Wind, waves and rain have hampered all of our efforts to catch a fish since my last report. It has been a couple months that we have had any amount of rain, and Mother Nature has tried to make up for it in just these past few days. We have also had no shortage of wind. First southeast and now northeast winds have been blowing at a moderate to stiff rate ever since last Thursday. These winds have generated quite a swell out front.

Despite all the wind and sea, we have managed to get away from the docks on a few occasions over the week and there were a couple of occasions when we probably should have stayed home. A mixed Bag with mostly Croakers and Sea Bass have made up the catch over these past seven days but really nothing to brag about. We have also seen a few big Blues and a smattering of Flounder caught when we ventured off to the deeper wrecks.
We stayed tied to the dock on Thursday and Friday, and Saturdays trip was an absolute disaster with torrential rain and heavy seas dousing all hopes for a fun trip. We were back to the dock by noon Saturday with just a few Croakers to show for our trials. Sunday was a much nicer day; the winds had moderated enough for us to make it out to some of the offshore wrecks. The Sea Bass cooperated fairly well given the conditions we had. Even though we had a big ground swell some lucky anglers managed to catch close to a limit of decent sized to measurable Bass with just about everyone on board landing enough for a meal or two.

Monday was more of a victory at sea day. Weathermen had promised five to ten knot winds however we thought it likely that they were referring to the wave height instead of the velocity. Heavy swells with 20+ knot northeast winds made conditions all but impossible. Some anglers did manage to make double digits with keeper sized Sea Bass but this was a long tough day for everyone. Tuesday with winds still blowing, we opted for calmer seas up inside the Delaware Bay and were rewarded with a variety of no fewer than nine different species of fish with Croakers making up the bulk of our catch. There seemed to be no shortage of Croaks up in the Bay on this day as we had one drift that was over two miles long catching fish the whole time! Definitely more fun than the previous day’s performance.
This weather that has plagued us for almost a week now will no doubt change for the better in time. I would not look for much to change on the fish catching front as a result of these winds that we have had. Fishing will continue to be good and should be excellent given better conditions. If anything, all the east wind that we have had recently has kept the warmer water closer to the beach. Without cool nights even the lack of sunshine has had little effect on surface temps in the last several days.

I will continue with our All-Day trips sailing daily at 7:00 a.m. fishing for Sea Bass, Croakers or whatever else might be willing to bite our hooks. Most of my fishing these days will be anchored over some sort of structure be it shipwrecks, rocks or artificial reefs. As the water cools it is also possible that with a small crowd we may be fishing the mouth of the Bay for Blackfish on certain days. We will also be running an open boat for Stripers sailing daily at 8:00 a.m. however with the water temps we have now good Striper action is likely a couple of weeks off.
If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to reserve a spot on one of our special trips please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

Capt. Rick Yakimowicz
Keen Lady IV
catchfish@verizon.net