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.