If Flounder fishing is your game you may want to think about going fishing. I’m not going to lie and tell you that we are loading up with fish, with regulations the way they are that’s almost impossible anyway. However over the past seven days we have landed some very impressive fish! Four and five pound Flounder have been common on each and every trip. Action has been such that just about everyone has been able to get in on the catching and limits are being caught frequently. Capt. Billy is pictured here with three six to seven pound class Flounder that were competing for the pool on this past Saturday’s trip just to give you an idea of the quality of some of these fish.

Randy Martis took the honors of first place with a citation sized Fluke that bit his line when he was barely awake. Rich Adams had a close second with this Flattie that tipped the scales at just less than 7 lbs. Flounder seem to be scattered about the coast now in all the usual haunts. Anywhere you find good hard bottom or a nice ledge, odds are there will be Fluke. Perhaps this is going to be “the year.” While you might think this is early for Flounder fishing this is really not that uncommon. Whatever the case we will gladly accept these fish with open dip nets! This fishing is very similar to some of the action that we encountered late last summer fishing over the open bottom of “the old grounds.”

After a couple of days of hard Northeast wind early last week we had to abandon our efforts up in the Delaware Bay. There seems to still be plenty of fish up in the Bay however they are more susceptible to conditions than out in the Ocean. Not only do the fish seem to be bigger on the average, we have also been able to mix in a few nice Sea Bass with our catch fishing out front. Notice I said few. Some days have been a little better than others on the Sea Bass but still not what I would like to see for this time of year. Just about all of the Bass we have caught are also still filled with roe. Those that have tried fishing just for the Bass have had a little better luck by day’s end in numbers but the Flounder rigs still prevail. Most of the time when a Bass hits a six-inch bait it is a keeper and you have a little better chance catching a Flattie with the long leaders and long baits.

If I could sign a contract to have the catches that I have had over this past week I would strongly consider signing on the dotted line. I’m sure we will have better fishing in the days and weeks to come but it can get a whole heck of a lot worse.

The excitement that arises when these big Flounder start hitting the deck is awesome. They sure turn people on! I see no reason why these Flounder will not hold for several weeks. And I do believe that it will get even better. Federal law requires me to keep track of all landings on each trip and while our numbers have been quite impressive over the past two weeks we had even a higher amount of keepers on a daily basis late last summer which traditionally is the best time of the year for Flounder. 12-year-old Samantha Cunningham was sure excited when she landed this six pound class Flounder over the weekend proving that all you have to do is just be patient and yours will come! It’s fun to watch the heavy hitters fish for Flounder but it’s even more fun to see someone like Samantha hook and land a fish like this!

All in all it has been a good week for fishing. We have had our down times but I have not had too much of a problem keeping anglers attentive at the rail. Even during the slow periods next thing you know someone will holler NET!

Half-Day boats and charter boats have also been fairing well this past week. Capt. Mike is now done with his teaching job for the summer and has been bringing in good catches of Croakers and a few nice Flounder daily for Half-Day patrons and Capt. Bennett from the charter boat Lewestowne Lady has also had some real nice catches this past week including the Wharf’s first Tuna of the year. Bennett has seen decent catches of Bass on the open bottom and had an inshore trolling trip over the weekend that yielded a big box full of jumbo Bluefish and a 42 lb. Bluefin Tuna!

Night fishing has also been good. We are running a Half-Night trip on every evening except Sunday. These trips have seen outstanding catches of Croaker with a few small Blues and Trout. We are also running 10-hr. Night Trips on both Friday and Saturday nights for the big Blues. Capt. H.D. had a good catch of big Bluefish Saturday night with patrons catching fish up to 12+ pounds.

Summer is certainly here now. Water Temps have been as high as 70 degrees or better in the Bay and they have been around 64 degrees or warmer in the Ocean. The water has been real clear inshore and things are shaping up for what should be some outstanding fishing in the upcoming weeks.

If you would like more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to book a charter please check us out at fishlews.com or give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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