As we rapidly approach summer I can’t help but to notice that all my warm clothes are still on the boat and there has been plenty of times that I’m glad that they were! Even though the calendar says one thing just a quick look out at the weather reminds you just how quickly things can turn around while out on the water. Our overall trend is certainly warming however this spring like weather just doesn’t want to give way.

As far as the fishing goes; despite some lets just say less than favorable weather we have managed to enjoy nearly a solid two weeks of some pretty decent Flounder fishing. I had reported last week that I was seeing several limits with some quality Fluke that would weigh as much as five and six pounds on nearly every trip. This type of fishing continued on through most of the week and naturally as the weekend approached started to take a turn for the worse. Saturday’s trip while not a bust we saw the lowest landing of Flounder that I had seen for nearly two full weeks.

My excuse book for not catching Flounder has accumulated enough pages over the years to be as thick as a best selling Harry Potter novel yet I am really not certain as to the exact reason production has been down the last few days however, I do have a good idea. Perhaps it was the full moon currents causing the fish to move, it may even have something to do with the nearly 100 boats fishing in just over a square mile of bottom over the weekend, (you can only catch a keeper once) but we have now spread out in the search and destroy mode trying different grounds. What we have found is that there seems to be a lot of Flounder up in the Delaware Bay but they are not bunched up like they were for a while.

So what happens next? Only time will tell, we will continue to look around and grind on whatever is best. It may be out the Ocean and it may be back up in the Bay. Either place will undoubtedly show us some good fishing in the weeks ahead. For nearly two weeks now I abandoned the Sea Bass over the wrecks for the simple fact it got so we could barely scrape up enough keepers for dinner. Even though the water temperatures are on the rise drifting the open bottom of the “old grounds” was difficult due to the shear numbers of the Spiny Dog Sharks that were around. Dragging Fluke baits was nearly impossible without latching on to one of these angry critters and nearly every Sea Bass caught was short. The Bay has been our best option for catching any number of fish but we could be back out front on any given day. Conditions and the amount of fish we can catch will ultimately decide which way the boat turns when I come out the inlet. We will go wherever we have the best chance at catching some fish!

With this past weekend’s full moon some moving fish accompanied the hard running currents. Drum fish have been on the move, Flounder have been on the move and there have even been some unconfirmed reports of the first Croakers showing up in our area. Bay water temperatures are up around 67 degrees and the surface temperature out front is hovering around 65 degrees and even higher. The frigid bottom temperatures of last spring don’t seem to be nearly as prevalent this year with divers reporting bottom temperatures well above 50 degrees while at the same time last year they were reporting temperatures down in the mid and low forties. Hopefully these warmer temperatures will make for a more natural movement of fish as the summer progresses. It was nearly august last year before the first sign of Croakers started to turn up in any quantity and the cooler bottom temps took the blame.

You have to think that as the calendar continues to turn ahead that I will be able to stow away those warm clothes and break out the sunscreen it’s just a matter of time. Regardless of the weather and what type of clothing we don while out fishing we will continue on with our regular summer schedule here at the Wharf running daily with both the Full and the Half-Day trips. My All-Day trips will be sailing at 7:00 a.m. and we will generally get back to the docks around 4:00 p.m. I will continue fishing for Flounder and or Sea Bass. Most of our fishing will be drift fishing. Half-Day trips depart daily at 8:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. and then again at 6:30 p.m. Half-Day trips will target mostly Flounder until the Croakers arrive. Evening trips will target Drum. Capt. H tells me that his next long range trip will be near the end of this month I will post the date as soon as I know.

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) 645-8862.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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