Fishing Report

Tomorrow ushers in the month of August and beach towns will swell with the ranks of many vacationers who traditionally take this month for their time at the beach. This is a lucky break for those visitors who like to fish. Flounder action had somewhat slowed over the past couple of weeks as the fish had spread out along the bottom of the Old Grounds. This problem was exacerbated with difficult drift conditions with the wind seemingly always against the tide, "checking" drifts and not allowing anglers to cover wide stretches of turf. With good conditions over the past couple days things picked up.

Capt Brent Weis teamed with mate Chris Cann worked the old grounds for a solid catch of flatties, as did Geoff McClosky and his nephew Mason. The Hooked Up also scored some nice ocean flounder. Capt. Carey Evans on the Grizzly continued a solid summer of flounder fishing with a boat limit for Joe Mohaiser's crew, along with the same for Larry Fratti. Cpat. Carey returned to the Old Grounds with Joe Wick and friends for twenty one flatties and some bass, and Bob Irwin and group had 22 keepers and a handful of sea bass. The Katydid returned with s 4.49 pounder for Stevve Kiebler and a 3.39 chunky fluke for Jay Leibforth. The Katydid kept up the good work on another trip returning with 50 blues and ten flounder. Wilkie Jarbo stayed closer to home and temted both a 17 inch flattie and a 22 inch bonus slot striper from the Canal on Gulp! Capt. Rick Yakimowicz on the full day headboat out of Fisherman's Wharf concurred that the flounder action had picked up but, he strongly cautioned that the fish are "not committing suicide".

You really have to work for the fish and that, these days, means jigging with a bucktail laced with Gulp! or a strip of meat from a sea robin or dogfish. Recent headboat trips have yielded catches such as Marc Levinrad and Jeff Scurti's five day marathon session landing over fifty keepable fish with some of the fish in the three to five pound class. Roger and Nick Farr from Haymarket, VA bounced the bottom with bucktails for 14 nice keepers over two days with fish up to four pounds. Adil Belharhomi from closer to home in Dover pulled in a doormat in the six pound class. The best flounder action continues to come from the Old Grounds, and the Delaware Bay, save for a smattering of fish on rubble structures, remains a virtual dead sea south of Cross Ledge Light. Tuna action on the twenty fathom lumps in general and Massey's in particular have continued to provide steady action for chunkers. The Quickfish returned with a nice catch of yellowfins from Massey's on butters. The High Pressure returned with a 49 pound yellowfin for Charles Stumpf, a 48 pounder for John Peel, and a 43 pounder for Tony Vansant. The Miss Five O certainly booked 'em without Danno for a 12 yellowfin beat down from Massey's on butters. Jenny Donahue boated a 35 pound yellowfin on her boat the Babs on butters at Massey's. Ed Sigda ran the Snow Goose once again to blue water for four yellowfins and a dolphin for David Lapuma, Mike Sigda, Bill Fintel and Mike Fritz. The Porta Bella with Capt. Jeff Hoepfl and "gaff man" Herb Guest took Thomas Walsh, Paul Hazzard, Jim Yingling and Alison Sharp to masseys for another catch of four yellowfins and a dolphin.

The lower part of the bay has been seeing a few mixed bag bites with a good catch on a charter on the Indian for Frank Margonis, Nike Pirouolidis and Karen and Kelly Koermer returning with puffers, kingfish and blues. The Fish Hawk returned with 17 kings caught by Joseph Cyron, Michael Sottile and John Penzo. The sheepshead catch continues with some chunky convict fish coming from the icebreakers. Robert Warehime tempted a whopper 10.62 pounder with a sandflea, and not to be outdone Hailey Withenbank nailed a 9.09 pounder.

Sorry for the delay-summer at the beach means company as many of you well know! The summer heat has hit with real force as the dog days of thick humidity and sweltering temperatures fog in. And, like a breath of fresh air, the tuna have arrived. Good catches have come from the old stomping grounds of the lumps along the twenty fathom line like many of us remember from the good old days that for many of us just don't seem all that long ago.

