We were well on our way to what would have been the fourth good fishing report in a row but I have to say I have encountered a little setback with the program. After a few weeks of what was likely to be our best Flounder fishing of the season and then the start of what I would describe as some very awesome Croaker fishing, Mother Nature smacked us in the jaw this past weekend. She shuffled the deck and as a result we are now left seemingly starting all over again.
Don't get me wrong in a way we are very fortunate. When the remnants of tropical storm Hannah passed us by a lot worse things than moving some fish around could have happened but this was just not the case. We were basically left unscathed by this swift moving system with little more than some much needed rain and some short-lived tropical force winds that ultimately generated some big waves. It is however very frustrating to have experienced some of the best fishing that we had been seeing since the spring drop off after the long tough season we have had. My last two days out on the water since Hannah have been less than stellar!
We started out last week with a very nice variety of fish. Croakers up to two and a half pounds, a few nice Sea Bass and still enough Flounder to keep the big baits dragging the bottom. As the week progressed there were more and more Croakers and less Fluke. These Croakers had virtually invaded every piece of bottom that we were fishing making it hard to keep a bait in tact. Not such a bad thing if you like catching Croakers. There were some trips where selective anglers would land an easy two dozen or more Croaks that would fill the buckets up in no time flat but the Fluke landings started to dwindle.
The week before Labor Day we landed over 90 keeper Flounder up to nearly nine pounds. In my last seven days we have only landed about 20 Flounder and only a couple of them have come since the storm. What does this mean?? Hmmmm, I don't really know. I will say that I was starting to see a trend over the last couple of weeks where we were running a little further to see the best numbers of Fluke and that my Jersey headboat buddies were also finding the same problem. It is entirely possible that these fish have already begun their offshore migration and we are looking at the beginning of the end as far as just fishing for the Fluke. This is really not to out of the ordinary given the time of year but normally there is a trickle of fish exiting the Bays and sounds that keeps things interesting with the Flounder well into October. Don't forget that just two years ago we saw some phenomenal Flounder fishing while anchored over wrecks late in October. I guess this is one bright spot in Delaware where as we get to keep these fish throughout the entire season. New Jersey is actually done now with keeping Flounder of any size for the rest of the year while here in Delaware we will still be able to land them up until the bitter end!
As far as the outlook goes I am sticking with my report from last week where as the fabulous fall fishing has just begun. There will be good days and there will be bad days of course, but there is no doubt in my mind that the last couple of days that I've had on the Ocean are not a barometer of what is to come. There is a lot of fish around right now they didn't just up and leave we can still see them on our scopes looming a few feet up off the bottom. I expect to see a variety catch with the Croakers, Sea Bass, Flounder, and Snapper Blues along with a few other species of good fish. Most of our time will be spent drifting when we can and we will slowly make the transition to the anchor as the conditions warrant.
Oddly enough I am now seeing some of the warmest surface temperatures that I have seen all summer. Just before the blow there were a couple of days that we could actually see our fish several feet below the surface as we brought them up from the depths. This is something that we had not been able to do most of the summer. As the Ocean continues to settle I think we may once again see some of that crystal clear water that we would normally see at this time of year and I will once again be able to boast that the fishing is the best that it has been all year. I hope I'm right!
I will continue to sail with the All-Day trips sailing daily at 7:00 a.m. fishing for whatever is biting the best, expect a variety catch with Sea Bass, Croakers, Flounder and Blues fishing the Ocean. Our Half-Day trips will be running every day until the end of this month fishing primarily for the Croakers and whatever else they can catch in the mouth of the Delaware Bay. We still have several Special Trips scheduled for offshore fishing for Tilefish and Tuna and Sea Bass the dates for these trips can be found on the special trip link from the home page and they do require reservations in advance. If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf please give us a call at (302) 645 TUNA.
Until Next Week Happy Fishing!
Fishermen's Wharf
Lewes, DE
