Really not a lot has happened since my last report other than surviving yet another cruel blow by Mother Nature and spending a lot of time tied up to the dock! Last week was pretty much a wash out with a week of gale force northeast winds and some really really really big waves hammering our coast for several days straight. Going fishing was just not an option!By Saturday the winds had finally moderated enough for us to take the ropes off and once again go out fishing. The swells out front in the Ocean were still close to ten foot tall every few seconds so I opted to fish up inside the Delaware Bay just for comfort sake. It ended up being a good choice. The boats that did try to venture offshore quickly turned around and called it a day. Up in the Bay the seas were fairly calm and we managed a nice variety catch with Croakers, Blues, and even some Flounder. Of course much like the rest of the season the majority of our Flounder fell short of the size limit but they were nice to see and it did add a little twist to the action. This was by no means a catch to brag about but at least we were finally out and we even brought home a good fish supper for everyone!
More dock time for the first of the week! We did have a few folks that wanted to go out on Monday but now the winds were from the Northwest and they were blowing a little too hard to try it with just a handful of folks. Tuesday was one of the nicest days that we had seen in over a week but nobody wanted to go out and play. The crew held a Spot fishing tournament at the dock and we put up a bunch of future baits in the live well. I am back out on the Ocean today as I write this and the fishing can be described as somewhat slow. Several guys did end up with a double-digit catch by the end of the day but the fish were just not adding up real fast. We ventured back offshore to the area where we had been seeing the best action with the Sea Bass prior to the big blow. What we are seeing now is a variety catch with Sea Bass, Croakers and Snapper Blues along with some Junk fish. The deck most certainly has been shuffled, these are the first Croakers that I have seen in this area all year but not a bad unexpected by-catch they go in the box! I'm really not sure if the fish are even biting quite right yet after the nasty weather, today we saw a lot of fish actually snagged and we didn't seem to be getting the amount of bites that I was seeing before the storm.
We did have a bright spot for the report yesterday; Capt. Bennett had a day trip to the canyons with the Lewestown Lady and had a very successful trip with Mahi up to twenty pounds and a bunch of Golden Tilefish. Even though they didn't see any Tuna on this excursion it was truly a memorable trip! They also had a couple shots on White Marlin but were unable to land them before the leaders chaffed through. Capt. Benny wanted me to remind you that he has a bunch of open dates available for charter and when the Tuna finally show back up he will also be running a few more of those make up trips.
As for the outlook for our next few weeks I expect to be basically anchoring over wrecks for Sea Bass every day from now until the end of the season. Departure time is 7:00 a.m. and we generally get in around 4:00 p.m. Depending on the size of the crowds and the day we have to work with we will either run to the offshore wrecks and reefs for the Sea Bass or we also have the option to fish structure close to home for the Tautog or Blackfish on the days where we just have a few people or the weather is too bad to run offshore. Our Tog fishing season reopened this past week with a 14-inch minimum size limit and a creel limit of 10 fish per person. We should continue to see a variety catch on the All-Day trips including Sea Bass, Tautog, Porgies, Bluefish and Croakers and we should also see a few more Flounder taken from these wrecks as well.
Our water temperatures have started to make a slight dip in the other direction but I have yet to see any significant drop. Water temperatures are still hovering around the 68-degree mark. I will say this: since we have had all the wind, the water clarity is better now than I have seen since early Spring and the fish are beginning to migrate. Don't forget that traditionally this is the best time of year to have the biggest catches and I see no real reason why this year should be any different. Hopefully Mother Nature is through with throwing punches at us and we can get back to business as usual with our daily routine of wreck fishing.
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 one of our 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
