Fishing this past week has seen some real ups and some real downs. Despite a few really bright spots I would have to call production over the past week rather dim. Fortunately for me the folks that I have been carrying out fishing have had a lot more fun actually fishing than I have had trying to put them over top of biting fish!

We continue to see Sea Bass, Tog and we have even had our first significant numbers on Fluke. My time has been spent both drifting and on the anchor. When the winds were such that we could not drift we would anchor over wrecks or rocks but this action has been nothing like it was just a couple of weeks ago. Drifting has been our best bet when everything falls into place and all of our time with the Full Day trips has still been spent in the Ocean. The Delaware Bay continues to be the greater of the two evils with just too much of an unpredictable bite.

Those of you that have fished with me over the last couple of weeks know all too well that yes the fishing has been slow, however we have seen some good catches made and we have seen some real impressive fish. Top honors this week will have to go to Don Norris Jr. from Douglassville Pa. Don landed two trophy Tog back to back last week in just a few minutes time, the bigger of the two is the largest Blackfish landed in the state of Delaware so far this year. Don’s fish were 12 pounds and a whopping 17 lbs. respectively. He more than likely didn’t think the fishing was that bad. There were several other “bright spots” to this past weeks fishing and hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves. We certainly aren’t loading up with fish but for the most part folks are walking away happy with maybe a dinner or two and some good memories.

The water temperatures continue to climb with surface temps in the ocean approaching 70 degrees and Bay waters even warmer. The water out front has been almost crystal clear, sometimes being able to see fish coming up from as far as twenty feet or more down. Bay water has also been cleaner than normal with four or five feet visibilities being reported. Tuna and Mahi have been landed within striking distance and there are also plenty of Mako and Thresher Sharks being landed for those interested in the big game fishing charters to the offshore grounds.

The outlook for the next couple of weeks should be good. More and more Flounder are beginning to show up in several different places and with the right conditions there will be some good catches made. Sea Bass fishing is tough right now and I really can’t say what it will take before we see a substantial change. There are some Sea Bass around and we are catching some but they just seem to be spread out over the open bottom and not really bunched up in any particular spots. I will continue to target both the Bass and the Fluke with the All Day trips. It is possible that we may still see a few Tog on some of our trips but only if we have to anchor due to poor drifting conditions.

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

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
Thelma Dale V
catchfish@verizon.net