Action is still the name of the game here at the Wharf! This past week has once again shown me some of the best Sea Bass action of the year. We continue to fish over wrecks and artificial reefs with outstanding success. After a slow start this spring the weather and the fish have finally decided to cooperate.

Last week we still saw some of those cool ocean breezes, however with the water temperatures climbing up towards 60 degrees, some days it almost felt like summertime. We occasionally went back to the hooded jackets, however, the moment the sun came out we were shedding clothes. I even saw the first few cases of sunburn this past week! 13-year-old Vinny Scrofano from Allentown is pictured here with one of the many Sea Bass he landed with me one day last week. I have taken so many pictures of nice fish in the last few weeks that I have had a hard time keeping up with them all. If I have missed yours I am truly sorry.

Even though a lot of the fish we have caught over the past seven days have not made the magic 12 inch minimum, anglers have still had no problem catching more than enough for supper and keeping anywhere from a few fish to actually catching limit. It’s always refreshing to see the novices out fish the hard-core anglers. You just never know. Big Sea Bass like the ones pictured here at the fish cleaning station have been a common sight. I don’t believe we have had a trip yet without at least a few citation-sized fish to come over the rails! Our biggest Bass to date is just shy of six pounds.

The water has warmed up close to a tepid 60 degrees on the surface now and evidently the bottom temp is also warming. Just a week ago we had been plagued with Spiny Dogfish Sharks and I have not seen one of them caught now in five or six days. Having the Spiny’s move on has allowed us to stay over some of the smaller wrecks longer than we had previously been able to, picking at the fish all the while. I have also not seen a Bluefish in almost a week now. Some of the boats that have ventured off to the deeper waters have been seeing Blues in good numbers though. The water is eventually going to warm up to more of a normal degree, but it is still below what you would expect to see at this time of the year, as is evident by this pool winning Codfish from one of last weekends trips. We caught another Cod over this past weekend as well. Now that the Blues seemed to have moved off the beach a little further the pool fish has been either a big Sea Bass or a Tautog on just about every trip. I catch a lot of heat from some folks that have fished on other partyboats that don’t allow Bluefish to win the pool. Our rule has always been the biggest edible fish with scales wins and that is that!

With the water getting warmer things will no doubt be changing and I think these changes will be good. The open bottom of the “old grounds” is showing good signs of Bass and a few Flounder, with the beautiful weather that we had over the weekend, fish were just pouring out of radio reports by boats bouncing sinkers on the drift. Everybody was catching fish. I have tried a little drifting but so far my best action with bigger fish has been at anchor. As these changes come, our style of fishing will also change. I definitely see more drifting in the future. With light winds and seas this is sometimes one of the most productive ways to “catch up a mess of fish,” and with a few Flounders around this should make for some real interesting fishing. The transition to drifting will more than likely be a slow one for me, I believe our best bet will still be fishing while anchored for a while.

There is more good news up in the Delaware Bay. Anglers targeting Flounder have been having some outstanding catches these past few days on nice flatties in several different locations. There are also confirmed reports of several Croakers having been landed as well, and I have heard of some nice Trout being taken by those fishing close to shore. Things are shaping up for what looks like a much better June than what we have seen in the past few years as far as the Delaware Bay goes.

Our summer schedule will continue with trips sailing daily out of the Wharf. I will be sailing daily with the All-Day boat at 7:00 a.m. for at least an eight-hour trip. Half-Day trips will depart at 8:00, 12:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. If you would like more information please check out our website at fishlewes.com or give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
Keen Lady IV
catchfish@verizon.net