Despite three of the longest weeks of windy rough and rainy weather that a fisherman could endure I can honestly say that this is a good time to go fishing. Yes the weather has been ugly… real ugly in fact, however when we do get those little windows of opportunity where the seas aren’t quite so bad we have been rewarded with some good catches.

Sea Bass fishing was much better than the sea conditions just about every day since my last report. Limits catches of twenty-five fish have been as common as three and four foot waves. While we have not seen many of the big bruiser Bass that we sometimes catch at this time of the year there have been several fish that have weighed close to three pounds and plenty of fish that would tip the scales at two. With the exception of Saturday we have sailed each and every day up until today (10/25) with good and sometimes excellent results. Hurricane Wilma and the accompanying low pressure system passed through our area washing out all hopes of catching a fish today.

We have no doubt seen more than our fair share of nasty weather these past few weeks but the beat goes on. Water temperatures have began to cool down nicely now dropping surface temperatures in the Bay to about 62 degrees and keeping Ocean temps at around 65. This is the drop that Striper fishermen have been long anticipating. Several hearty anglers fished on private and charter boats for Stripers over this past weekend and for the conditions that Mother Nature dished out the results were fair. Not a lot of fish were caught but there were some, and they were mostly all big. A 37-pound Rockfish took first place in the annual Roctober fish Tournament and a 27-pounder took second. Several other twenty-pound class fish were weighed in. These are some impressive fish and a lot more of these beasts will be landed in these upcoming weeks. With the cooler nights and shorter days these temperatures will continue to drop and more and more Stripers will be showing up.

I was forced to pull the plug on tomorrows special Tog trip. It broke my heart, as I believe that we now stand a good chance to see some excellent Tog fishing. The recent drop in water temperature seems to have sparked these fish into a more aggressive feeding pattern, however weather and tidal conditions are key to these fish and with the pending forecast it just seemed like the best thing to do. We have had a bad track record with just about every special wreck trip that we have scheduled so far this fall. Maybe this will be the turn around we have been looking for and we can successfully get some of these trips in.

We have special wreck trips scheduled throughout the fall. 12-hour trips for Sea Bass will sail every Saturday at 5:00 a.m. and we have been trying to go Tog fishing every other Wednesday. With the last two Tog trips being a bust we will more than likely try to throw in a couple more dates. If this becomes the case I will try and post the new dates.
I will continue sailing daily with the regular 8-hour trips at 7:00 a.m. until the 18th of December. Every trip that I run will be a wreck trip. Sea Bass fishing is at it’s best now and most of these trips I will be concentrating on catching mostly them. Porgies, Bluefish, Tog, Triggers, and Jacks can also be common on these eight-hour trips. It is also possible that with a small crowd or some adverse weather conditions we will be fishing for just the Tog. Please try and remember that a lot of our fishing will be in waters that are 70 to 100 feet deep and possibly deeper. Light monofilament fishing line is not the best gear for these depths. I suggest 25 lb. test line at a minimum with preferably heavier if you choose to fish with mono, you can get away lighter with one of the high tech. braids. Lighter monofilament lines in these depths just have too much stretch making it tough to feel what’s going on.

Our Striper fishing has not taken off yet this fall however this is about to change. You stand a good chance at a trophy Striper now on any given day! We will be sailing at 8:00 a.m. daily for the Stripers every day until after Christmas. Remember the biggest ones are usually the first ones to show up along the Coast. This is one fishery that you can get away with the lighter tackle however if you are not sure what you are doing your best bet is a little heavier.

If Mother Nature will allow we should continue to have some of that fabulous fall fishing that everyone likes so much. If you are interested in more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to reserve a spot on one of our special wreck trips pleas give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA or check out our website.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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