The anxiously awaited Mackerel have arrived! I get this question all the time; “are you loading up?” Well the answer is YES. At least we did today. Yesterday wasn’t half bad either! After a tough weekend and a day or two of sitting at the dock I can honestly say if you want Mack’s this is the time to come. DON’T WAIT!
Up until the last couple of days we had seen some very sporadic catches with top hooks catching a couple of dozen fish and sometimes a few more, however these last few days it has been more like traditional Mackerel fishing. Today (4/12) was by far one of the best days yet. Most anglers, landed anywhere from 25 to as many as 100 nice sized Mack’s. The fish were following the boat nicely and at times were as shallow as 20 feet beneath the surface below us! This is the type of fishing that most would call “just like the good old days”.

It is no secret that the Mackerel have had a bad reputation over the past decade for being tough to catch and very picky at times. Nobody understands this quite as much as me having fished for them each and every spring for the past 25 years. Even on the best of days you sometimes have to truly work for your catch. I’m not going to lie, Mack’s are a hard sell anymore and it seems even though there is really a good number of these fish around, they are at times very difficult to find. In the “old days” it was not uncommon to have a few dozen party boats scattered along the coast from Ocean City M.D. to North Jersey targeting the Mackerel. Now we are lucky if there are a half a dozen boats out on any given day trying to locate these schools of fish. There is no doubt that if more boats would target the Mack’s nowadays that it would be much easier to keep up with these swift moving schools of fish.

This is however the peak time for the Mackerel and despite the bad rap we are doing just fine with these fish. Water temperatures are right around the 47-degree mark now and we should have good success with these fish until the water warms to about 51 to 52 degrees. As the surface temps jump to around 51 degrees you could possibly need a jet to keep up with them as they swiftly migrate along the surface to the North in search of their spawning grounds.
As far as the wreck fishing goes the Special Trip jinx continues. Once again weather put the kibosh on this past Saturday’s special trip. We will continue to try and fish every Saturday at 5:00 a.m. fishing over wrecks with a 12-hour dock-to-dock trip. Remember advanced reservations are required for these trips.

I will continue to fish for Mackerel with the regular All-Day trips until these fish move out of our range. I would expect the Mack’s to stick around for at least another couple of weeks but warm nights could push them a little faster. Next on the menu will be Tautog (blackfish), Sea Bass and Rockfish. The Tog and The Rock are biting now and should continue well into May. As the water warms Sea Bass will be moving in rapidly. Just three years ago we had decent numbers of Bass as early as the 17th of April. The first week of May is a much more realistic estimate for the inshore Sea Bass this year.
If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you are interested in booking a charter or would like to reserve a spot on a 12 hour trip please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
Thelma Dale V