The summer season has changed and we are now officially into our daily fall wreck fishing routine. Even though Mother Nature has continued with more of her cruel tricks we have managed to have some pretty good fall fishing over the past week and the Sea Bass as well as a nice variety of other fish have been biting good and filling up our buckets.

Every trip last week we saw fairly decent catches with mostly Sea Bass along with a bonus catch of Trigger Fish, Snapper Blues, Flounder, and a few Porgies, we even caught a few Croakers over the weekend. The Sea Bass have most certainly taken center stage now with catches that range anywhere from just a handful of keepers to our top hooks landing as many as twenty or more nice Bass every day. Action has been extraordinary with constant bites and catching fish on nearly every stop. While the bulk of these Bass are still falling about an inch or so shy of the minimum size limit of 12 1/2 inches there is still a real good number of keepers coming over the rail with Sea Bass as big as two and three pounds. With a little patience, lots of bait and lots of measuring these fish have been adding up for most anglers by the end of the day.

Our fishing has been a little different so far since we started anchoring over the structures. Normally when anchoring for the Bass when we first drop back over the wreck or a certain part of the reef the fish will come as soon as the lines hit the bottom and generally the biggest ones will bite first. While I have seen this exact scenario play out a few times of late, most times it starts out a little different. The way it seems to be working now is when we first anchor over these clouds of fish the masses of little Bass aggressively take over the baits, the longer we sit the more the keepers start to add up. Its almost like the keepers have been coming in waves and they will test your patience at first thinking there is nothing coming up but small fish until the bigger fish begin to add up. While this can be most frustrating catching mostly shorts, the action is good and the fish have been constantly coming up. There has rarely been a dull moment.

The variety of fish has also helped to keep things interesting for everyone. Last week alone we landed more Triggerfish than I have seen landed on my all-day trips in quite some time. Some of these pool winning Triggers where over three and four pounds with the biggest one landed last week tipping the scale at just shy of five pounds! We also saw quite a few Flounder landed recently however most of the flatties fell short of the required size limit and we only tallied a handful of keepers for the entire week. One trip over the weekend we caught eleven different species of fish in one day including a citation sized Croaker, a pool winning Little Tunny, and big Porgy that would also weigh in at over three pounds! Variety catches like this are very typical for this time of the year and we should continue to see a little mix of fish while anchored over these wrecks for a few more weeks as the masses of fish migrate along our Coast.

The outlook for our fall fishing season is good right now. I anticipate continued success catching Sea Bass anchoring over wrecks and reefs for several more weeks well within the range of my all-day trips. Right now the Sea Bass are what I would call inshore and we should be able to work on them relatively close throughout October and November. We also now have the option of fishing for the Tautog on days that the weather is just too bad to make the trip for the Bass or we have just a few folks show up for the outing. Most of our Bass fishing will be between ten and twenty miles from the beach while our Tog fishing will be closer to home anchoring in the Bay or near the mouth of the Bay also fishing over wrecks and reefs. As the season progresses and the water begins to cool down the Tog fishing will only get better.

I will continue running seven days a week with the All-Day open boat until about the second week in November when we drop back to just four days a week bunching up the trips until our regular season ends in December. All-Day trips are scheduled to depart the docks at 7:00 a.m. and we generally hit the docks sometime around 4:00 p.m. We will be fishing primarily over wrecks and reefs for Sea Bass and Tautog. Striper fishing will start in a couple of weeks running daily from the Wharf at 8:00 a.m. and also returning at around 4:00. No reservations are necessary for our Striper trips however it is suggested that you call in advance so we can give you an idea what to expect before you make the trip. Our best Striper action the last couple of years has not been until the water has cooled down below that magic sixty degree mark and right now the water temperatures are still hovering around seventy. I will post any Striper catching updates here as they happen.

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

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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