Most of this past week was spent in the mouth of Delaware Bay taking full advantage of the biting Tautog. Good weather and a few folks have allowed me to get away from the docks on ten out of the last twelve days. Every day with the exception of one we were blessed with a full limit of Tog up to 13 lbs. There were even a couple of days that we caught them so quick that we were actually throwing back five and six pound fish trying to get bigger ones!

Last Thursday was one of those days that you seldom see. At 9:30 in the morning we were all but maxed out with some of the nicest Tog you will ever see and throwing fish back. I made the suggestion that we go and look for some Sea Bass. We quickly landed the rest of our Tog then rode with the last of the ebb tide in search of the Bass. While I must admit I was a little disappointed with the number of Bass that we landed we did see some nice ones and several guys walked away with close to double digits on Keeper sized Bass. These were the first Sea Bass of many more to come.

My next trip out for the Bass was Saturday. With a good size crowd and an Ocean that looked like a millpond we took a long ride out to wrecks in the 100 to 130 foot range. Again I was somewhat disappointed with the numbers of fish we landed however with some perseverance and a lot of different anchors we did scrape up a decent catch. Several folks would land double digits and then some with a mixed bag of mostly large Sea Bass and a few Ling. What really made this trip was the size of the fish and not the numbers. We landed over thirty citation Sea Bass up to 4 and 5 pounds and some of the Ling were also in the 3 to 5 pound class. We landed ten different species of fish on Saturday’s trip including Hake, Cod, Pollack and Fluke. We also landed a potential State record Winter Flounder! Jim Wiseman was the lucky angler that took both first and second place in the pool on Saturday with a Ling just shy of 6 lbs. and the big Winter Flounder taking second.

With Northeast winds clocking in at 20 plus on Sunday morning I was back up in the Bay and the Tog were snapping. Once again we had a limit for everyone on board with Tog up to 10 pounds! Wind and rain kept us tied to the Dock on Monday.

As time progresses and the water gets warmer more and more Sea Bass will be in our future. I expect to see a mix of both Sea Bass and Tog for at least another week as the Sea Bass continue to migrate inshore. After that it will likely be mostly Bass with fewer Tog. I will continue to sail daily at 7:00 a.m. fishing exclusively over wrecks for several more weeks and this fishing is only going to get better.

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

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
Thelma Dale V