Fisherman's Wharf Fishing Report September 24, 2004

Not long ago I went out on a limb and stated that some of the best fishing of the year was yet to come. Despite Mother Nature’s cruel tricks with the wind, rain, and just plane screwed up forecasting, I believe that I have seen some of this fishing!

Last week ended with the fears that terrible Ivan would mess up yet another weekend, but as it turned out Saturday was just one of those days that you needed to experience to believe. Fridays’ weather promised that the weekend would be a total washout when Saturday in fact turned into one of those days that fisherman dream of.

Heavy ground swells forced us to fish up inside the Delaware Bay and I guess nobody told the Croakers we were coming. I literally had one drift that was almost six miles long and boy did we catch them. Not only did they bite but they were big! Our average Croaker on this trip would be well over a foot long with some bruisers exceeding more than 20 inches in length. There were a few Blues and Sharks mixed with the catch but the Croaker certainly had the limelight. This trip would end with a taste of the wind and rain that the weathermen had forecasted but the day was already made and not even a little rain could ruin it!

As what was left of hurricane Ivan swirled around to the west of us, Sundays’ wind exceeded 40 knots plus and there wasn’t a boat big enough in Lewes. No matter how good the fishing was, no one would venture out in this kind of wind. Monday also was a Blowout with the moderated winds still pushing at over 25 knots.

We ventured back out on Tuesday opting to fish back out in the Ocean and what a day we had. This day was also a one-stop shop; fishing in what could be best described as Mother Nature’s refrigerator. What a day. Croakers, Trout, Bluefish, Sea Bass (which still had to be thrown back) and various other species of fish including Kingfish, Sharks, Sting Rays and even a couple of Fluke would treat the Anglers on this fine day. Everyone walked away with a cooler full of nice fish.

As of this writing the federal closure on Sea Bass is over, allowing us to once again keep 12-inch fish or larger until the December 1st closure. So far it seems as though there are a good number of nice Bass around but the pressure that will no doubt be put on these fish in the weeks to come will prove if these numbers have any backbone to them. I have only fished for Bass a couple of days and I can tell you that they are not everywhere. I have seen several limits of 25 with fish up to 4 lbs. However I have had a couple of stops where all the keepable fish were all caught up in just a matter of minutes.

As far as what you might expect to see in the days and the immediate weeks to come. I would have to say more good catches of fish! It does seem that no matter what type of fishing we seem to do, someone will always want to do something else. It is hard to stay away from biting fish and I will continue to fish where we have the best shot at a fun trip with fish to take home.

I will say that I think most of my fishing will be done on the anchor over top of shipwrecks or some other type of bottom structure. I still expect to see a nice variety of fish with Sea Bass at the top of the list. Sea Bass have made up the bulk of my catch the last couple of days and as time progresses we will concentrate more with these Bass. The Weather conditions will have a lot to do with our end results.

I hate to say that the odds of fishing for Flounder are now greatly reduced. It seems as though the majority of these fish have made their first offshore jump with the last couple of blows. The Flounder ride that we enjoyed for several weeks I fear is all but done. We should however be able to pick a few of them over some of the reefs and wrecks.

We will continue to sail seven days a week until the middle of December with the All- Day trips departing at 7:00 a.m. We will also start sailing for Stripers as soon as the water cools enough to see some of these fish. Our special trips are starting to fill, if you are interested in one of our 12 hr. Sea Bass or 10 hr. Tog trips please reserve your spot as soon as possible. We also have several 22 hr. Tuna trips still scheduled and this fishing is as good as it gets at this time.

For more information on trips sailing out of the Wharf please check out our website or give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.


Until next time Happy Fishing!
Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
fishing@fishlewes.com
Keen Lady IV