Fisherman's Wharf Fishing Report June 2, 2004

This past weeks fishing has shown me some of the best Sea Bass action of the year so far. This past weeks fishing has also shown me some of the worst. Sounds like typical fishing right? Well there really hasn’t been much "typical" about our wreck fishing so far this year but it is without a doubt getting much better.

Most of this past week has been hit and miss. I am happy to report that I have seen more limits of 25 keepers in the past several days than I have seen all year. The average catch per man is still around ten to twenty fish. Some do better some don’t.

A lot of the fish that we have been seeing are real nice size. There seems to have been a good charge of Bass that moved onto a lot of the wrecks almost overnight. Numerous fish of over 3lb. were landed just this past weekend. I can’t think of a better weekend for the fish to have finally cooperated! Sunday may have been one of the best days yet for a big crowd. I don’t want to tell you about Monday though; the fish won that battle in a big way.

Water temperatures; while still cool have been on a steady incline hanging around 61 degrees in the ocean. When the sun is out we have seen surface temps as high as 64 or 65. Bottom temperature in 100 ft. is still reportedly less than 50 degrees. This warming trend seems to have helped the bottom fishing but the fish are still at times biting like early spring feeders and just hanging on to the baits. We have also seen a lot of nice fish taken this past week on jigs and bucktails with a cast and retrieve method. The crippled herring was the jig of choice bringing several citation-sized fish off the wrecks.

We weighed in more citations for Sea Bass last week than any other week thus far. Among some of the big ones were Rodger Johnson of Media, Tom Gallagher of Drexel Hill, Hernandez Jesus of Modena and Cheryl Laughery of Wilmington. All landed Sea Bass in the three to four lb. class earning state citations. Ronald T. Frey of Sinking Springs had the big one over the weekend weighing in a 5lb. 8oz knothead! The biggest Flounder that we have seen so far was also caught this past week, Ray Mason of Baltimore had a nice flattie that tipped the scales at just under 6lbs.

The big news over the Holiday weekend would have to be the unbelievable rescue at sea by the crew of our Half-Day boat the Thelma Dale V. With North winds blowing in excess of 20 knots on Saturday morning, a small boat of 23 ft was attempting to fish the Breakwater for Blackfish when something went terribly wrong. In a heavy swell their attempt to toggle into the wall left them with an anchor rope in their prop causing the waves to crash over the stern and capsize the boat. The Ferry was the first to notice the capsized boat however there were no people to be seen. The Coast Guard put out an alert on channel 16 and asked for all boaters to be on the lookout.

Meanwhile the Thelma Dale V had just departed for their morning excursion when Capt. Mike Cerchio heard the call. Mike advised the crew of the situation and even posted a lookout on the top deck. As they rounded the point of the cape there was nothing to be seen. About three miles down the beach Capt. Mike spotted a dolphin jumping out of the water. As he looked closer he noticed a white object on the surface of the water that was out of the ordinary. Upon closer investigation he found that there were 3 men clinging to the white object. An Igloo cooler was all that these men had to hold onto. Capt. Mike positioned the vessel next to the three men and the crew proceeded to pluck the men to safety one at a time. The crewmembers of the Thelma Dale V are without doubt true heroes!

These men had been drifting in the water for close to 2 hours and were hypothermic when they were rescued. Had they been in the water for any longer, the ending to this story would have been much different. One of the three men was airlifted to the Christiana Hospital in Wilmington. The other two were treated in Lewes. A fourth man had somehow made it to the beach south of the Cape Henlopen State Park pavilion. All of them survived thanks to the efforts of this heroic crew of the Thelma Dale V. Congratulations Capt. Mike on an outstanding catch!

Our summer schedule is just about in its full swing now with Full and Half-Day boats sailing daily. Most of our fishing efforts will continue to be for the Sea Bass however it is possible that with small crowds the Half-Day trips will be fishing in the Bay for Flounder or whatever else may take the hook.

If you would like more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you are interested in booking a charter please give us a call at (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