What started out as our best week in quite a while with Flounder and Sea Bass ended up with way too much wind and barely enough sinkers to hold the bottom. NOAA requires me to keep track of all the fish that we land on each and every trip and when I added up all those numbers for the last seven days they were actually quite impressive, however these numbers didn’t reflect the story on a few of those long hard days where just touching bottom was a challenge within itself. I can think of a few days straight where the last thing you would have heard me say was “you should have been here yesterday.”

It’s true the weekend was pretty much a bust thanks to Mother Nature, however there were some very nice fish landed and some good throwback action around the boat at times, it’s just that fish dinners, unfortunately, were spread thin for the weekend crowds. There does seem to be quite a few fish around and they are in a lot of different places however conditions are key. Without the right conditions you might think you were fishing in a desert. When everything “clicks” though the action is good. Flounder and Sea Bass are still the catch of the day with our Full-Day trips and yes some days are much better than others but we do manage to scrape up a catch on most trips. Winds and currents as normal have played a significant role in our success over the past few days, it just seems like everything must fall into place or we just don’t do it. I do expect some nice catches in our immediate future when conditions are right.

Fortunately as the water warms and more fish move, the chances of catching fish in less than favorable conditions will improve and the good days will outnumber the bad. The Delaware Bay has still been hit and miss, but there has been some very nice catches of Fluke made in several different locations. While most of the action seems to be centered around the artificial reefs, there is also a good number of fish being landed in some of the more traditional spots like the edge of the anchorage as well as along the shipping channel. Believe me Flounder fishing is just starting to kick in gear and will see improvements almost daily.

Croakers have also made a good showing up in the Bay just this past week. Half-Day trips have been seeing anglers land as many as twenty Croakers in just the past few days. So far these fish have been anywhere from just legal size to around fourteen inches in length, just a start of many more to come. Usually within a couple of weeks of the first few, the bigger ones will appear. If it’s anything like the last several years Croaker fishing will be outstanding over the next few months.

Offshore fishing remains red hot now for those targeting the Tuna. The Lewstown Lady made her first offshore run Friday and had an awesome trip. They landed fifteen Yellow Fin Tuna up to 56 pounds and released several more. They also raised a Blue and a White Marlin. Trolling seems to be the best way to catch these fish now but I have heard of a few on the chunk. Tuna fishing is also just getting started now and should be good from here on in. There are still several open dates on the Lewestown Lady including some 30-hour slots so make your plans now to get in on this offshore action.

Starting the first of July we will be running the same special that we ran for a while last summer. To encourage getting the younger ones out fishing, all children under the age of 12 when accompanied by an adult will go for free on any of our fishing trips! This special deal will run the entire month of July this year giving you ample opportunity to get the little ones out. Nothing beats the smile of child catching his or her first big fish!

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
Thelma Dale V
catchfish@verizon.net