With water temperatures on the rise and some fairly decent weather for a change this has been the most active week at the Wharf for fishing so far this spring. Sea Bass, Tautog, Drumfish, and even some Flounder have been coming across the docks over the last several days.

Even though we havenÂ’t particularly seen a lot of the sun recently both the Bay and the Ocean surface temperatures are creeping up steady and with the Full moon tides nearing the weekend, not only were fish on the move but they were also biting! I was fortunate enough to fish five days in a row with the All-Day trips last week and for the most part we saw some pretty decent fishing.

Thursday with some bouncy morning swells and just a few folks on board we decided to fish primarily for the Tautog and had a great trip limiting out everyone including the crew with Tog up to eleven pounds, we even had a few Sea Bass in the mix. Friday morning was much nicer and in spite of somewhat of an iffy forecast the Ocean looked a lot like a mirror most of the day. Fishing a little further offshore on Friday and trying several different depths we had a nice mix with both Tautog and Sea Bass and by days end most anglers had a healthy cooler with some very impressive fish including several citation sized Sea Bass.

Naturally Saturday was a little different story; with a decent sized crowd and a fairly smooth Ocean I ventured back out to the Bass Grounds. Even though the fishing was what I would have to call good at times that old keeper to throwback ratio once again bit us in the butt and the keepers were spread thin. Anglers were kept busy nearly all day catching Sea Bass and just a few Tog however getting the keeper Bass was an issue. They did however add up for several patient anglers by the end of the day. Top hooks Saturday would land double-digits to mid teens with keeper sized Sea Bass however the majority of folks had much less and some anglers didnÂ’t have much to show at all by the end of the day for all of the fish that they had caught.

Sunday we were back on the Tog! With another small group of hearty anglers and a wind opposing a strong current we got off to a slow start, but as the tide dropped out and the wind settled down we made quick work of another full limit catch for the entire boat and crew with Tautog that would average nearly five pounds or more and the biggest of which was over ten. We also threw several big Tog back to fight again!

On Monday I ventured back out to the Bass grounds and decided to just grind it out with the throwbacks hoping that with a smaller crowd, the keepers would add up. Since it was the last day for the spring Tog season several fisherman stuck with just the crabs all day and were pleasantly rewarded with several tog that were all over five pounds and also plenty of action with the Sea Bass biting even on the Crab. Top hooks on Monday were once again in the mid teens with keeper sized Bass but there was a lot of measuring going on.

We certainly had a good last week with the Tautog and it will be painful to have to throw them back now that the season is closed however it does seem as though the Sea Bass are starting to show up in some pretty good numbers now around the wrecks and on the artificial reefs. The new size restriction is going to make it a little more difficult to get those big numbers of keepers to add up for us though IÂ’m afraid. There is no doubt that we will be seeing some nice sized Sea Bass in the upcoming weeks we have already seen several citation sized fish come over the rail. I do expect a lot more of these quality fish but also be prepared to see plenty of action with lots of little ones, as they seem to be everywhere.

With the regular all-day trips I will be strictly anchor fishing over wrecks and reefs for several more weeks fishing primarily for these Sea Bass. We should also start seeing a few Bluefish and Flounder mixed along with the catch in the next few weeks as the water continues to warm up. Ocean temperatures are now right around 54 degrees while the Delaware Bay is approaching 60 in some of the shallows. We did get out Drum fishing over the weekend but unfortunately the Drum decided to bite best in the day time hours and not at night like they typically do making for a few long nights for those that made the trips.

Remember All-Day trips depart the dock daily at 7:00 a.m. and we generally get back into the docks around 4:00. Half Day fishing will start in a few more weeks if you need a shorter trip. Our Drum trips will continue to sail both Friday and Saturday nights at 6:00 p.m. returning around 2:00 a.m. 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 a spot on one of the special trips please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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