Speaking of the good old days Capt. Dave Filepas on the Bottom Line put his crew of Steve Millman, Bob Graham, Steve Miller and Tom Ring on some nice yellowfins with the biggest pulling the balance to 42.9 pounds. The Katydid had a couple of nice trips as well, with Bill and Charlotte Hughes scoring a cooler full of meat with six nice yellowfins. They also had another trip with both blue and yellowfin tuna between 40 and 69 pounds. Capt. Carey Evans on the Grizzly took Mike Roebuck and family out for eight nice yellowfins. The Bikini Bottom crew of Greg Pearson, Nick Pearson and Dan Heim landed three nice yellowfins at Masseys. Of course heavy boat traffic over the weekends can make things tough, and reports of boats having to drop down to 30 pound floro to get the bites abound. Flounder are still the mainstay of the bottom fishing effort, and the ocean is still, despite a few more fish being taken from bay rubble piles, the most consistent and least (but not entirely) sensitive to conditions. The Katydid took a break from clobbering tunas to flipping flounder on deck, and returned with 25 flatties from the Old Grounds. 12 year old DJ Diamont landed a nice 3.56 pounder. Jeff Sherwood had a pair of nice flatties with one at 3.81, Ernie Stone had one at 3.06 and Chris Thawles one at 2.61. Steven Herr landed his first citation flattie with a nice 7.6 pounder caught right in front of Lewes Harbor. Must be the water there! Capt. Vince "Killer" Keagy on the Miss Kirsten had a great day withh Sharon Price landing a 4.73 pounder, Pierce Gibson a 4.62 pounder, Colin Meany and Shane Gibson landing seven flatties. Capt. Rick Yakimowicz reported that the Fisherman's Wharf all day headboat catches have slowed somewhat from a couple of weeks ago, and that the fish have been on the move around the full moon period. The fish seem much more spread out and there are more shorts than before.

Still, hard corps jiggers bouncing Gulp! are are landing limits and the pool fish has always been in the four pound class. Tatyana Chub and Kyle McNaughton from Richfield, PA both had doormats of five and six pounds last week. James Kwangyu Jeun stole the show with a 9 pound, 4 ounce monster flounder. Bill Haines and Dancing Donna continued their streak of limits with nice flounder in the four pound class. In other bottom news there are plenty of trout around but, of course, you are only allowed one so not many folks are targeting them. Capt. Jack Stewart on the Fish Hawk had a nice catch of kingfish and trout with Ganon Smith from PA being the high hook. In more exotic news Frank Tier landed a whopper of a sheepshead on a sand flea while fishing at the Ice Breakers. The monster weighed in at 12.07 pounds. Not to be outdone, Capt. Joseph Crowley fished on his boat the Why Knot at the outer wall and landed a 14.6 pound beast of a sheepshead. Dorian Idsall fished on the Grizzly and caught 6 triggers, a tog, a trout, a blue and two porgies, one of which was a 2.74 pound citation. That's quite a day! And four year old Brighid Churches, visiting with her mom Christine Chuches from Las Vegas, went fishing with her Aunt Kathy and Uncle "Dizzy Cuda" Whitham to land a nice keeper trout and big white perch.

Surf fishing continues to be a normal summer mix of kings, some spike trout, some snapper blues and plenty of sharks. The kings are falling for both real and artificial bloodworms or small bits of clam. Kings also really like fresh cut bait so consider stripping up a spot if you get one. Of course the problem with that is that you are probably only moments away from a sand bar shark which means a lost hook! Size six long shanked hooks work well for the kings and assorted small fish. Kingfish are also like color so some of the commercially tied kingfish rigs with different colored floats can work well. They are notoriously finicky about color so keep changing until you find what they like. Also, like the pompano, they are in close so resist the urge to rear back and cast towards Portugal or you'll get an A for distance and an F for catch. Try and land your offering right behind the first wave. Good luck and go get 'em!

Flounder action has slowed somewhat as the fish have started to spread out somewhat, but tuna have made up the difference. There have still been plenty of nice fluke hitting the table, for sure. Mason Newsham nailed a 4.82 pounder on a bucktail at the Old Grounds. Brock Hilligoss took a break from pitching and landed a pretty 20 inch fish from the Broadkill. Chris Vann flirted with a citation and landed a 6.49 pound flattie on the Katiedid. Capt. Rick Yakimowicz allowed that while the fishing had slowed somewhat due to conditions there were plenty of limit catches and some pretty fish around the all-day headboat out of Fisherman's Wharf.

