There is really not a lot to report about my last week of fishing that you haven’t already heard. We are officially into the “dog days” of summer, the weather has been for the most part really good, water temperatures are warmer now than they have been since late last summer and for the most part the fish have been biting!

The Flounder continue to have center stage with my all day trips, Croakers have been abundant on the half day trips up in the Bay and the offshore scene has beenÂ…. lets just say inconsistent with the Tuna action. The summer season seems to be zipping by us now. Here we are already into the second week of August and the kids are thinking about that first day of school. Time sure does fly when you are fishing every day, it seems like just yesterday that we were complaining about the cooler temperatures at the beginning of the summer season and now we are counting down the hazy hot and humid days till Labor Day.

My last week of fishing with the all day trips has been typical Flounder fishing. Some days are most certainly better than others and when everything falls into place we continue to rack up good numbers of nice Flounder and at times nearly too many to count with the throwback action. While it has been mostly all Flounder we are seeing a mix with a few keeper Sea Bass and the occasional Ling or Snapper Blue along with various assortments of Junk fish. When the drift is in our favor we have seen some great action. I have also been able to get away with catching some nice fish while anchored on a few occasions when the drift was all but impossible. This method doesnÂ’t always work but if you can find the right spot to drop the anchor you can jig up a lot of Flatties in a short amount of time. Much like wreck fishing though, once you catch them they are gone until the next batch decides to move in or you get lucky and find another spot that has a bunch of Flounder on it.

Water temperatures are way up. I have seen crystal clear waters as warm as 78 degrees just twelve miles off the beach out in the Ocean. I know you have heard me talk about this clear water before it is a real treat to be able to see your fish coming up from the depths as far as thirty feet from the surface. The water hasnÂ’t been this clear every day and IÂ’m not really sure why but itÂ’s pretty cool when it is. Several times while fishing in this clear water we have seen Mahi swimming around the boat and have actually had several of these offshore fish hooked but then lost. We finally managed to keep a hook in one this past week and get it to the boat. Lew Boulden from Townsend Delaware had a nice bonus catch with a citation sized Mahi of nearly 19 pounds taking the board with the biggest Dolphin fish landed out of the Wharf so far this year at 18lb. 10oz. (and no Max it didnÂ’t have your spro in itÂ’s mouth!) This is a nice Mahi to land especially from a head boat with lots of other anglers lined at the rail trying to fish. This fish put up a noble battle but eventually lost to LewÂ’s superior angling skills, a good drag, and KelvinÂ’s reach with a long gaff.

Back up in the Bay the action continues with the Croakers and more Flounders. Half-Day trips report good to excellent action with Croakers on just about every trip with Croaks that average about a foot long. There have been a few occasions where the fish have been a little nicer in size approaching fifteen inches or more but for the most part they are just pan-sized fish. These scrappy little fellas have been providing excellent rod bending and cooler filling action for everyone. Flounders are also being landed from up in the Bay by those that are targeting them. Most of the Flounder action now seems to be around the artificial reef sites and along the edges of the anchorage as well as along both sides of the shipping channel.

The outlook is good to have continued success with both the Flounder and the Croakers for several more weeks if not months to come. We havenÂ’t even begun to see the migration of fish that occurs in our area during the fall and when this begins to happen, I fully anticipate some excellent days on the water with fish catching action and a nice variety of fish. ItÂ’s hard to believe but our neighbors over in Jersey are counting down the days until the Fluke closure imposed upon them in early September. Flounders will be staging in the mouth of the Delaware Bay, in the rips, and on the old grounds and anglers fishing out of New Jersey will no longer be able to legally land them. Fortunately for us we will continue to be able to legally land Flounder here in Delaware with the way our regulations are set up until the bitter end of the 2009 season including our fall wreck and Striper trips. For the past several years some of our nicest Flounder have been landed during this time of year and this year will be no different.

I will continue running All-Day trips sailing at 7:00 a.m. daily and we will be targeting primarily The Flounder. While just about all of my fishing has been in the Ocean we still have the option to fish up in the Bay if the weather is too shaky for the deep water out front. While we are targeting mainly the Flounder we have also seen a little mix with the Bass and a few Blues. If we end up in the Bay we may see some Croakers and Blues but we will still target the Flatties. Half-Day trips will continue to run three trips a day until the end of summer departing at 8:00a.m. 1:00 p.m. and then again 6:00 p.m. for the evening run. Half-Day trips will be targeting predominately Croakers.

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 V
catchfish@verizon.net