Despite the constant Southerly wind that continues to plague our area seemingly day after day we have continued to see some decent fish catching action on both the Full-Day as well as the Half-Day trips here at the Wharf.

Half Day trips have had continued success catching small to medium sized Croakers, Kingfish and small Trout along with various assortments of Junkfish providing good action for the Jr. anglers and the All- Day trips have seen some of the most consistent Flounder catching action of the season so far including several quality fish in the four pound range as well as numerous throwbacks keeping everyone attentive at the rail .

The weather in our area has flat out sucked. The pattern that we have been in has held patches of rain, a few thunder storms and no shortage of winds blowing in the direction of some sort of south at around 15 knots and at times much higher now for over a solid week. Fortunately for us the lower end of the Delaware Bay where the Half-Day boats have been working has been somewhat sheltered from the wind and the seas have remained basically calm while on the All-day trips other than a bigger than normal ground swell on the Ocean, the winds this past week have been pretty much favorable with the tides for the better part of the week allowing us to get some good drifting conditions and allowing us to rack up some decent numbers of flatties without too much trouble on just about every trip since my last report. In the last seven days we have tallied up just over a hundred keepers and we have seen some of our best short action of the year so far providing some good Flounder catching action at the rail. This number of keepers includes one trip where we only managed 8 keeper Fluke all day and two days where we remained tied to the dock due to an ugly forecast and a lack of sponsorship.

I really can't complain about the Flounder fishing we have seen so far considering the weather we have been dished out on any given day, we have suffered through some pretty ugly conditions and still managed to pick away at some quality fish. The true test will be when the weather does straighten out as to just what we will be able to do. There has definitely been a little movement with the Flatties recently we are now seeing a much higher throwback ratio than when we first started out a few weeks ago and I can say with certainty that the new regulations we are obeying allowing us to keep a 17 inch fish is going to be a big help with what we are able to bring home with us. It's nice for a change being able to keep fish that our neighboring state of New Jersey now has to throw back. I don't even remember this scenario taking place over the last several years. New Jerseys Flounder regulation this year is 18 inches and their season will close shortly after labor day where our season will remain open until the end of the year and our keeper sized fish are an inch smaller. The outlook for a good Flounder season in Delaware and here at the Wharf I would have to say is very promising!

Even though it's been easy to complain about the weather and the winds we have encountered throughout the season thus far, we are seeing signs of a good change ahead hopefully. I can still count the really calm days on just my fingers and maybe a few toes but the air and the water temperatures are certainly starting to look like summertime and I think the lazy hazy dog days of summer will be here before we know it. Water temperatures on the surface on the grounds where we have been doing most of our Flounder fishing have broken the seventy degree mark and the water is showing real signs of clearing up on some days inching closer to that crystal clear water we are accustom to seeing at times during the summer months. There are still a few pockets of colder surface water around, we could feel the change in the air temperature a few times just traveling through the colder water upwelling from the bottom on the days that the swells were biggest. For the most part now it has been very pleasant out on the water, no jackets or hooded sweats required but I would still suggest keeping one close at hand. You just never know and it's easy to take it off.

We are into the full summer schedule grind here at the Wharf now we have both All-Day as well as Half-Day trips running seven days a week as well as plenty of sight seeing cruises. All-Day trips depart the docks at 7:00 a.m. and we generally return to the docks around 4:00. We will be primarily targeting the Flounder and we are seeing just a few Sea Bass and the occasional Croaker or Sea Robin in the mix right now. Jigging has been our best method of take by far but the traditional Fluke killer rigs still work at times . Half-Day trips sail at 8:00 a.m. and at 1:00 p.m. and will run evenings at 6:00 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday nights. These trips will be targeting primarily the Croaker and the smaller hooks on an old fashioned rig are the ticket.

We are going to run some special wreck trips over the next few Saturdays fishing for Sea Bass and Ling. These trips will be 12-Hour trips departing the docks at 6:00 a.m. Reservations in advance for these trips are accepted but not required these will be open boat trips with boarding in the order that tickets are sold. These special Sea Bass and Ling trips will be fishing in a minimum of 110 feet of water and likely no deeper than about 150. This seems to be where the best Sea Bass movement is occurring right now and we feel as though we should be able to put a nice day together for those that just want to target the Bass or Ling. Our first Special Trip for these fish will sail this Saturday.

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. Don't forget to check us out and like us on facebook for further updates as well as more pictures from our recent trips and be sure to check out Groupon for special deals sailing out of the Wharf.

 

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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