Well Mother Nature has finally given us a break in the weather that has actually allowed us to get away from the docks six of the last seven days. Water temperatures are holding fairly stable at about sixty degrees in the Ocean and around fifty-five in the Delaware Bay. Our fishing time has been split between both catching Sea Bass when we can get offshore and Tautog with the lighter crowds or when the weather won’t allow us to make the 20 plus mile ride out to the Bass grounds.

Last Thursday and Friday while I was in the woods Capt. H.D. was at the helm. With decent crowds and nice weather Capt. H. made the journey out into the deeper water in search of the keeper Bass. What he found was not only some of the most productive Bassing since the last Northeast storm but also some good numbers of Bluefish weighing up to 15 pounds with the average Blues tipping scales in the 3 to 5 lb. class. This fishing made for some great action and some pretty impressive coolers by days end.

I was back on duty both Saturday and Sunday and with big swells in the Ocean I opted for the Tog up in the Delaware Bay. Saturdays bite was slow with fish up to nine pounds and top hooks with four or five fish. Sunday was a little better with fish up to 8 pounds and several folks landing near limit catches of decent sized Tog. This turned out to be the much better option considering the seven-foot seas out front. On Monday I was headed back to the woods and Capt. H. was once again on duty. With a nice crowd and a relatively calm Ocean he ventured back out to the offshore grounds and once again found plenty of action with Sea Bass both small and large and lots of hungry Bluefish to keep everyone on their toes. The action continued throughout the day and some anglers would land well into double digits with Sea Bass up to four pounds and several big Blues to help fill up the coolers. By the way the Deer hunting was great also!

I’m back at the grind today 11/14 and The Tog were once again on the menu. On today’s trip we were off to a decent start with these fish with some guys landing as many as four or five nice keepers before 10:30. As luck would have it the best bite was early on and as the flood tide broke down they seemed to go on break and hopes of an afternoon bite were spoiled by wind against the tide which made anchoring difficult and had the boat laying 90 degrees to the anchor. We did wind up landing several more decent fish however no big day. High hooks would fall just shy of the 10 per man limit and a couple discouraged anglers barely had anything to show for their efforts. Tog fishing can certainly test your patience while waiting out the bites and sometimes Mother Nature just has better plans for conserving her resources with conditions we just can’t control.

Striper fishing has shown some real good signs of improvement over the past seven days. Fish in the twenty to thirty pound class have been frequenting the docks just recently. Striper fishermen have also been tormented with some big Bluefish mixed in with the Stripers migrating around the mouth of the Bay. Our Striper boat has been plagued with a lack of sponsorship so far this fall but we will continue to try and run with just a handful of patrons on a nice day. Fortunately we don’t have to travel too far to get in on the best Striper action so we can run with the bare minimum crowd when just a few folks show up.

Here is the way it’s going to shake out; I will continue to run All-Day trips fishing over wrecks for either Sea Bass or Tautog daily until November 19th. After that I will run just Fridays through Mondays until the tenth of December. We also have one more 10-hour Tog trip scheduled for the 21st of November that will require reservations. All-Day wreck trips will depart the docks at 7:00 a.m. and return close to 4:00 we will be fishing for Sea Bass or Tautog. Striper Fishing will also sail daily at 8:00 a.m. this too is an all-day trip and will return around 4:00. We will continue the twelve-hour wreck trips on Saturdays until further notice. As soon as the schedule for the winter wreck trips becomes available I will post it.

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

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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