Well the wind finally did quit blowing last week and as expected things got shuffled around a good bit during the three days of East and Northeast winds. Just so you know this is going to be one of those good news bad news reports. Lets get the bad news out of the way first; our Flounder fishing that had been what I would call fabulous before the latest wind event is now just about non-existent. This Flounder bite sure was fun while it lasted and I know quite a few of you got in on the action with these big fish while it was going on but I think the days of just Fluking are about done.

Now for the good news; fish are most definitely on the move and while we are not seeing the big numbers of nice Flounder that we were just a couple of weeks ago we are now seeing a nice variety of fish including some decent numbers of Sea Bass, Croakers and Snapper Blues along with the occasional Flattie.

I know a lot of you hard-core Sea Bass fishermen are starting to get excited but don’t stock up on the freezer bags just yet. When I say we are seeing decent numbers it’s all relative. For several weeks this past summer we thought that perhaps we might not even see a good fall run with the Sea Bass but now things are looking up. My fishing time has been split up between drifting and anchor fishing over wrecks and good bottom structure and naturally some trips have been much better than others but there has been Bass every day. We have no problem seeing a lot of Sea Bass but the problem is the size of the fish. Many our of Bass are falling short of the minimum size limit of 12 inches however there are quite a few nice keepers mixed in at times. I think my top hook on Sea Bass this past week was around 14 keepers with an average catch of about eight to ten nice Bass. Not that bad when you mix a few Croakers and Snapper Blues in and believe it or not we have actually seen several keeper sized Sea Trout over the last few days as well. I had to take a close look at these Trout, it has been a while since I’ve seen any of them.

My best fishing still seems to be when we can drift however I have had a few good anchor stops just recently. The Flounder that were around the structures just a week ago seem to have all but vacated the vicinity. While we do manage to see a few Fluke each day, for the most part I do believe that they are moving off. It is possible that we may see some more good numbers of Flounder as we move further off the beach chasing the Sea Bass like we did last year but I’m not going to hold my breath on that.

In the upcoming weeks I would expect more and more wreck fishing especially if these Bass continue to congregate around the structure. The moon is just around the corner and the associated strong running currents should push even more fish around. With any luck some of the bigger fish that have been spread out over the open bottom will start to once again take to some of the heavier structure as well as the artificial reefs and make for a better keeper ratio while we are anchored in these locations. Our immediate future will see more days on the drift with a variety catch and on those days that it is too windy to drift we will most certainly be anchoring over wrecks or reefs.

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

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!
Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
Thelma Dale V
catchfish@verizon.net