The season's first thresher shark was brought to the dock on Memorial Day, and it was a whopper! Captain Ted Moulinier took the Pirate King to his favorite sharking grounds northwest of DB Buoy, and returned with a 487 pound longtail. Captain Brian Wazlavek and Alex Capozio shared winding time on the reel. The crew attempted to wrestle the big shark aboard after it was caught, but it was too heavy to get over the gunwale, so they towed it home. The mammoth thresher attracted plenty of attention at the Marina, and yielded quite a pile of delicious steaks. Other threshers were reported along the Buoy Line and in the Fingers. Makos were also taken at the Hambone and in the Fingers. Bluefish were plentiful in the same areas, and trollers caught choppers in the 8 to 15 pound range. Bluefish were also found on the lumps southeast of Delaware Light.

There was a good tuna bite over the weekend. Yellowfins showed up outside The Rockpile, between Poor Man's and Washington Canyons. There were a lot of small fish below the 27 inch minimum, but crews were able to cull out decent numbers of keepers. Some tuna were in the 30 to 40 pound range. Bluefins were mixed in with yellowfins, and most boats had their limit of one.

Mark Stephens and his buddies trolled up 10 keeper yellowfins and released many others at the "800 Square" of the Washington Sunday. It's encouraging to see good tuna action, and hopefully it will be a great offshore season. Bill Swords and friends enjoyed some fine offshore bottom fishing. They had 16 tilefish to 35 pounds, plus nice sea bass and ling while deep dropping in the Baltimore Canyon. Sea Bassers at Reef Site 11 picked away at fish, and anchoring seemed more productive than drifting. Hobby Isaacs iced the biggest bass we've see so far this year, a 5.62 pound knothead. Chuck Coverdale caught a 3.59 pounder on the Angler. Back inshore, flounder are still coming from Lewes Canal. Thurman Stanley caught an 8.1 pound doormat right in front of the store Tuesday morning while fishing with a chartreuse Gulp! Ethan Boyle used a white Gulp! to catch his 3.46 pounder. Flounder also came from the Cape Henlopen Pier. Some flounder have been caught in the Bay east of Fourteen Foot Light, and on Reef Site 7. Croakers have started to move into the Bay as well. Surfcasters on Broadkill Beach caught small hardheads, and fishermen on the Cape May Ferry Jetties had them too. Black drum lingered at the Coral Beds. Ogden Lester landed a 68.6 pounder on the Miss Kirstin, and Phil Spare scored a 72.1 pound boomer on Joint Venture.