The weather continues to be our biggest enemy here at the Wharf. In the past few weeks we have had more dock time than we have had fishing time with boats all tied up to their piers waiting for a break in the nonstop wind. When the wind does let up we have been able to see some very decent Tautog fishing.

Since the Sea Bass closure I can count my days on the water with just my fingers, it's hard to get away from the dock when the winds are in excess of 25 knots and we have certainly seen more than our fair share of just that. I did manage to get out a few days this past week and every trip met with a fairly good Tog bite. These fish have been the most active around the Breakwaters and some of the lighthouses close to shore mostly, however with the water temperatures starting to fall they are becoming a little more active around the wrecks and some of the artificial reefs now. Tog season is definitely in full swing as of right now and fortunately we can take advantage of these crafty bait robbers now that they are biting and we can also fish pretty close to home allowing us to run with a bare minimum amount of patrons at the rail!

Our regulations in Delaware for the Blackfish in the fall is a creel limit of ten fish per angler and they need to be at least fourteen inches in length, most anglers seem to be happy however catching just of few of these weighty fish. On the average so far our Tog have been from about three to five pounds and when they are biting the best we have also been seeing a good number of short fish but remember these fish generally start to get bigger as more and more fish move around with the cooler water temperatures. It is not uncommon to see Tog in double digits or more of weight during our fall fishery and we will be seeing plenty of them.

I have noticed about a five degree temperature drop since last week and surface temps seem to be holding right around 61 to 62 degrees right now in and around the mouth of the Delaware Bay. Striper activity is still limited to inlets and along the beachfront from the surf. There is some news of a few fish north of us starting to migrate along the coast but no news as of this post for the rips right out front between Lewes and Cape May. It's just a matter of time and I expect to see some of these big Linesiders landed in our area in the very near future. We will start running our open boat Striper trips as soon as the fish are here but for present time Tog are at the top of the menu.

As long as we can have some decent weather we should be seeing some outstanding fishing over the next several weeks. I will be concentrating on the Blackfish (or Tautog) sailing daily at 7:00 a.m. as I stated earlier we can run with a bare minimum crowd since they can be caught so close to home. Stripers are just around the corner and our Sea Bass season will reopen in less than two weeks.

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 a special trip, please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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