ItÂ’s been another pretty good stretch of catching fish here at the Wharf this past week. The inshore scene is providing great action with Flounder on the All-Day trips, Croakers continue to hit the deck on the Half-Day trips and the offshore scene is showing Mahi, Tuna, Wahoo, Sharks and the first White Marlin release at the Wharf for the 2009 season from the Lewestown Lady.

For the most part last weeks weather was pretty decent. Mother Nature did throw us a couple of punches with some wind and tide conditions that were not the most favorable for deep water Fluke drifting, however we still managed some fair to excellent catches on just about every trip. During the middle of the week with some moderate winds and swells out in the Ocean I actually fished up in the Delaware Bay a couple of days in a row and pulled off some decent catches with Flounder up to nearly eight pounds while staying comfortable at the same time.

We were back out on the Ocean for the weekend however Mother Nature gave us our sharpest blow of the week on Saturday morning when the forecasted ten-mile an hour northerly became more like twenty plus for a few hours. These winds made it all but impossible to hold bottom for the better part of the day. The wind finally did moderate and we did catch some nice fish but it was too little too late and we ran out of time when the fish really started to bite. Sunday was a much better day we bounced back in style with multiple limits around the boat and literally landing hundreds of Flounder with a keeper ratio of about one fish kept for every five or six caught. Everything just fell into place on this trip, after a slow start in the morning the bite was on and it ended up being a great day. This has been the way it is; at the risk of sounding like a broken record when everything falls into place we are catching impressive numbers of Flounder.

2009 is likely going down in the logbooks as one of the best Flounder seasons that we have seen in quite a while. These fish are really everywhere right now. Inshore anglers are still catching them in the back Bays and around the inlets as well as in the canal. Flounder are also reported up and down the Delaware Bay and all along the Atlantic coastline in our region. This will likely be a year when we have a super fall season with these fish in the mouth of the Delaware Bay fishing around the rips like we did in the old days.

Even though the fishing in the Bay for the Flounder is pretty good right now, most of our time has still been out front fishing the “old grounds” The Ocean seems a little less sensitive to some of the tough drifting conditions that can occur up in the Delaware Bay with the stronger running currents and ultimately provides a better window of opportunity for catching these fish when conditions get tough. There will still be plenty of days that are made fishing in the Bay though with the amount of fish that are up there right now and It is great to know that I have the option to turn that way if need be.

Along with the Good numbers of Flounder up in the Bay, Croakers are now paving the bottoms on both sides of the lower Bay and also in the upper reaches of the Bay along the channel. While for the most part these fish have been small on the average, there are now signs of a few bigger ones being landed in several areas. Capt. Mike has reported his best week of summer with catching Croakers in just these past seven days and said they are defiantly getting a little bigger. Capt. Mike has had several trips where double digit or more catches are common for even the most inexperienced of anglers on his Half-Day trips. Action like this should continue for the remainder of the summer and into the fall with the Croakers and the size will only get better as more fish enter the Bay.

The outlook for catching fish is good right now. We are finally starting to see some of those hazy, hot, and humid days that we are accustomed to seeing at this time of year. The water temperatures are up and the fish are on the move. As these fish continue to settle in, their feeding patterns will become more predictable and ultimately make for some great fish catching action during these typical summer days. Both the Croaker action on the Half-Day trips and the Flounder action on the All-Day trips should continue to provide anglers with some serious fish catching action for several more weeks.

I will continue running daily sailing at 7:00 a.m. with the All-Day trips fishing primarily for Flounder. Half-Day trips will sail three times a day departing the docks at 8:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. and then again at 6:30 p.m. for the evening run. If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to book a private charter please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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