Lots of wind and waves the last couple weeks here at the Wharf but we did manage to get in a few inshore Tog trips and another long range Sea Bass trip just this past weekend. The weatherman has certainly not been doing us any favors as of late. We scrubbed last weekends 18-hour trip with the forecast and just fished inshore with the regular Full-Day trip. This weekend we made the decision to go offshore and by daybreak we knew that the wind forecast was more than just a little off!

After a fairly decent ride offshore with moderate winds on our tail, the darkness began to give way to light off to the east and it was painfully obvious that the forecasted winds of 10 to 20 out of the northwest could now be added together. As the sun came up we were looking at winds close to thirty knots blowing out of the northeast. We anchored up and started fishing anyway (cause that’s what you do after you just rode eighty miles) and that’s when the real fun began. I must admit though, fun is not the best word to describe the action. Seas that averaged about six to eight feet with many waves standing up much taller made it very difficult to stand fast at the rail and fish, not to mention trying to keep your line tight and your rig on the bottom in the deep water. Just holding on and not falling down became the # 1 priority. Even though there were some very nice fish landed on the first stop I think most would agree that it was hardly worth the effort.

With hopes that the wind would indeed do as the weatherman promised, we slugged it out for about an hour and a half on wreck number one and some folks actually started to scrape up a nice little mess of fish however between the rough seas and the Spiny Dogfish taking over, folks were loosing interest rapidly. We ran to the next wreck and anchored up and started catching some more real nice Bass right away but once again the Spiny Sharks and the tough conditions would prove to be the demise for most folks trying to stay attentive at the rail. We did stay over top of this wreck for a couple of hours and managed to catch quite a few large and Jumbo sized Bass the biggest of which would easily weigh in at over four and five pounds but there was just not enough of them some folks didn’t fare well at all, you really had to work for these fish.

The Seas ultimately proved to be too rough to make it off to the edge where we had been seeing the big numbers of Tilefish on this trip but we were able to make a move in the latter part of the day up to the north to one last wreck. Jogging along at about eight or nine knots not too many waves buried over the bow. We anchored over a tiny little spot in a couple hundred feet of water and managed to get a few more good drops of some nice Jumbo Bass before the Dogs and Bergaulls took over and it was time to start on our journey home. By days end top hooks would tally mid to upper teens with some very nice Bass. Most anglers, while catching enough for supper had much less. Just about everyone onboard would however have a good story to tell about the day they went out on a boat and saw some of the biggest waves they had ever seen while trying to catch a fish.

Back inshore the winds were just as brutal as they were 80 miles from home but the waves weren’t quite so big. Capt. Cerg ran the regular All-Day trip and stayed close to home catching Tog. This was not the best day that we have had on these fish this spring but there were some decent fish landed and they were close to home. This is good news in that it will make it possible to fish on those days when the bare minimum amount of people show up and the weather is good. We won’t have to travel too far to be able to catch fish. We have now started with our daily schedule sailing at 7:00 a.m. as of this past weekend and I do anticipate some good weekday fishing trips in our immediate future. As usual it is always best to call before you make the trip but if the weather looks good it is likely that we will have enough to get away from the docks on any given day.

Water temperatures have been slowly climbing with the longer days and fish have been on the move. There are reports of Stripers, Flounder and even a few Bluefish all being landed hook and line in our area just this past week. I wish I could give you some good news on the Mackerel however given the ocean temps I’m seeing out there now if they do show it’s going to be a quick pass. I will most definitely post any Mackerel catches here as soon as it happens. What you might expect to see if you come out for a days fishing now would likely be wreck fishing for Tautog. Most of this fishing will be in between 40 and 90 feet of water with weights on the average of eight to ten ounces. It is also very possible that there could be some Stripers landed on the All-Day trips with the right conditions. These fish will mostly be caught with jigs and or cut bait. We have only one more long-range wreck trip on the schedule at this time for the Jumbo Bass and Tilefish and that is this coming weekend. This trip will depart Friday night and return Saturday evening. Remember advanced reservations are required on these trips.

If you would like any more information about any trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to reserve a spot for one of our special trips or you would like to book a charter please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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