As the Labor Day weekend rapidly approaches we are still enjoying some of the best and most consistent fishing action that we have seen all summer. Inshore as well as offshore fishing has been heating up for just about every species of fish that you would expect to see at this time of year.With the All-Day trips our Flounder action is as good now or even better than it has been all year. We have literally landed hundreds of Flounder in the past seven days and have managed to bring the biggest number of keepers back to the dock of any week this year. These numbers include a couple of days where I actually ended up fishing up in the Bay and didn't even see that many keeper Flounder landed. Most of my fishing continues to be done out front fishing over the "old Grounds" and along with the Flounder we have been seeing just a smattering of Sea Bass and some small Ling. Even though we are not bringing back coolers full of fish, when everything falls into place the action has been very good with lots of throwbacks along with some very impressive fish and it's been a lot of fun! We have seen countless fish over four pounds and I have weighed in three citation size fish over seven pounds just this past week.
Northeast winds and small crowds turned me up into the Bay a couple of times last week with fair results. Our first day we spent most of the day on the anchor and actually landed 13 different species of fish including Flounder, Triggerfish, Croakers and Blues our next day was spent drifting and produced mostly Croakers with just a couple of keeper Flatties and lots of throwbacks. Some of the Croakers that we saw the two days up in the Bay were as large as sixteen inches. My best action with the Flounder is most definitely out front but given certain weather conditions it's nice to know we have this option to still get in a decent day in the Bay even if it's blowing to hard to fish the deeper waters of the Ocean.
Our Half-Day trips continue to see good to excellent action with these Croakers. Naturally over the weekend they seemed to not cooperate as well but these bigger fish really haven't settled in yet and they seem to be moving around a lot right now seldom being caught in the same location more than one or two days in a row. The good news is that there is definitely more of them around now than there has been all year and they do seem to be getting bigger on the average. The outlook for Croakers in the next several weeks is very good and they will undoubtedly be filling coolers in the days and weeks to come.
Offshore action has also been pretty decent recently. Capt. H.D. has been offshore a couple of times this past week with the big boat. His first trip was a fishing / bird watching trip which had good results with both bird sightings and some nice Mahi and a Tuna for supper. Capt. H also ran another long-range 18-hr. trip Saturday night, with optimum fishing conditions and a nice crowd he reported one of the best trips with the Tilefish that he has had this year. Many anglers landed coolers full of Grey Tiles up to 17 pounds and there were also quite a few very nice Sea Bass landed on this excursion to boot. Our next deep drop trip is scheduled for September 13th. There is a complete list of dates for these offshore adventures on the special trip link from the home page.
Capt. Benny has also been offshore a couple times this past week with the Lewestown Lady and has seen action with some small and medium Yellowfins, Mahi, Marlin, a Mako, and a nice Big eye Tuna that would weigh in over 115 lbs. The offshore action with the Yellowfin Tuna has been sporadic so far this summer but we may be seeing a trend of some better action being reported up and down the coast just lately. Typically some of the best Tuna trips are late summer and early fall and this year should be no exception. Capt. Bennett has several open dates with the Lewestown Lady and is still putting together "makeup" trips when it's possible.
Those of you that have stuck it out this summer know that the fishing as well as the business here at the Wharf has been very slow. With the vacation season winding down the crowds will also likely begin to dwindle and with the exception of just a few days we haven't really even had a big crowd all summer. The fishing is good now and the Boats are not crowded. On the all-day trips we are often times sailing with just a dozen people and on the days that we get close to twenty anglers, I call it a mob! If you enjoy trying to catch fish from big comfortable boat with not too many people on it than it's time to plan a trip. I will continue to target these Flounder on the All-Day trips as long as we see good numbers with keepers and we should also start to see more of a mix with some keeper sized Sea Bass and some of these Croakers and Snapper Blues as they begin to filter out of the Bays and along the coast. Fabulous fall fishing is just around the corner! We have more available fishing options now than we have seen all year and we will undoubtedly see some good fishing in our immediate future.
If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to book a charter or reserve a spot 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
Fishermen's Wharf
Lewes, DE
