As we grind away into the month of August our summer season continues to roll on here at the Wharf with some good fish catching action all the way around. Whether you are targeting the Flounder, the Croakers or if you are heading offshore for the Tuna or deep dropping for the Tilefish or the Sea Bass and Ling all reports are for some good to excellent fishing.

With the exception of a couple of weather related setbacks, the Flounder fishing on my Full-Day trips remains very productive. We continue to see good Flounder catching action on just about every trip. In the days since my last report I have seen hands down the best Flounder trip of the year as well as two of the worst Flounder trips of the year. Including an early day at the dock with six to eight foot waves and only 1 keeper and the following day when they just didn't bite in the residual ground swell and having only landed three keepers for the entire day, we have still managed to land over 200 keepers in just this past week. Certainly not excellent Fluke fishing in my book but not too shabby either. There is usually a few limits spread around the rail on the better days and our poolfish on any given day continues to be in the four to six pound class of fish. There are times when the action is so good that we could literally have five or six fish hooked up at a time and every dip net on the boat tied up with a fish. Of course there are some drifts where we are just looking around waiting for the first one to bite too. That's fishing. For the most part however we have seen fairly steady action with both the keepers as well as the throwbacks and it appears as though we should continue to see some good Flounder fishing for several more weeks when the conditions are favorable for us to catch them.

Up in the Delaware Bay Capt. Mike reports very good action with the Croakers. His Jr. Anglers have seen some fast and furious action with Croakers averaging anywhere from just barely legal to up to about as foot long for the bigger variety. Capt. Mike has also seen a couple of keeper Flatties on occasion and they continue to see several Kingfish and small Trout and Puffers at times showing plenty of bites and some keeper fish for supper and keeping the Half-Day patrons on their toes and attentive at the rail. It has been a good summer so far up in the Bay for the scrappy little Croakers and with the amount of them that seem to be around this fishery should continue strong throughout the remainder of the summer and beyond. Hopefully they will continue to get a little bigger as the summer progresses into the fall season like they normally do and continue to fill up the bags and the coolers!

Capt. H.D. had a real nice trip over the weekend fishing for the Sea Bass and the Red Hake with the big boat. Anglers on this 12-Hour adventure were pleased with coolers full of both the Red Hake (ling) and some nice knot head Sea Bass. Average catches were in the mid to upper teens with each species by the end of the trip and they also landed a couple bonus Cod one of which tipped the weigh in scale just shy of 20 pounds. Capt. H is planning to continue fishing for the Sea Bass and the Ling with these 12 hour trips on the weekends however this weekend he is scheduled to run off to the deep for the Tilefish. The next 12-hour trip for Bass and Hake is scheduled for the following Saturday August 10th. The Tile trip this weekend is already sold out but there are several more on the schedule in the weeks ahead. For the 12-hour Bass trips reservations are not necessary as this is just an open boat however they are accepted and its always a good idea to call in advance anyway for weather updates or any changes in departure times.

Much like my reports over the last few weeks our water temperatures have continued to fluctuate, temps have been a little more stable here just recently hovering for the most part around seventy degrees on the surface however we still encounter pockets of water that are a bit cooler. We have also been witness to drastic changes in the clarity of the water we have been fishing. Every time we think the water clarity improves it clouds back up, sometimes just a change in tide will change the clarity from thirty feet or more to not even being able to see a fish until it nearly breaks the surface. I do think that overall the water is warming though, a couple of days ago divers reported bottom temperatures up in the fifties as opposed to the mid forties of a couple of weeks ago. It has certainly been a strange year with some of the occurrences we have seen over the past several weeks. Very seldom do we see both Bunker and Mackerel at the same time or see Pelicans and Gannets and Shearwaters in the same day. The Bunker are around in massive schools right now and there are also Whales and tremendous pods of Dolphin taking advantage of the easy picking. Since the past moon fish do seem to be on the move.

There is more than likely not a better time than now to try and plan your next fishing trip no matter what your target of choice may be. The Tuna fishing offshore remains steady with the troll and the overnight chunk, there has also been several fish caught jigging both at night and during the daylight hours. The outlook for the Flounder is very promising and dipsy bouncing up in the Delaware Bay for the panfish is also very good. As long as the weather cooperates the offshore deep drop trips will continue to see mind numbing numbers of both the Golden and the Grey (blueline) Tilefish and the Sea Bass and Ling are still available on the 12-hour trips.

Our Summer schedule will continue with daily trips sailing both Full and Half-Day. Full day trips will be targeting the Flounder and a few Bass and the Half-Day trips will continue to target the Croakers. Look for updates with the special trips on the trip schedule from our home page at fishlewes.com or on facebook and if you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to book a private charter or reserve space on an upcoming special trip please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
Thelma Dale IV
catchfish@verizon.net