One of the best highlights of this past weeks fishing for me would have to have been the two days in a row that we laid fast to the dock with a lack of sponsors and with beautiful weather. I had off and enjoyed every minute of it!

Tropical storm/Hurricane Ophelia threatened our area late last week with high winds and big waves. What we got was not much more than a heightened sense of awareness and a few big swells for an hour or so late Saturday morning. While we never want to see these Tropical systems come near our area, if one does have to come this is the kind you would want. Even the surfers were complaining about the lack of waves. From a fisherman’s or a coastal homeowner’s point of view this is a good thing.

Fishing hasn’t changed much since my last report. We continue to see a variety of fish and Flounder seem to be a little less abundant almost daily. While we did see some decent Fluking early last week, by the weekend it became painfully obvious that the Fluke ride is likely coming to an end. The total number of keepers just keeps dropping. Even though we are seeing some nice Flatfish daily, total Flounder landings for the entire weekend barely made what we had been able to catch in just one day of fishing a couple of weeks back. Fortunately we have been able to see a variety of fish other than just the Flounder and we are still able to make up a catch of fish.

I sense that a transition is in the works. There is an abundance of Croakers, Blues, Bass and small Trout around in several locations both shallow and deep. On occasions we have seen good numbers of some or all of these fish on the All-Day trips. I have been trying not to specifically target just the Croakers but I will not pass them up given the right conditions. Sometimes they just seem to find us while fishing on the Bass Grounds. Today (9/20) was without a doubt the best day that I have seen on black Sea Bass since the spring. Drifting conditions were almost impossible and we bailed out on the drift, anchoring over a wreck. We actually had a few folks limit out with some real nice size Bass! We will certainly be doing more of this in the future hopefully this is a good sign for what to expect in the upcoming weeks.

I still expect to do a lot of drift fishing as fish are spread over miles and miles of bottom and drifting is by far the best option when conditions are right. This is also the best way to put a variety catch together. A lot of folks are asking when we will be wreck fishing. My answer is this “when we have to”. It seems silly to anchor over a wreck when we can catch more fish on the drift. Today does prove that anchoring is a viable option though and it is just a matter of time before the iron goes in the water on a daily basis. My best guess is that over the next couple of weeks we will be on the anchor quite frequently. I just hate to tie myself down saying that we will be wreck fishing when I know that we might not. There are too many other options now with fish.

Water temperatures are still very stable and the variety of fish that we have seen over the past couple of weeks has sure made for some fun and interesting fishing. This type of action should continue well into October. Please remember that we have a multitude of special trips scheduled in the upcoming months fishing exclusively over top of wrecks. These are all extended trips of 10 and 12 hours and reservations are necessary to hold a spot. If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to make a reservation please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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