Fisherman's Wharf Fishing Report May 25, 2004

There has been a vast improvement since my last fishing report. Warm summerlike weather has been dominating our area allowing colder waters to finally reach more normal temperature readings for this time of year.

Ocean surface temperatures, as I write this, have been hanging around the 60-degree mark where as this time last week most of the reports were only around 56 degrees. Bottom temperatures however are still stuck around 45 to 47 degrees which for this time of the year is very cold. When you crank your bait or a fish up off of the bottom it feels as though it has been sitting in a refrigerator. Good weather may be at least partially to blame for the colder bottom readings, as we have had no wind to "shake things up" and push some of the warmer water towards the bottom depths.

We continue to fish over shipwrecks and reefs with the All-Day trips, and our catch has been anywhere from slow to very nice. Some of the wrecks that I fished over this past week have produced great numbers of large Sea Bass while other wrecks have produced next to nothing. With the exception of the "weekend sting" I think most trips were very decent. We are starting to see a lot more throwback sized fish mixed in with our catch at times, and I have actually seen a few limit catches of 25 keeper fish come over the rail during this past week. Most anglers have been walking away with enough fish for a good meal or two and maybe a few for some friends. Lucky anglers are catching ten to twenty keepers yet some of the more skillful anglers may only catch a handful.

Things overall are most definitely getting better. There are fish in places now that just weeks ago were none. We have seen Ocean Sunfish, Sea Turtles, and we even had a big Thresher Shark hooked up briefly this past week. These are sure signs of warming waters. I also have a report of a False Albacore being landed by a charterboat trolling for Blues.

Some highlights this past week would be the landing of a couple 20 lb. class Monkfish. Tricia Atwood of Aston Pa. Took the big money on Saturdays trip beating out the biggest Flounder that we have caught so far this year with her Monkfish that weighed in just Under 20 pounds. Tom Bojoko of Lebanon Pa landed the big Flounder, which weighed in around five pounds but just couldn’t hold a candle to the big ugly Monkfish. It was a very nice Flounder none the less. With a little luck we will be seeing more Flounder like this in the upcoming weeks.

Capt. Billy Talbot rode along with me on Sunday’s trip just for fun and had a great holiday catching several nice sized Sea Bass. Billy’s biggest Bass weighed in at almost four pounds. He also landed an 11 lb. Bluefish on a bottom rig causing quite a ruckus on the bow ! The Big fish of the week will go to Ken Phillips from New Castle De. Ken landed a 75 lb. Drumfish on Saturdays’ night trip on the Thelma Dale IV with Capt. H.D.

We also started our Half-Day fishing this past weekend and as of next Saturday Half-Day trips will resume with the Daily schedule. Capt. Mike drifted for a few Sea Bass on Saturday and Sunday mornings and on Sunday afternoon he went up in the Bay and caught a few Small Trout and a lot of Sandsharks providing good action for those at the rail.

Fishing really is starting to get good now and it seems as though some of our best catches continue to be in the middle of the week with light crowds and when only a few boats are out. I do expect the Sea Bass to improve on a daily basis and all indications are that we should have these fish for quite some time as they are really just starting to arrive.

Our Summer schedule is in it’s full swing now and the weather man has promised more of the same weather that we have been seeing over the past couple of weeks. It is time to oil up the reels and try your luck on some of this early summer fishing !

If you would like more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to book a charter please call (302) 645-TUNA or check out our website at fishlewes.com .


Until next time Happy Fishing!
Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
fishing@fishlewes.com
Keen Lady IV