One of the toughest things about Mackerel season is knowing that at any time the run can be over. I guess this is the case with just about any fish that has the ability to swim as fast as the Mackerel can swim, but for some reason it seems as though with the Mack’s, it’s almost like the great disappearing act right before your eyes!

Last week would go down as one of the best weeks that we have had on Mackerel in the past few years but it came to an abrupt halt on Sunday. After loading up and coming in early several days last week including both Friday and Saturday, Sunday’s trip was a major disappointment for everyone on board. Especially me! I think there were only four Mack’s caught and one lucky angler had caught three of them at one time.

The fishing had been nothing short of spectacular just about all week. Each day the fish were moving closer to the beach and were showing up better and better on our fish finding equipment however after the hard southerly breeze on Saturday the fat lady sang the tune. It’s officially over. Hopefully we will continue to see what seems to be a trend of more and more Mackerel showing up every year, and we will once again be able to catch them the way we did in the glory years before the big “commercial biomass reduction” of the early nineties.

Just about all of our efforts will now be concentrated on Wreck fishing for Blackfish and Sea Bass. We will continue with our seven-day a week schedule sailing at 7:00 am with the All-Day boat. The Blackfish (Tautog) are biting exceptionally well now and it won’t be long before we should be able to put some good numbers of Sea Bass in the boxes as well. I have already heard of a few Bluefish showing up along the beachfront while anglers targeting Stripers have also been having very good success. As long as we can get a break from the weather pattern that we seem to be stuck in, things will happen fast. Water temperatures in the upper part of the Bay have been as high as 55 and 56 degrees on some of the sunny days, while Ocean temps have been running right around 51 degrees with an upward trend.

Even though we have had a shaky start this spring, fish are still on the move and I anticipate for the action to heat up fast with just a few sunny days. The gnats were out in full force at the dock this afternoon and this always signals that the fish are biting somewhere close! The gill netters have been seeing quite a few Trout up in the Bay and there are already reports of some Drumfish and Flounder having been landed by hook and line in our area. It’s time!

If you would like more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to make a reservation or book a charter please check out our website at fishlewes.com or give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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