Fisherman's Wharf Fishing Report June 22, 2004

The fishing action over this past week aboard the Keen Lady IV has been, to put it politely; very slow. I have heard it described a lot of different ways over the past several days but most of those descriptions are not appropriate for this writing.

A lot of the old timers have always talked about a condition in the early summer that they would refer to as the "June Swoon." This is when for whatever reason the fish would just shut down and even though you knew that the fish were there, you just couldn’t prove it. It is likely that this past week’s production fell as a result of this "June Swoon".

Wind did play a role over the past week to a certain extent, drifting conditions were difficult at times. Our Flounder landings, which had been over 60 keepers for the week prior, were down to about 20 keepers for this past week as a whole. As for the Sea Bass, well . . . . . . they continue to have veteran skippers up and down the seaboard pulling out what’s left of their hair! The numbers of Bass that seem to be around this year are without doubt not like they have been in the past few years and the ones that are around are not always willing to bite the hook.

I have made mile long drifts catching Sea Bass the whole time, keepers as well as throwbacks and then turned around and made the same drift a few minutes later, and caught next to nothing. I have anchored up over clouds of fish that were 25 ft thick and only caught a few. Yes the fish are still in charge!

There really seems to be a lot of fish around right now even if we are sometimes unable to catch them. I am getting a lot of reports from up in the Delaware Bay about nice spreads of Flounder. I know for a fact that good catches of Flounder are being made in the shallows close to home, as well as from the "old grounds" in the deeper waters which is where we have been spending most of our time. There are also confirmed reports of a few Trout and a lot of Croakers being caught on both sides of the Delaware Bay.

Water temperatures continue to climb. At one point over the weekend I saw 74-degree surface temp along the beachfront.

Blue fishing continues to be real good for those who venture out to the 25 to 30 mile lines where these fish seem to be holding. And there are also more and more reports of Tuna being caught within 40 miles of the beach. Clear water is in as close as 12 miles from the shore and bottom temperatures are finally near normal for this time of year.

Things are shaping up for some really hot action in the weeks to come. Expect for the All-Day boat to continue to fish for Sea Bass and Flounder and expect the Half-Day trips to be seeing Croakers and maybe a few Flounder mixed in. Night Trips should also see Croaker. In the past few years some of the best Croaker fishing was had on our Half-Night trips. It seems as though boat traffic plays a big role with these fish and at night this is just not an issue.

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