youngest person and only female to earn Maryland’s Master Angler status for catching 10 trophy-sized fish species. That is a great accomplishment. Look at the master angler programs in your state. It is a fun checklist to try and complete, much like anglers like to fill a life list. There are a lot of fish species in the world to be caught, or not. Some lists are easy to fill and some are very difficult. It adds a little challenge to your fishing game if you are so inclined.
The summer fishing has been really good for croaker. Depending on where you are fishing, there is nothing but croaker, from little croaker to taco-sized croaker, small schools to massive schools. It’s been a while since we have seen an abundance of croaker. It will be interesting to see just how big they get this summer since there are so many around.

Spot and kingfish action continue in the surf and inland bays. Cut spot is catching red drum at Assateague, as is cut kingfish. Night fishing is more favorable with the higher daytime temperatures. Night surf fishing is a lot of fun since the beaches are nearly empty.

Triggerfish and sheepshead are around structure, wrecks and reefs. There are plenty of sand fleas to dig up or purchase locally. Striped bass fishing with sand fleas at the rock jetties is a lot of fun.

Cobia are near the shore and offshore. You just have to find them and do some sight fishing or get lucky along the surf. Short bluefish are in the surf and that makes a good cobia bait. Keep the three fish limit in mind if you use a bluefish that you caught for bait. A fish used for bait counts as part of your trip limit. One thing that catches bluefish is using bluefish for bait. Go figure.

Flounder fishing has been good for catching, even keeping a legal-sized fish. Anglers are getting their limits or they are not. At four fish, it isn’t too bad if you only get half that anyway.

We are still seeing decent weakfish catches mostly along the Delaware Bay beaches.

Freshwater fishing was excellent at the mountain house. It has been good down here as well. I’m looking forward to some top action fly fishing in the evenings. Maybe I’ll fish the new bridge across Millsboro Pond. That thing looks huge from the water. We do not get near it at all when we fish Millsboro Pond. There are a lot of Chesapeake Channa action out there, too. Blue catfish and channel cats are hitting in all the waterways. We are about to try out all the Fishbites catfish baits and the earthworm formula. I hear good things.
The Damn Fly Meter will be relaunched on the Google Play store soon.

Apparently, the fly app caught a bug. It will be available on iPhone soon as well.
Be careful out in this heat. It’s best to find shade, but the water is nice and cool at the beach.

Dolphins were seen the other day in the C&D Canal by several hikers and anglers. It must be all the croaker.