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Delaware sheephead and flounder

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fishguts430

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My wife's family members bought a place in Bethany beach right on a canal leading to the Indian river bay. I really want to try to target flounder and get my first sheephead this year. do the sheephead come into the Indian river bay at all? I was going to try to find some rock piles or something and jig for them. I was also told by a local bait shop that the flounder fishing is not good in Delaware. He said to head north to jersey or south to Maryland. Any body have any info on this as well? It would suck to have to travel to a different state when i could launch the kayak in 30 seconds walking out the back door lol. I'm also new to both types of fishing so go easy on me 

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Might find some useful info here. You are in a good area for fishing. No reason to go searching for them somewhere else. Indian River Inlet produces a lot of fish and the Delaware State Seashore Park in Bethany is a good spot for surf fishing.

 

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Edited by TimS
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4 hours ago, DerrickT said:

There are flounder around.  You just gotta know where to find them.  Catch ratio to find a keeper may be 100 to 1 though or maybe more.  

 

Some places night time is the right time ;)

You mean fluke, right? Not the little rubber mouthed fellers we catch up here? 

Show someone how to catch striped bass and they'll be ready to fish anywhere.
Show someone where to go striped bass fishing and you'll have a desperate report chaser with loose lips.

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7 hours ago, DerrickT said:

There are flounder around.  You just gotta know where to find them.  Catch ratio to find a keeper may be 100 to 1 though or maybe more.  

 

Some places night time is the right time ;)

Are you referring to local water and/or DBay and ocean?

Pretty bad when tackle shop tells you to go to another state.

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14 hours ago, TimS said:

You mean fluke, right? Not the little rubber mouthed fellers we catch up here? 

Summer flounder. Calling them a fluke is a sure sign of being a transplant and not local. Like calling a Rockfish a Stripah.  You can catch Flounder  and plenty most years, in the back bays around DE. I haven’t seen winter flounder (window panes) in decades, however there may be some. Just much better winter fishing opps than chasing those things. 
 

The B&T is correct, head south for better quality fish and numbers. Biggest advantage is considerably less boat traffic and tourist/transplant yahoo’s on the water, although summer time fishing at OC is just as aggravating. 
 

Mid to late summer you’ll do better on near off shore structure for better quality flounder than in the back waters. 

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33 mins ago, JAL said:

Summer flounder. Calling them a fluke is a sure sign of being a transplant and not local. Like calling a Rockfish a Stripah.  

:th: 

33 mins ago, JAL said:

 

You can catch Flounder  and plenty most years, in the back bays around DE. I haven’t seen winter flounder (window panes) in decades, however there may be some.

Winter flounder and window panes are two entirely different critters. Winter flounder are thick, dark skinned critters with tiny mouths with rubber lips - window panes (sundials locally) are thin, nearly see through, lighter skinned critters with large mouths but paper lips like a crappie/calico bass.  Winter flounder eat worms and mussels and clams...sundials literally eat everything, there's nothing you can't catch them on, those dudes are aggressive :)

 

TimS

Show someone how to catch striped bass and they'll be ready to fish anywhere.
Show someone where to go striped bass fishing and you'll have a desperate report chaser with loose lips.

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Used to catch flounder in the Lewes canal drifting in a rowboat.  A kayak would be perfect to use if you timed the tide right. Early in the mornings, before the boat traffic picked up, generally worked best though. I would drag a minnow/squid on a 'spec rig'. Your in a great spot being in Bethany to access a bunch of areas especially with a kayak. Seems like fishing is supposedly always better somewhere else, generally South of no matter were your at. Good Luck.

Edited by rowboater
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8 hours ago, TimS said:

:th: 

Winter flounder and window panes are two entirely different critters. Winter flounder are thick, dark skinned critters with tiny mouths with rubber lips - window panes (sundials locally) are thin, nearly see through, lighter skinned critters with large mouths but paper lips like a crappie/calico bass.  Winter flounder eat worms and mussels and clams...sundials literally eat everything, there's nothing you can't catch them on, those dudes are aggressive :)

 

TimS

I once caught a window pane at 11 pm casting a needlefish....

And 20 min later I caught another one......then i moved.

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1 hour ago, riggler said:

I once caught a window pane at 11 pm casting a needlefish....

And 20 min later I caught another one......then i moved.

Those guys will try to eat anything, day or night :) 

Show someone how to catch striped bass and they'll be ready to fish anywhere.
Show someone where to go striped bass fishing and you'll have a desperate report chaser with loose lips.

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Sheepshead are around mid/late summer, they come in to the bay but tend to only hold in a few areas and they aren’t nearly as reliable as they are in the south. There are plenty of flounder from May thru October, just not a lot of doormats from shore. They slow down a lot in Indian river/Rehoboth bay when the water gets too warm but if you find the deeper water they move to you can stay busy with them all summer. The right place at the right time will produce pretty steady action. My keeper/short ratio last year was around 1/12 with 250+ fish. The fishing is definitely better in Jersey but once you figure out the wheres whens and hows Delaware will treat you well enough. 

Edited by Tyger92
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