The Weather has been our strongest enemy this past week here at the Wharf and it looks as if Mother Nature is going to throw us a few more blows before this unsettled weather is over. As I write this, we are tied to the dock with Northeast winds once again blowing over 20 knots and unfortunately these winds are forecasted to increase and continue for a couple more days.Last weeks fishing started out fairly decent, with an ominous forecast and some very light crowds I fished the Mouth of the Bay and did fairly well with a mix of nice size Croakers and a few Snapper Blues along with some throwback Flounder and Bass keeping everyone busy. As the week progressed the wind continued to blow and the fishing was just as up and down as the weather and each day we would see less and less landings with the Croakers. Wednesdays trip was about as bad of a day as I had seen all summer. With each sunrise last week the wind would pick up a little more forcing us to ultimately start anchoring by the end of the week just to stay in touch with the bottom.
On Thursday we strictly anchor fished over wrecks and saw plenty of action with the Sea Bass but our keeper ratio left a lot to be desired. Top hooks would land close to double digits with keeper Bass and a few unlucky anglers would have hamburger for supper. By Friday the winds had passed the moderate range and were now blowing in excess of 25 knots generating waves that would reach as high as 14 feet at the reporting buoy just 15 miles off the beach. Too much for me we stayed tied to the dock on Friday.
Despite efforts to shy folks away from Saturday's pending doom with the swells, we ended up with more than my prerequisite number of one person for each mile per hour of wind and we "took a look at it". Sure it wasn't blowing nearly as hard as it was the day before but the swells were still 4 to 6 feet with a few a little higher. We could ultimately only make it a few miles off of the beach in these swells and the fishing was a lot like the weather… it sucked. We managed to catch just a couple handfuls of keeper Bass, and a bunch of Eels, Sharks, and Skates. We also landed just a few Snapper Blues and one Big lonely Croaker that came late in the day and took the pool for the biggest fish. It was suggested that we should have put that Croaker under the lights and interrogated him so that we could try and find out where the rest of his school was hiding out! Since all the unsettled weather the Croakers seemed to have pulled off a disappearing act that would rival the stunts of none other than the great Harry Houdini! Less than two weeks ago these fish were spread far and wide up and down the coast and now its anybodies guess as to where they are.
By Sunday the winds had finally abated enough to make it back offshore in search of Sea Bass. Even though the swell was still ever present, the fishing was actually the best that I had seen all week. Plenty of action, lots of bites and plenty of fish, most of the fish were Sea Bass and they were mostly all short. By days end some guys would however land double digits of nice keepers but most anglers managed only enough keep able fish for a small family supper. Yesterday's trip was similar but we did have a few more keepers involved and my top hook actually landed 19 Sea Bass with several other persistent anglers ending up with a double digit or near double digit catch for their efforts. The fishing was actually fast and furious at times with the throwbacks and you would get bites or catch little guys or measurable fish on just about every drop of the line. It was not uncommon for anglers to land several dozen Bass on this trip.
Unfortunately by the end of Monday's trip the Northeast winds were once again coming on strong and these winds are expected to continue pretty much for the next couple of days throwing yet another wrench in our historic 2008 fishing season. As for what to expect in the future?? This wind will stop blowing, it always does, and we will once again be out there giving it our best at catching you some fish. It is nice to see so many Bass around now it's just a shame they aren't just a little bigger. It looks like the fall run has officially begun with these Sea Bass. I would definitely expect more wreck fishing on an almost daily basis now with the All-Day trips unless something drastically changes. I still expect to see a little variety with fish including Bass, Porgies, Triggers and Blues and it's likely that we'll see a few more Flounder landed while fishing over top of some of these wrecks. As I stated earlier the Croakers seem to be M.I.A. right now so it will be hard to target them. I do believe that we will be seeing more of them again as autumn turns to fall but I won't spend valuable fishing time looking for them. I think most of our fishing will be on the anchor fishing over top of shipwrecks, artificial reefs, and other hard structure bottoms now unless the drifting conditions are ideal and the mixed bag fish can be had on the drift like they were a couple of weeks ago.
If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to reserve a spot on one of the upcoming 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
Fishermen's Wharf
Lewes, DE
