Delaware Bay striper run firing — 48-inch fish on bloodworms, drum building

What's Biting

What's Next

The Delaware Bay striper run shows no sign of tapering. Big Dave's Tackle (The Fisherman — Southern NJ) reported the outstanding bite from Cape May to Salem County continuing through the past week, with fish to 46 inches on a mix of bloodworms, bloodworm bag combos, fresh clam, glide baits, and soft plastics. Evening and early morning moving tides have consistently delivered the best bites. With the May full moon now past and the moon in its waning gibbous phase, tidal swings remain substantial — plan outings around the first two hours of incoming and outgoing tide at first light and dusk for peak striper exposure.

The black drum push looks to be building rather than peaking. Hands Too Bait and Tackle reported fish to 20 pounds along the Delaware Bay shoreline, and Big Dave's Tackle described drumfish as growing ever more prominent in daily catches by the end of last week. Fresh shucked surf clams on a bottom rig remain the top drum presentation; bloodworms will also take drum where the species are stacked alongside stripers in the same shoreline feeding zones.

Black sea bass is an emerging option worth tracking over the next two weeks. Delaware's state-water season opened May 1, though Eric Burnley (The Fisherman — DE/MD/Chesapeake) noted his first trip out was not a banner day. As fish settle into spring structure, the bite should sharpen considerably. Federal-water anglers should note that default regulations place the opener at May 15, with a 15-inch minimum and a five-fish bag limit — always verify current Delaware state and federal rules before retaining fish, as regulations differ by distance from shore.

Summer flounder is also coming online around this window. Reports from The Fisherman — Southern NJ indicate back bays are loaded with flatfish headed into the opener, with water temperatures in a favorable range for bites. Live minnows remain the most reliable early-season presentation inside the back bays and inlets.

For the weekend, light winds noted by NOAA buoy 44009 suggest fishable bay conditions. Target the first and last hours of moving tide along Delaware Bay shoreline beaches to maximize striper and drum opportunities in a single outing.

Context

The spring striper migration typically peaks along the Delaware Bay shorelines in late April through mid-May, as post-spawn fish work out of the Chesapeake estuary and push northward. On The Water's May 1 striper migration map noted that the run "really snowballs once the large post-spawn females leave the Chesapeake" — and current bay-side reports suggest that surge is fully underway. Nick Honachefsky (The Fisherman — NJ/DE Surf) characterized the broader spring run as "one of the best spring bass runs in a long time," with fish stacked from Sandy Hook down through Cape May and across the Delaware Bay shorelines.

The black drum fishery is tracking right on its typical early-May schedule. Drum historically arrive on Delaware Bay bars and oyster flats in late April, with peak fishing running through May before summer heat pushes them toward deeper structure. Multiple bay-side sources reporting fish to 20 pounds in the first week of May suggest a healthy, on-time arrival for 2026.

The brief regulatory complication around the federal black sea bass and flounder openings — which Eric Burnley (The Fisherman — DE/MD/Chesapeake) flagged as resulting from NOAA's delayed approval of new regulations — is an administrative anomaly rather than a seasonal pattern, and has been resolved with default rules now in place for both species.

No water temperature data was available from NOAA buoy 44009 for this report. Given air temperatures near 58°F and the active pace of the striper bite, bay water is likely in the low-to-mid 50s Fahrenheit — historically the prime spring feeding range for Delaware Bay stripers. If temperatures climb toward the upper 50s over the next week, as is typical for mid-May in this region, expect striper action to remain hot and black sea bass to build on spring structure.