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Fisherman's Wharf Fishing Report

Fisherman's Wharf Fishing Report May 13th, 2014

A lot has changed since my last report, the weather has been more in our favor, the water temperatures have been on the rise very nicely, and just about anything that you would expect to fish for and to catch at this time of the year has been pleasing anglers now for well over a week. Flounder, Sea Trout, Tautog, Sea Bass and Drumfish are all now abundant in our area and ready to take a baited hook. Of course Tog season just closed and unless your under a special circumstance you're not allowed to catch the Sea Bass until Monday May 19th.

My part time job that I mostly had this past spring became a little more frequent as we approached the closure to the Tautog season this past Sunday. I actually got to fish for nine out of ten days in a row taking advantage of the spring Tog run and landing some of the biggest fish of the spring and being able to land limit catches for just about everyone that made the trip with us over the last couple of weeks. I actually lost count of the citation sized fish that we have landing along with countless fat females that we released and returned to the bottom with hopes of catching a nicer fish or perhaps a big male fish as we culled through the many blackfish to get our limits. If you were thinking about going Togging last week and decided not to, you made a mistake.

We saw good action with the Tautog right up until the very last day. Even though we threw a lot of legal fish back it got to the point where I was feeling kind of sorry for these fish because they were so heavy into the spawn and it was always an unwritten law that we just wouldn't target the spawning Tog at this time of the year. A lot of time has passed and a lot has certainly changed since the old timers that once strictly adhered to this thinking and ultimately frowned upon anyone that went against it, was the norm. Now with all the regulations that we have in play the Tautog have had more pressure on them throughout the year than they have ever had especially in the spring of the year when we are left with little else to legally catch. As much as I wish the seasons were a little different allowing us to fish more days for them, I am happy that they can now safely eat a crab and spawn in peace. We will try for them again in the fall.

With the tog season closed and the Sea Bass season not opening until this coming Monday it looks like I'm back to a part time job again sitting at the dock on a picture perfect day. Maybe I will grab some bait and head to the beach! Drumfish, Sea Trout , Stripers, Kingfish , and even some Croakers have all been pulled in by anglers fishing in the surf recently. The Drum have been in the shallows like never before on both sides of the Delaware Bay and there has been a few decent Stripers as well. Trout and Flounder have been in skinny waters of the canal and around the inlets and the pier and there has also been some taken from around the breakwaters very recently. Over the next few days if we are lucky enough to get a few willing anglers it is likely that we will target either the Flounder or the Drum with the all day trips heading a little further offshore. I am hoping for some nice conditions and a few folks this weekend so I can run to the old grounds and try and catch some of the Flounder that have already shown up in the deep rocky bottom.

On Monday we will be back hard at it with all efforts on catching Sea Bass. The Bass have been on the move now for more than a couple of weeks and should be ready to bite as soon as we get our baits in front of them. There will be two boats running out of the Wharf on Monday, I will be running the regular full day trip departing at 7:00 a.m. And Capt. H.D. will be running a special extended hour trip also departing the dock at 7:00 A.M. Both trips will be primarily targeting the Sea Bass but the special trip will be fishing a little deeper water and could possibly see some Red Hake or "ling".

The outlook is very promising to say the least for fishing in the upcoming weeks. With the water temperatures now right about where we expect to see them this time of the year it should be easy to scrape up a few Sea Bass and the Drum fishing is red hot right now and should remain this way for several more weeks. We will be running an open boat for Drumfish this weekend on both Friday and Saturday evenings. Other than the Flounder we may target this weekend with the Sea Bass season closed, I would expect to start targeting the Flatties sometime in June depending on how good the Sea Bass fishing is once the season opens. Some years we have the Bass well into June and even into July however the past three or four years we have switched to primarily Flounder by mid June. We are also accepting reservations for small charters with the Drum fishing over the next few weeks as well as bottom fishing for the Sea Bass if a private charter is your thing.

Full Day Trips depart at 7:00 a.m. and we generally return to the dock around 4:00. We will also try to Half-Day trips this weekend departing at 8:00 a.m. and then again at 1:00 p.m. Drum trips will depart around 6:00 p.m. There is a complete list of special trips on our website including several 10 hour trips for Sea Bass over the next few weeks as well as the deep drop trips that will target Tilefish and possibly Sea Bass both. Remember the long range trips are strictly reservations in advance. If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to book a private charter or reserve space on an upcoming special trip please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Time Happy Fishing!

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

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