Well after a rocky start to the month of September we have finally gotten a well deserved break where the winds and seas have calmed out enough to make it pleasurable out on the water again! Mother Nature gave us several blows earlier this month but since my last report we are finally getting back into the swing of things, the program has changed, and we are once again putting fish in the boat.

We had a phenomenal summer season catching mostly Flounders and it will undoubtedly go down in the record books as a season to remember. Unfortunately it seems that we had just too many back to back weather systems recently and the masses of Flounder that we had been seeing, have for the most part now migrated away from our reach. I'm going to miss them it was sure fun while it lasted. There are still a lot of Flounder around but they are just not bunched up enough for us to try and work on just them. Hence the change of program; the first couple of days that the wind took a break we gave drifting an honest effort and we did manage to catch a few nice Flounder but just not enough. Sea Bass are now at the top of the menu!

I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago how we had been seeing more and more Bass and recently this trend has continued on enough so that now they have become our primary target and we will most likely continue fishing for the Bass finishing out our regular season fishing over shipwrecks and artificial reef structure until we eventually start seeing the Tog. Over the past seven days our Sea Bass fishing has just gotten better and better and the numbers of keepers have been increasing just about every trip. Along with our Bass we have also been seeing a nice variety catch with Triggerfish, Blue Fish both small and large and we are even starting to see a few Porgies in the mix. There has also only been one day where we did not see at least one keeper Flounder landed. Fall Wreck fishing has officially begun!

Water temperatures have definitely taken a dip. For the most part now we are seeing steady surface temperatures at around seventy degrees. Cooler nights and a little less sunshine with the shorter days are the primary cause for the gradual cool down. The water is also finally starting to clear up after all the hard wind that we had earlier in the month. For days we could hardly see what we were catching until it broke the surface. Now we can see nearly twenty feet down again. This has been a pleasant change after all the cloudy water we had been experiencing. There have been times in the last couple days we were seeing schools of Triggers and Jacks swarming around the boat several feet below the surface while anchored.

I have been anchor fishing now daily for about a solid week and with the success we have seen I think our drifting days have just about ended for this year, the anchor has been the way to go. Our fishing has been fast and furious several times with Sea Bass. Unfortunately the vast majority of these fish still don't make the minimum size limit of 12 1/2 inches but by days end most anglers have had sore arms and more than enough for supper. Through most of the week many anglers would wind up with close to a double digit catch of keeper Bass and as the week ended top hooks would be in the mid to upper teens and a few cases more with nice Bass. There are still a few that wonder what they are doing wrong plagued with the throwback syndrome but the keepers have definitely been adding up for some folks by days end. I fully anticipate continued success with these Bass for several more weeks and it is nice to see the variety catch with the Triggers and the occasional Flattie to keep it interesting. If you are looking for limits of Sea Bass I don't think I can help you that seems like the Holy Grail but if you are looking to catch a lot of Sea Bass and maybe a chance at a Flounder or Trigger and a few suppers or maybe more this is the time to come!

We have dropped back to just four days a week now with the Half-Day trips now sailing just Friday through Mondays two trips a day. Half day trips have still been enjoying good Croaker action with mixy size Croaks up to about fifteen or sixteen inches with the average fish about a foot long. I will continue running Full-Day trips daily sailing at 7:00 a.m. and we will be anchor fishing over wrecks now on a daily basis. We also have several long range trips including overnight Tuna Trips. If you are interested in a long range trip check out the dates on the special trip link from our home page and call for availability. If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or youo 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 V
catchfish@verizon.net