Donna Norton fished seven days landing several limits of flounder and fish up to five pounds. David Parsons learned the ropes of jigging and landed a few four pound class fish, while Ernie and Dianna Milano scored limits of fish up to five pounds. CJ the Fluking Ninja tabled limits in short time and had fish in the five pound class, while Jared Yoder just missed a citation with a 6 pound 15 ounce flattie. While the Old Grounds has still been fishing well for flounder the canal has also been showing some nice fish. Lucky Landon Luckemeyer landed both an 18 and 3/4 inch flattie and an 18 inch trout on white gulp in the canal, while Liam and Gibson Hunt also scored some for the kid's team with an 18 inch flattie. And while it wasn't a flounder, 11 year old Kenny Coleman landed a nice 47.6 pound black drum while fishing with clam on the Pirate King. In another unusual catch, Capt. Carey Evans on the Grizzly passed along that Steve Ferraioli and family landed a pair of cobia weighing 35 and 40 pounds!

Tuna have somewhat stolen the show though boat traffic can make fishing hard during weekends. The Katydid put the group of George Durrant, John Gudnekt, Bill Wiest and Dr. Lous Mispireta onto a 71.6 and 65.6 pound bluefin and a 41 pound yellowfin. The father and son duo of Rob and Cole Hutchinson fished at Massey's and landed two dolphin, a yellowfin and three bluefins. The Joint Venture run by Jeff Hoepfl, Kevin Coolahan and Travis pulled in mako, dolphin and tuna on a recent trip. The Portabella chunked butterfish and nailed a 68.7 pound bluefin and a pair of yellowfins. Not to be outdone, the crew of the Bimini Twist with Capt. Mike Johnson, Isabella Porro, Chirs Huck and Mike Deblasis returned from Masseys with 6 yellofins landed chunking. Surf fishing along the ocean beaches is yielding a mixed bag of snapper blues, kingfish, small croakers and spike trout. There are even a few pompano mixed in. The latter really like sand fleas fishing practically in the waves.

Smoking hot out there today as some real summer weather has rolled in. The flounder, too, have continued to roll in with anglers fishing the shipping approaches to Delaware Bay in the Atlantic have had another good week. The Local Girl crew of Mason and Mike Newsham, Billy Talbot, Jack Austin and Jack Ostroski landed plenty of flounder fishing B buoy with Mason nailing a nice pair of 5.84 and 6.58ers. The Katydid returned with a good catch of 37 fluke one day, 44 another, and Dan Crawford landed a 6.5 pounder. Capt. Rick Yakimowicz of the all-day headboat out of Fisherman's Wharf passed along many limit catches for his patrons as well, including Mike Schwendenman's ten pounder, Donn Norton with fish up to four pounds, Jeff Scurti wih fish up to five pounds, Joe Lofink with limits and fish up to six pounds, Seve Miller with limits up to 5 pounds. Josh and EJ Hopkins teamed up with grandfather Ed Hopkins from Rehoboth in his boat Big Debbie to land flounder of 4.7 and 5.2 pounds respectively. Capt. Carey Evans on the Grizzly reported some nice fish with John Tucker landing a 4.09 pounder, while Ray Sharpe tallied on at 3.63. Jim Myers, Bob Myers and Sheila Sohler landed ten heftly flounder using squid and minnows at site ten. Jim Barlow, fishing with Capt. Vince "Killer" Keagy on the Miss Kirsten landed a 4.8 pounder.

