Fisherman's Wharf Fishing Report May 18, 2004

One of the hardest things for me to do sometimes is to write a fishing report when I don’t think the fishing has been all that good. A veteran Skipper friend of mine from over in Cape May has always told me " you just can’t make chicken salad out of chicken $%&*#!" I will try.

Fishing since my last report on the Full-Day boat Keen Lady IV has been less than spectacular, in fact at times it has been down right deplorable! We had been on a roll. Everything was going as planned. Nice Sea Bass, a few more every day, a limit catch here and there, more and more fish, and then the stumbling block!

Normally at this time of the year we are accustomed to seeing big numbers of Sea Bass and good- sized ones at that. They would seem to move onto the wrecks almost over night. Right now for whatever reason, there seems to be little if any movement of fish, making for some SLOW fishing. Wrecks that produced fish just do not seem to be rebuilding very fast. I have actually dropped back over top of a few wrecks that have already been fished and caught next to nothing!

There is a bright side to this. We know that it will get better. These fish are just slow coming inshore this year presumably due to cold water temperatures. While surface temps are slowly creeping up into normal ranges, bottom temperature continues to be frigid. Divers have confirmed that the ocean bottom temperature in our area is just barely over 41 degrees! Summer like weather with no wind has made for some beautiful days on the water but has done little for mixing up the thermoclines.

We have actually had some real bright spots in our fishing this past week. A few of the wrecks that we have fished have produced plenty of nice sized fish and some lucky anglers who have been in the right place at the right time have walked away with a very nice catch. I guess we have been somewhat spoiled to some of the landings that we have had over the past few years, some folks just want to see all of those coolers full!

Another bright spot would have to be the Drumfish. Capt. H.D. ran night trips for Drum and Stripers this past weekend and had good action each night! While the Stripers didn’t cooperate that well, the Drum were willing to make several anglers nights memorable.

Robert Morris from Smyrna De and Wayne Martine from Townsend De both landed 78 and 68 pound Drum respectively. While Megan Keens from Denver Pa. And Billy Sausman from Shelocta pa. also landed 61 and 72 pound boomers earning each of them a Delaware State citation for an outstanding catch! Local anglers David and Paul Hazzard from Lewes also landed big Drum on these trips with Capt. H.D. but I am not certain of the weights. Our next night trip will be this Friday night and Drumfish are sure to be the main menu. If you have never fished for Drum this is the perfect chance for you to get in on the action.

I will continue with Wreck fishing daily on the normal all-day trips fishing for Sea Bass and Blackfish. It is also possible that we may be seeing a few Bluefish, there seems to be more of them showing up as the water warms and it is likely that some more of them will be landed.

If you would like more information on trips sailing out of the Wharf or you are interested in booking a charter please check out our website or give us a call at (302) 644-TUNA.


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