Fishing Report

The beat goes on with the great start to the summer fluking season, with many limit catches gracing the scales and fish cleaning tables. Even better, there have been some real quality fish mixed in. Lewes Harbor saw some pretty fish with Matt Jester nabbing a five pound flattie on a chartreuse spec rig from the Cape Fishing Pier. The skinny water fishing wasn't limited to the pier with Sarah and Ken Schabrach from Boyertown, PA showing that "Bear" pride with a limit catch of flounder from the canal fishing with Gulp! The Katydid returned with plenty of happy anglers with limit catches on recent trips. Capt. Rick Yakimowicz on the Fisherman's Wharf headboat Themla Dale IV passed along some super catches as well, with Joe "Postal Joe" Lofink after a secret ritual perfomed on his rod, tallied a limit of nice flounder in a matter of a couple hours. Jeff Scurti nailed limits of flounder on back to back trips with a bonus bass thrown in. Jim Fredericks had a limt of flounder up to five pounds, while Marc Levinrad continued his streak of limit catches on each trip to a whopping nine outings, with flounder weight as much as six pounds. Matt Slapinski celebrated Father's Day in grand style with a pretty six pound slab, while Tyler Long iced a fluke limit by 10:30 on a recent trip. This heavy action continues to take place along the shipping channel and artificial reef sites in the ocean. Bouncing bucktails laced with Gulp! in either four or six inch sizes has been the hot ticket, though some flounder pounders are using a strip of cut bait such as sea robin as well. Flounder action in Delaware Bay remains slow with cold, dirty water being the norm. If flounder aren't your cup of tea offshore action remains good with fish spread up and down the canyon edges. Trolling spreader bars and skirted 'hoos remain the way to go. Mixed in with the tunners have been dolphin and a few makos. The crew of Five O returned from a recent ride to the deep with some dolphin and a black eye landed while working 73 degree water. There have been more and more reports surfacing of bluefin and yellowfin showing along the twenty fathom lumps, fueling hopes of a return to the torrid inshore action we used to have. Chris Huk showed he's not all about throwing a fastball, but can bring the heat on the water as well. He traveled to VA to pull a nice cobia aboard, luring the ling with a live eel. Speaking of different fish, Capt. Chris "Skeet" Ragni had a nice look at a 140 pound class white on a recent trip. Big blues made another appearance again in Canary Creek, where anglers nailed the gators in the ten to fifteen pound class. Chunks of bunker or mullet on chartreuse rig with wire on the flood tide landed the fish. Surf casters have been tallying the wayward big blue, but mostly the catch has been panfish. Bloodworms, small pieces of clam or squid have been proving successful for kingfish, small croakers and trout. Dr. Mark McDaniel landed a couple of the latter fishing the suds at Broadkill with trout up to sixteen inches on minnows.

The cooler than normal spring weather continued with plenty of easterly wind hampering anglers and keeping boats tide to the dock. Those that managed to get out were rewarded with some stellar flounder fishing, particularly for this early in the season. Capt. Brent's anglers on the Katydid returned with limit catches of flatties from a recent trips, working the Old Grounds. Capt. Chris Thurman decked a 5.61 pound fluke over the past week. Capt. Rick Yakimowicz on the headboat Thelma Dale V reported Alicen Sharp had a nice trip with a limit catch, Bob Murphy had several limit catches and citations with one flattie pulling the balance down to 7lbs 9 ounces, Mark Levinrad tallied five consecutive limits on as many trips with a 5.5 pounder, Ron Capone, Dakota Dunno, Ron Schmoyer and Bill Kiefer all landed limit catches of fluke on three consecutive trips. The fact that all these flounder are being caught with less than perfect drift conditions certainly bodes well for the future of the season. Virtually all of the fluke fishing has been in the ocean on the Old Grounds and between DB and DA buoys. While dragging traditional fluke killers with a spinner blade and teaser has accounted for some fish, the bulk of the catching has been by bouncing bucktails with a teaser above along the live bottom and artificial reef structure. Tipping the bucktail with a Gulp! twister or swimming mullet in either six or four inch length has upped the odds of a bite. Using a strip of sea robin can also work well, particularly on the teaser. Drum action has slowed considerably since Memorial Day weekend. Dr. Mark McDaniel landed his first two boomers in fishing with Capt. Jack Rodgers in 22' feet of water on a recent trip but time is certainly almost, if not all the way, up for this year's action. Other Delaware Bay action has been a struggle since Memorial Day. A few kingfish and spike trout have been caught around the reef sites but the big numbers of kingfish seemed to have moved on along with the drum. There are plenty of big, toothy critters around in the all the usual locations. Surf anglers have also landed a few kings, spike trout and croakers on both real and artificial bloodworms fishing the ocean beaches. The big blues are hanging on as well, with a slab of bunker luring some gators in the double digit range in for surfcasters. Some big blues are also still being yanked out of skinny water with the flood tide proving a good time to target the blues in Canary Creek on the marsh side and the Broadkill all the way up to Oyster Rocks. Offshore anglers have been enjoying an epic start to the trolling season for those willing to make the ride to the Washington. Over the past couple days it seems that there is plenty of life closer to home with some a good bite in the Baltimore. Spreader bars have been the hot pull for putting the tuna in the box thus far. The past couple of June's have been simply good for trolling and this season has been the best in recent memory.

Well, I apologize that this web site has not been updated for far too long. As many of you may know, our leader and friend Joe Morris passed away on May 2, 2016. Through our grief we tried to keep the focus that the main thing he would want us to do was be there for the fishing community and not let you all down with whatever you need to do the sport he loved most in life. The Facebook page has been continually updated, but we were having problems getting into this site without Joe's knowledge and so it has been neglected. However today I figured it out and we will once again be updating things here. Thank you for your understanding and patience with us during this most difficult time. We have had some very good fishing this spring. There has been an abundance of Black Drum being caught later in the day mostly on clams. Stripers have been being caught in the surf on fresh bunker, mullet, and clams. And not a lot but some amazing weakfish have been brought it up to 7.5 pounds. The Flounder Tournament in Memory of Joe Morris was a great day with the first place fish coming in at 6.70 pounds. The winners of this year's Canal Flounder Tournament Robbie Baxley- 6.7 pounds Patrick Summers - 6.03 pounds Tim West Sr. - 4.9 pounds Dillon Barker - 4.7 pounds Robert Sawicki- 4.3 pounds Tim West Jr.- 4.1 pounds Howard Bowden II - 4.1 pounds Yesterday June 6, 2016 We had a 106 pound Thresher Shark come in on the Little Angler With Capt Brian. It was caught near B Bouy on a bluish fillet by Holly Faust. Fair winds and tight lines!