The summer season continues to roll on here at Fisherman's Wharf and with what seemed like the blink of an eye we are already into the first week of August. The fishing scene continues to be fair to sometimes even good with everything that you would expect to see during the peak of the summer season.

While my All-Day trips were plagued with some very frustrating conditions at times during the past week I can still say that the numbers are up with the keeper Flounders that we have been landing. Much like my last report it seems like the good days have been a little better with the numbers of keepers than what they were just a few weeks ago however I have still seen a few trips that I would just as soon not talk about including one rough day before the weekend where we didn't land one keeper Fluke for the entire trip! I did have a good excuse for this day however, the winds were blowing in excess of twenty knots and we were forced to anchor just to stay in touch with the bottom and settling for just a few keeper Sea Bass and a bunch of short Flounder.

For the most part of the week we were plagued with drifting conditions that you just don't normally see while fishing out in the ocean. Drifts so slow that in a half hours time we couldn't even cover the length of a football field often times with a speed reading on the G.P.S. that would read less than two tenths of a knot per hour! Not too good when the fish are spread out over miles of open bottom. When the drifting conditions were good however, we saw respectable picks with mostly throwback Flounders, a few keeper Bass and the occasional nice keeper Fluke popping up frequently enough to keep everyone attentive. Really not bad fishing, in fact the action has been very good at times but just a little frustrating wondering when the next batch of keepers would pop up. I have seen anglers that have landed a couple dozen or more throwbacks in a days time and not caught a single keeper, and I have seen some lucky or skillful anglers that can seemingly do nothing wrong landing not only a couple dozen or so shorts, but even boxing a limit of nice Fluke from time to time! It is fun to watch the pro's with the best equipment standing next to the "not so pro's" with the rented rods and wondering what is going on when the rentals get the big ones and they get the shorts!

My time has been split between the Ocean and the Bay this past week with good trips and tough trips in both locations. I fished the "old grounds" in the Ocean for the most part of last week however the past couple days we have spent fishing in the lower end of the Delaware Bay. It does appear that the Flounder are really starting to move around some now and they have been bunched up in a few different locations both in the Bay as well as the Ocean showing us a few of the best trips of the year so far!

Docking in Lewes gives us the ideal location to fish either the Bay or to fish out in the Ocean with a minimal amount of running time for either direction I choose on any given day. For the most part our running time to the fishing grounds has been about an hour and a half when we fish out front, and just about an hour when we fish in the Bay giving us plenty of fishing time either way. I will generally make the decision which direction I'll be heading in the morning depending on the weather and the probable drifting conditions. When we fish the rocky ledges out front we are still seeing our best success with a jigging style rig and when we have been in the Bay it has been the traditional Fluke Killer rigs that prevail. Like I stated earlier there are some nice pockets of fish moving around now and I will do my best to stay on top of them wherever they pop up. Even though our Flounder fishing hasn't been as good as it has been in some years past there is still a lot of Flounder around and this is the time to try and catch them and we are still seeing a few very nice fish each and every day.

Croaker action has remained a little hit and miss up in the Bay. Capt. Mike reports some good numbers of pan sized Croakers on most of his Half-Day trips however for whatever reason he has been having the best fishing on the Croakers in the evening. It seems like the daytime bite has been somewhat inconsistent while just about every evening trip has had good luck. Capt. Mike also reports good action with Sharks, Snapper Blues, Blowfish, Kingfish, and even a few Flatties on most of his trips providing good action for the junior anglers and first timers. Croaker action should improve as the season rolls on and Our Half- Day trips will continue to target them three trips a day. Half-Day trips depart at 8:00, 1:00, and then again at 6:00 p.m. for the evening run. All-Day trips depart at 7:00 a.m. and will return usually around 4:00. I will continue to target mainly Flounder with the All-Day trips but I do expect to start seeing a little more variety with Sea Bass and Snapper Blues as the month progresses.

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 a 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