Since Monday was officially our last day for the regular 2007 season this is going to be a basic what happened and what might happen report. I had hoped to go out with a bang this weekend but I really can’t say that a bang would describe production for my last three trips. I can say however that I think we went out in style!

My Friday’s trip was scrubbed for lack of sponsorship. I had all the snow and ice cleaned up off of the deck but not enough people wanted to go out and play in the cold weather on Friday. The Striper boat sailed at eight but there would be no wreck trip on this day. Saturday we made it out with a nice group that really wanted to fish over wrecks for Bass and with the reports that I had it seemed as though pushing offshore for the Sea Bass might just be our best bet, it ended up being a good call. We stemmed the tide out 26 miles and as soon as I anchored just about every rod on the whole boat doubled over. Sounds good right? Well even though all the rods bowed over the majority of the fish brought up from 105 feet of water would end up falling short of the required 12-inch limit. We did weed through them though and on the first stop several anglers managed to land eight or ten decent keeper Bass. Nice start but still way too many throwbacks for most folks. I moved off just a little deeper to another wreck and once again every rod on the boat doubled over. This time we had doubles and triples of mostly short Bass but there was a little better keeper ratio coming up around the rail. We weeded through them and actually saw a few limits landed on Saturdays trip with some fish up to three pounds, but most anglers that were measuring close would only end up with ten to fifteen legitimate nice keeper fish and some with even less. We also had quite a few decent sized Blues mixed in on Saturday and even a bonus Flounder. With the nonstop fishing action, a beautiful ocean, and the Bluefin Tuna swimming all around the boat at times it was a pretty nice day but really not anything to brag about with keeper-sized fish.

Much to my regret I ended up pushing back offshore with our Sunday’s group. Most of the guys wanted Sea Bass and with the reports of Tog caught the last few days, again we made the thirty-mile run offshore opting for the action with the Bass. Our first stop as far as I was concerned was a clunker with basically all throwback stuff. There was a few quality fish landed but after the first forty minutes when I looked in some of the coolers I had a sick feeling in my stomach that they just weren’t going to add up. Some guys had two or three keepers and some had none. We really never stopped catching fish they just all fell short of the required 12 inches. I moved off a little deeper and the cull got a little better but I was still disappointed to say the least. Once again the bulk of the fish coming up would fall just short of the required 12 inches and have to be returned to the depths for another day. Top hooks would land well into double digits on Sunday but for the most part folks had a hard time finding fish that would make the grade. We did however have plenty of action all day with Bass, Blues and Spiny Dogs.

On Monday morning I wasn’t even sure if I would have enough willing anglers to get away from the dock. With the early morning rain it was looking grim early on however we managed to muster up eleven bottom bouncers that were ready for action by seven o’clock. I was actually looking foreword to not having to run the thirty miles offshore with this light crowd knowing the Tog would be the target species for our last run. Patience would be the word for the day. The Tog never really turned on so to say, however there were a couple guys that limited out with their ten fish and a few others that would be close. All tolled we ended up with a little over sixty Tog for our eleven anglers with the biggest at about nine pounds. We went out in style!

Not much going on at the Wharf here of late. Capt. H just brought back the Thelma Dale V from the boat yard in Jersey with a new fresh coat of bottom paint and we are anxiously awaiting the first 18hr. trip in January for the Jumbos. We do have a 12hr. wreck trip scheduled for this Saturday and we have a couple of Striper charters over the next few days. Stripers were hit and miss again last week as schools of fish migrated through the mouth of the Bay. Still the best Striper action of the late season with numbers of fish both caught and landed. This action will likely continue well into the New Year. If you are interested in Striper fishing please give us a call it is possible that we may be going a few more times when the weather is good we just need the people. It is also possible to get together a charter or make up trip on a smaller boat if you are interested. Other than that it is pretty much a wrap for this year.

I will post any updates here as far as special trips or any Tog trips that we might run early next year. Check our special trip link from the home page at fishlewes.com for the dates on the 18 hr. wreck trips.

Until Next Time Happy Holidays and Happy Fishing!

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