Finally a consistent week of good Flounder fishing! Favorable tides and winds have allowed me to see the best Flounder fishing so far this year. There is one thing that you can believe and that is the numbers they just don’t lie. I have seen the best numbers of Flounder so far this year in these last seven days. Literally hundreds of Flounder both keepers and throwbacks have been keeping anglers sharp at the rail just about every day this week.

As most of you know conditions are key to good Fluke fishing. Many of our days we have been blessed with just those conditions. I had said a few weeks ago that as more fish are found in different areas it would open up more options to catch fish in a lot of different situations. This is part of the reason we have had much better success this past week. I have seen decent action in areas of Delaware Bay where we have not seen good numbers of Flounder in a few years. If and when these fish become more bunched up as they filter out of the Bay it may even get better!

While we still struggle with the fact that 18 inches is a darn big fish, we are seeing several quality fish in the neighborhood of four to six pounds along with the throwbacks and the heartbreaking fish that measure over 17. Our poolfish has been over four or five pounds or larger every day. We still see a variety of fish in our catch however for me it has been mostly Flounder and Snapper Blues. At times of slack tide we have been seeing a plethora of Sharks, Skates, Robbins and Toads keeping the action alive. Some of the Sharks we have been seeing are approaching 20 pounds. We have had a lot of fun this past week!

Our Half-Day trips continue to see decent Croaker fishing with Croaker up to fourteen inches. The average fish is still 10 to 12 inches in length and on the better days or evenings it is not uncommon for anglers to walk away with twenty or more decent fish. They also have been seeing a mix of Snapper Blues, a few small Trout and the occasional Flounder.

The Delaware Bay seems to be alive with fish right now and with any luck these fish are going to stick around for quite some time. I have had reports of some of the bigger Croakers starting to show up in some of the traditional early Croaker hangouts so it is possible we may be seeing them at any time. This time last year you could go just about anywhere in the Bay and catch large to jumbo Croakers on any given Day. We anxiously await their arrival!

I do believe the outlook for fishing is very promising for the rest of the summer. After a few weeks of shaky catches it seems as though things are finally turning in our favor. Flounder are being caught from the far reaches up in the Delaware Bay all the way down to the rips in the mouth of the Bay. It’s been a while since I was able to make a statement like that! It’s certainly not a “no brainer” but the possibilities for good catches are there.

I will continue targeting Flounder and whatever else we can catch with the all day trips. Departure time is 7:00 a.m. Half-day trips sail three times daily fishing for the Croakers 8:00, 1:00 and then again at 6:00 p.m. If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf of you would like to book a charter or get on the make up Tuna list please e-mail me or give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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