II think that one of the quickest ways to be accused of lying would be to say that the fishing is really good, especially when speaking about Flounder. Fishing for Flounder can test the patience of just about anyone. You can literally spend hours fishing in an area and think that there is not a fish within miles, and all of the sudden boom, the bite begins and the Flatties start hitting the deck! Over the past seven days I have been on both sides of this scenario. And of course, accused of being a liar.

Flounder fishing continues to be steady. My hard core Fluke fisherman love every minute of it it. Just about every day fish up to five and six pounds are being landed and some lucky anglers will land a limit of nice fish. We have had a much better number of strikeouts though. While I would still label this fishing as good, it leaves a lot to be desired. Some days have been a struggle and even on good days we have had a lot of long slow drifts. Pictured here with the biggest Flounder to date is Samuel Beachy from Dover Delaware. Samuel caught this 11 lb. 7 0z. door-mat Fluke with me on July 4th fishing with just 6 lb. test line in 75 feet of water. Congratulations on an outstanding catch! A fish like this is one of the reasons that I can say that the fishing has been good. You don’t always see Flounder of this class being caught. In the last three weeks we have weighed in eight or nine citation sized Flounder. Delaware’s Flounder must weigh at least 7 lbs. to qualify for a citation. There have been countless fish over the five-pound mark and on an average the majority of our keepers have approached three pounds. The 17-½ inch size limit is no doubt taking a toll on our overall production. There has been many a heartbreaker fish that was plenty big enough, just not legal in Delaware. We do still manage to land a good number of keeper fish each day.

There seems to be a very fine line between success and failure when dealing with Flounder. One minute you have no drift with the lines straight up and down and next thing you know you end up putting on close to a pound of weight just to stay in touch with the bottom. Crazy but true.

As long as these Flounder stick around this is what we will continue to try and catch. We have been able to mix a few nice Sea Bass in with our catch but the number of Bass has been minimal. The fishing overall has been interesting to say the least. No we are not filling up coolers but it has been an awful lot of fun! Some days the action is much better than others but remember this is still fishing, and with doormats like this down there it’s certainly worth a shot at trying to land one. Most of my time I have spent out in the ocean fishing over the old grounds however there is still a lot of fish up in the Bay. The big holiday weekend saw fleets of boats scattered from way up in the Bay to 20 miles out in the ocean. Even thick fog wouldn’t stop the small boat fleet from trying their luck.

Most reports were all good. The Delaware Bay which had cooled down with the flatfish for a couple of weeks has once again turned on and has again opened up yet another option for fishing. Croakers and small Sea Trout have also been providing good action up in the Bay. Half-day trips have consistently been bringing home good catches of nice sized Croakers. And Capt. Mike also reports catching a few Flounder. 14-year-old Dave Smith from Newton Square is pictured here with his friend Matt proudly displaying a nice Flounder he landed on the 4th.

Fish like this sure can make the young ones smile. Straight A student Jena Freeth from Eaglevill, PA, is also quite happy with her big Flounder that was landed on the same trip!

We really have been seeing a lot of fish like this. I expect this to continue for a while and it won’t be long before we have even more of a mixed bag catch with Croakers and Bass along with our Flounder. 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. Remember if you are considering an offshore trip for Tuna now is the time to book. Tuna fishing has turned on over the past week and trips are booking fast.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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