As far as IÂ’m concerned it has been a stellar week of fish catching action this past week here at the Wharf! Great weather and calm seas have the water temperatures climbing, fish have been on the move, and the Keeper Flounder continue to hit the decks with my All-Day trips. Half-Day trips are also seeing some of the best action so far this year with the Croakers on some of their trips, and The Offshore scene is warming up nicely with the Tuna and the Mahi.

IÂ’m glad I didnÂ’t sign that contract on the Flounder action that I had been seeing during the month of June because our fishing has only gotten better and better in the last couple of weeks. We continue to have almost constant action with both throwbacks as well as good numbers of nice keeper Flounder nearly every trip and we have seen lots of limit catches along with fish over four and five pounds taking the pool on every trip. I have also weighed in several citation-sized fish over seven pounds in the last couple of weeks! It really has been good.

I have said it over and over conditions are the key to good Flounder fishing and for the most part everything has been falling into place with the winds and the tides this past week. We have really been lucky that way. It doesnÂ’t hurt that there seems to be an awful lot of Flounder around this year enabling us to work different areas for the drifting conditions dished out on most given days. While all of our trips have been out in the Ocean for several weeks in a row now, Flounder action continues to be good up in the Delaware Bay also. There is a good spread of fish around this year and the outlook is good for the next several weeks. When I look back at last year at this same time we were catching very few keep able fish. The size limit being an inch shorter this year has certainly helped us rack up the big numbers of keepers we have been seeing however there is way more Flatties around this year than there was at this time last year. Water temperatures I think have a lot to do with it I had logged surface temperature last year as low as 59 degrees in the Ocean during the July 4th weekend where as this year we are seeing surface temps above 70 degrees on a daily basis along with pockets of some crystal clear water within ten miles of the beach. Some days we are able to see our fish coming up from as far as thirty feet from the surface!

Much unlike the break we got this year with our Flounder size limit the newly imposed increase for the minimum size of the keeper Sea Bass has really cut us back on the Bass we are able to bring home. Some days we will actually see good numbers of these fish even while dragging the big Fluke baits but we rarely bring home more than just a few. There are days when the Bass seem to be feeding quite well but the sizes of the ones we are catching just donÂ’t make the grade. I look for our Sea Bass action to pick up as the summer progresses with more keepers and will likely get pretty good again toward the end of the summer. Until then we will continue to take advantage of the good Flounder fishing we have been blessed with.

The rocky ledges and coral bottoms of the “old grounds” are where we have been having our best success with these Flounder. It is not uncommon to get caught up in the rocks or the sea trees while drifting for these fish so be prepared. Most of the time the water we are fishing is between seventy to about ninety feet deep and occasionally just a little deeper. Braided lines have been, and will continue to prevail in the long run for catching these fish. Taking the stretch factor from the monofilament out of the equation makes feeling the subtle bites of these Flounder so much easier. While the majority of fish are being caught in the traditional way with a long leader fluke killer or a beaded hook, we are seeing more and more fish caught “jigging” when the conditions allow. There is a little more work involved staying in touch with the bottom using this method but the end results have been quite impressive. Some of our best catches with the bigger fish and quite a few limits of quality fish have fallen to this method of fishing. Keeping it moving on the slow drifts seems to get results when the dead sticks fail.

Back up in the Bay the Croaker action has been improving. While the majority of these fish are still just pan size fish, there has been a few Croakers landed that are around fourteen inches long. I spoke with Capt. Mike today on my way home and he told me that not every trip has had equal success, and that these fish are just settling in and are biting on the tide. When they come on some lucky anglers have landed well into double digits with Croakers in a short amount of time averaging about ten to twelve inches long with a few bigger fish starting to show in the mix. The Croaker action should only improve as the summer progresses. Capt. Mike also said he is seeing a few Kingfish and Triggerfish along with the occasional keeper Flounder on his Half-Day runs.

I know a lot of you are interested in the special trips and I have had a hard time pinning the dates down from Capt. H.D. He did tell me that he is planning special trips every weekend alternating SaturdayÂ’s and SundayÂ’s throughout the summer and that he will try and post a full schedule on our websiteÂ’s special trip link this week as to what type of trip to expect and also the dates. Our next long-range trip will be this Sunday departing the docks at 2:00 a.m. fishing for Tilefish and Sea Bass or whatever else may be available from the deep. Reservations in advance are mandatory for all special trips.

I will continue running daily with the regular All-Day trips departing the docks at 7:00 a.m. Flounder will be our main target. All-Day trips return to the docks around 4:00 p.m. Half-Day trips will be running three trips a day sailing at 8:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. and then again at 6:00 p.m. for the evening trip. Half-Day trips will target mainly 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 a space on one of the special trips please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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