Finally some seasonable weather, we went from hooded sweatshirts to shorts in what seemed like overnight. Along with the warmer weather water temperatures have been on a rapid incline and the fishing at least for me has been anywhere from outstanding to down right frustrating.

Most of last week the fishing was fair, anglers were walking away with more than enough for supper and a few lucky sticks landing a limit or close to a limit of nice Sea Bass. As the Memorial Day weekend approached and the weather stayed beautiful the crowds began to climb and the fish were more spread out around the rail. You could almost see the writing on the wall it was going to be a long weekend.

We did continue to catch nice Sea Bass but the total numbers of Bass for the amount of anglers I carried was way down. It seemed as though just about anything that floats was out on the water over the weekend and parking spaces were now at a premium. Two weeks ago I could go out to one of the artificial reef sights and not see a boat all day however this past weekend at one point I counted over 60 boats in less than a square mile. Bad weekend to be a Sea Bass I guess. By Sunday the stage was set for a full-blown weekend sting. With Boats literally buzzing all around us there was no chance of finding anything that I wasn’t willing to give away and I think we stung the biggest crowd of the year! Some lucky folks walked away with double digits of keepers but some also went to McDonalds to get a fish sandwich. It was a tough day one I would soon like to forget!

We came close to being back on track Monday. With a lot less boat traffic I was able to fish areas that I wanted to and was able to scrape up a little day with some very impressive fish, no big numbers but the quality was good. We saw a few of the nicest Bass that we have seen all year fishing over some tiny little wrecks. We were also inundated with the dreaded Spiny Dogs. All weekend they seemed to be thinning out and I was thinking that perhaps they were all but gone but Monday’s trip shot that theory down, we had double dogs on a couple of stops.

Today 5/29 was one of our better trips in a while. With no other boats on the horizon I was able to make a stop over one of those “secret spots” and anglers were rewarded with good numbers of big Bass and quite a few Tog mixed in as well. I have to be honest with you these spots are becoming fewer and farther between. With the amount of boats that targeted Bass over the weekend most of the “common knowledge” spots are picked over and only the “private stock” areas produce the best fishing. I hate to say this but we could use a little blow to shake things up and push some fish around.

The good news is as the water temperatures continue to climb more and more options will become available. Flounder action was hot in some areas up in the Delaware Bay this past weekend and there were also a few nice Fluke and Sea Bass caught on the open bottom out front. It shouldn’t be long before we will be able to make up a catch drifting the open bottom with a mix of Bass and Fluke in the Ocean or Fluke and Snapper Blues in the Delaware Bay.

I will continue to run the Full-Day trips departing the docks at 7:00 a.m. and I will stick with anchoring over wrecks, rocks, and reefs as long as we can continue to catch good numbers of fish. We could also be drifting on any given day providing that the conditions will allow. For now it’s still Sea Bass and maybe a few Tog and I expect to start seeing numbers of Flounder in the next couple of weeks. After that it will likely be more drifting than anchoring as the fish spread out along the open bottom. Whatever is best that is what we will do!

We will also be running our Half-Day trips daily now sailing daily at 8:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and then again at 6:00 p.m. for the evening trip. Depending on crowds and conditions expect to see Flounder, Snapper Blues, Bass or Drum on the Half Day Trips. Starting June 18th we will also be running a six-hour trip sailing at 10:00 a.m. and returning to the docks at 4:00 p.m. These trips will be sailing only Monday through Friday.

If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to book a charter please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
Keen Lady IV
catchfish@verizon.net