While most of the heavy flounder action has come from the ocean, some nice fish have been caught in the canal, too. Michael Angstadt fished off the city dock to land 3 big fluke on minnows. Landon Luckemeyer kept the ball rolling for the kids landing a nice two pounder from the canal on a chartreuse Gulp mullet. Offshore fishing along the 20-fathom lumps was productive. Capt. Carey led his anglers to Massey's and trolled up four bluefins, a yellowfin and a dolphin. Matt Millman fising on the Bottom Line with his dad, Steve and Capt. Dave Filepas for some tuna. Herb "The Gaffman" Guest, Jeff Hopfl, Joe Ruger and Mark Malchione fished on the Portabelle at Masseys for a pair of bluefins at 704 and 63.6 pounds. Mike Fritz, Ed Sigda and Wayne Ross fished on the Snow Goose at the Hambone and brought back a 36.3 pound yellowfin and a dolphin. The Reel Chaotic worked Masseys to bring back a pair of nice bluefins at 67 and 46 pounds for Bruce Bradley, Josh Buchalter and Daryl Young. Lastly, of special note is Bella Minni who, while using her new Mighty Mite combo purchased at Lewes Harbor landed a bass while fishing with her dad Jim. She landed the largemouth while using nightcrawlers fishing at Blockhouse Pond. Stay cool out there!

Incredibly the Fourth is on us already! Summer is just flying by it seems and the beach is readying itself for another great holiday. Flounder fishing is in full swing and many nice fish have been coming across the tables and decks for local anglers. Fishermen on the Katydid with Capt. Brent have been doing well with the feisty fluke, with some great catches coming from the ocean. Bob Trento had a happy birthday 7.53 pound citation doormat, while Ron Mistretta nabbed a 6.09 pounder. Ernie Stone walked away with a 5.28 pounder on Tuesday's trip to the shipping approaches, while Ed Kim had a 3.25 pounder on Monday. The group of Tyrone Waters, Saad Solimen, High Harris, Kenny Hall and Deron Farmer fished around B Buoy and had 11 keeper flatties and ten nice sea bass. Wesley Grove and John Santana had a nice trip on the flounder. Capt. Rick Yakimowicz on the all day headboat Thelma Dale IV out of Fisherman's Wharf reports continued outstanding flounder fishing with many limits for his patrons. Joe "Postal Joe" Lofink continues to fill the freezer with some nice four and five pound fish, while Dr. Louis Reardon had on just under seven. Eclipsing those was Alex Maneliso of Bear, DE with a 7.5 pound flounder. John Cale and daughter had a nice limit of chunky flounder, along with Choi Jung and Joe Baegwiski. Flounder fishing in the canal has really picked up with anglers reporting limit catches of flounder using Gulp! or live minnows on either a plain hook or spec rig. These fish have been reported to not be quite as big on average as the ocean fish, but they, albeit late, are a welcome sight for small boat anglers. Bottom fishing in Delaware Bay, particularly around the artificial reef sites and inside edge of the Shears has been good for a mixed bag of panfish. Spike trout, small croakers, kingfish, puffers and small sea bass are the norm. Baiting with small bits of clam and artificial bloodworms are good choices. Capt. Vince "Killer" Keagy had a good trip up in the bay with a boat limit of trout and some kings, as did Capt. Carey Evans on the charter boat Grizzly along with small croakers, kingfish and even a bonus black drum. The Katydid also had a bottom trip with successful panfishing up in the Bay, as did Capt. Ted of the Angler fleet, putting together a catch of puffers, small croakers, kingfish and trout. Beats a skate anyday! Offshore anglers have been scoring big on tuna and dolphin out along the canyon edges and inshore on the twenty fathom lumps. Capt. Brent shook the inshore water off his boat and went to the Poormans. Towing Joe Shute and Island lure with hoo's Bob Rindfuss, Sean Kane, Philip Difelod, Kevin Roberts and Brian Seglum landed a load of tuna, with the two largest right around forty five pounds. The Snow Goose trolled the Poormans and Baltimore with spreaders and hoo's to land yellowfins and dolphin. The boys on the Reel Chaotic, Bruce, Josh and Brad Buckhalter along with Daryl Young trolled the 100-fathom line of the Poorman's with Joe Shute lures and hoo to score a couple nice yellowfins and a white marlin release. Capt. Carey Evans on the Grizzly also had a nice table of tuna, keeping three tuna out of three bluefins and a yellowfin tackled while trolling inside at Massey's. Plenty of catching going on for the big summer holiday. Be careful and have a great time!