Fisherman's Wharf Fishing Report June 29, 2004

It would be a lot easier for me to write this fishing report if the fish were jumping in the boat but unfortunately this is not the case. I have seen the good and the bad over the past seven days and I have a firm grip on just why this sport that we love is called fishing instead of catching.

It has been a long week fishing aboard the All-Day boat Keen Lady IV this past week and there have been times I was wondering if we were actually using bait. It has certainly been a strange year so far and this past week was no different. Our week started out with new hopes of Fluke and Bass and Croakers. But by the weeks end we were just hoping for a fish to settle the pool!

There were some bright spots along the way. On Tuesday with just a handful of folks we ended up fishing over a tiny wreck that I had not yet fished this year and did quite well with Sea Bass and Blackfish. We didn’t have big numbers of fish but the sizes of the fish that we caught were very impressive to say the least. Most of the Sea Bass that were landed weighed between 3 and 4 pounds! I even caught a citation-sized fish of over 4lbs. myself. There were also several Tog caught that tipped the scales at over 7 pounds.

The big Fish of the week was caught on this trip and goes to Danny Prettyman from Lewes. Danny took a busman’s holiday on this day and went fishing with me for fun. Dan not only caught the biggest Sea Bass that he ever caught; he also landed a Tau Tog that weighed in at just under 10lbs. Both fish earned him State citations. Kenny and Ruth Dengler from Bethlehem Pa. ended a three day fishing vacation with a bang also. They landed their limit in Tog and had at least 10 Sea Bass over 3 lbs. Both Ken and Ruth earned citations for Bass as well asTog! I wish I could tell you that we were catching fish like this on every trip but I can’t.

I have fished 57 out of the last 58 days and I can honestly say to you that this year is quite unlike most others that I have experienced. There have been some really nice landings made out there and there have been some clunkers. I have learned a lot about Sea Bass so far this year, I think the most important lesson that I have learned is that I don’t know as much about them as I once thought I knew!

It just baffles me as to how you can stop over big schools of these fish and not catch any. But yet drop down a jig or a Sabiki rig close to the bottom and you can just about always catch a few of them. They just don’t always seem to want the traditional baits. It has been suggested to me that maybe they are on a low carbohydrate diet, if that is the case I am going to buy stock in some sort of low carb. bait!

In all seriousness the bottom fishing has been off this year and nobody seems to have a good explanation for the sporadic catches. It is a fact that there are not as many Sea Bass around as there have been in the past several years but there are still good numbers of them to be had, they just don’t always cooperate. Flounder have been hit and miss also. Since last Monday we have landed about 50 keeper Flatfish for over 90 caught on the full day ventures. The biggest of these Flatties weighed in at just over 5 pounds. But a strong case in point would be that just yesterday we had 12 keeper Flounder for over 40-some caught, and as I write this today it is almost quitting time and we don’t even have a Flounder on the boat! Ugh…. I would tell you how many Bass we have onboard right now but I don’t want to embarrass myself!

It was fishing like this that caused me to look up In the Delaware Bay for fish a couple of days last week. On Thursday we fished up in the Bay and caught Croakers all day from 10 to 15 inches long. We also landed a handful of nice Flounder. We went back to the Bay on Friday but only had a grubby pick on the Croaks and landed just 2 or 3 keeper Flounder for the trip. Boat traffic was more than likely the cause for the decline. Boats from as far away as Wildwood N.J. made the trip across the Bay to the Broadkill Slough just to get in on the action. By Saturday Capt. Mike on the Half-Day boat told me there were so many boats on the grounds that it was hard for him just to turn the boat around. Needless to say Croaker fishing over the weekend also lacked luster.

For the weekend I opted to fish back out in the Ocean. On Saturday I think it was after 11:00 when we caught our first keeper fish. It was a long slow day. Sunday was a little better we did have a few dozen nice Bass and the Flounder bite was O.K. Most all of our fish however were caught late in the day on a fresh flood tide drift.

In the weeks to come I expect to continue fishing for Flounder Sea Bass or Croaker. Weather and current conditions will play a role as to whether I fish in the Bay or in the Ocean. Sailing From the Port of Lewes gives us a major advantage as we can turn either North or South when we come out of our inlet enabling us to travel to the best fishing grounds on any given day with a minimum of riding time.

Offshore action is starting to heat up now. Reports of good Tuna action as well as the first catches of Dolphin and Marlin came in over the past weekend. Warm temperatures and good weather has these fish just about right on schedule. I would like to remind you if you are interested in booking an offshore trip on the Lewestown Lady, that dates are filling up quick for July and August overnighters so don’t hesitate. Book your trip now! .

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