The New Year is upon us and it is now time to start thinking about fishing! It certainly has been a roller coaster ride with the weather that we have had since the holidays and the crazy weather has had a strange impact on the fishing. We caught Stripers well into the New Year; in fact there are some hearty anglers who are still catching them almost daily. Water temperatures have been such that even Bluefish have not even made a full migration down the coast. Blues were caught within three miles of the coast up until the second week of January just off of our beach and are still being caught now on the 30 to 40 fathom line. This is unprecedented for my 30+ years of fishing experience.

With water temperatures hovering around the 46 degree mark it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Just two weeks ago one of the largest recorded biomasses of Bunker and Stripers was reported to be just six miles south of Cape May. Along with this biomass of fish, dozens of Whales both Humpbacks as well as the endangered Right Whales were also spotted. Early last week a couple of these Right Whales were even spotted inside of Indian River Inlet! I’ve never seen anything like this either!

Now that all the hunting seasons are about over it’s time to get back to business and think about fishing. We will start this weekend with the regular All-Day trips fishing for Blackfish or what is commonly referred to as Tautog. These trips will depart at 7:00 a.m. and will be at least an eight-hour trip dock to dock. I’m only going to fish weekends for a while just Saturday and Sunday’s we will more than likely resume the seven-day a week schedule sometime in March. The fare on the Tog trips will be $65.00 (same as last year) and the bait will be provided. Watch the weather and please feel free to give us a call or email me at the link below for any questions or updates.

We will also be sailing Saturday’s for Jumbo Sea Bass. These will be long-range wreck trips that depart midnight Friday night and return late Saturday evening. These 18-hour trips require reservations in advance and the fare will be $150.00. So far these trips have had the special trip curse and have all been blown out but you have to think that we will have a nice Saturday soon and turn this around.

Our complete schedule for the 2007 season is in the final stages now and should be posted here soon. Meanwhile just remember I will be Tog fishing just Saturdays and Sundays at 7:00 a.m. for a few weeks before we resume the daily schedule and offshore Jumbo Sea Bass trips will sail every Saturday departing midnight Friday’s.

I am looking forward to starting off a great season hope to see you soon!
Until Next Time Happy Holidays and Happy Fishing!

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
Thelma Dale V
catchfish@verizon.net