Despite some wind, rain and at one point a whole lot of wind, we actually made it away from the docks three of our scheduled four days this past weekend. Tautog was at the top of the menu and while it wasnÂ’t the easiest of fishing at times, we ended up with a fairly decent catch of nice sized Tautog on each trip.

We started out early Friday with no wind and virtually slick flat seas. That morning would be the nicest conditions we saw that day and also the last time all weekend that the surface of the water wasnÂ’t covered up with white caps! The Tog bit pretty well too Friday morning, a few anglers made quick work of their spring limits before conditions changed and the fish seemed to shut off as the day progressed. Oddly enough Shrimp seemed to be the bait of choice on Friday, at least until we ran out. We did catch fish on both clams and crabs but a couple guys had brought along some shrimp and for a time it was most definitely working better than anything else.

Saturdays trip we had equal results with the fish only this time, with no Shrimp on board the Clam was the ticket. We did see fish caught with the Crab, in fact a few of the bigger Tog fell to the crustaceans all three days, but with the cooler water still on bottom it seems as though the soft baits are getting bit more frequently and more aggressively than the harder Crab baits. This is not at all uncommon for this time of the year and I expect that as the water warms up the Crabs that live around these structures we are fishing will become more active making them more of a likely target meal for the hungry Tog. We will have both Crabs and Clams on the boat every day but no guarantees on the Shrimp so if your local grocery store has them on sale by all means pick up a few if your planning on fishing in the next few weeks it could make a difference.

Both Friday and Saturdays trips saw some moderate winds. We had southerly on Friday and northeast and east on Saturday with plenty of rain. Both days the winds were in the ten to twenty knot categories and blew against the tide at some point during the day. Sundays trip however was a different story altogether. North and then northwest winds blew with a vengeance and had we not been fishing so close to home and actually catching a few fish it would have been very unlikely that we would have ever made the day. The wind was directly against the tide in excess of 25 knots for a few hours Sunday morning making conditions about as miserable as they can get while fishing for Tog. A few anglers certainly had their limit early on Sunday, but IÂ’m not talking about limit of fish! While the wind never really slacked off at all on Sunday the tide did become favorable around mid-day. Hearty anglers wound up catching a limit of Tog biggest of which was nearly nine pounds by days end with the average fish weighing in around three to four pounds.

Anyone that fished with me this past weekend knows all too well just how tough conditions got at times with the wind and strong currents. Catching Tog in these conditions is a true task for even the best and the heartiest of anglers. These fish are hard enough to catch given even the nicest of days with optimum conditions. It does seem like there are a few around to be able to catch them in conditions like we had this past weekend, and I think we should be able to do fairly well with these Tog in the next few weeks. Water temperatures have risen a little since my last weeks report especially in the Bay even with all the wind and chop; I saw surface temperatures as warm as 49.7 degrees over the weekend. They are still hovering around 46.5 degrees out in the Ocean.

There is still no good word on the Mackerel my last Intel had some of these fish as far as 120 miles from Lewes and out in the deep waters near the canyons to our north. It is unlikely that we will see any MackÂ’s again this spring but it canÂ’t hurt to hold on to hope. I will certainly keep you posted if something changes. The Striper fishery is still going strong up in the Delaware Bay with good numbers of these fish reported hook and line daily. Sea Bass should be starting to trickle a little closer to the beach every day now, I actually saw a few little Bass caught over the weekend again right in the mouth of the Delaware Bay along with the Tog and on Friday we caught our first keeper Flounder for the 2009 season. Your best bet on the Sea Bass will continue to be the Long-Range trips for a few more weeks. I usually begin seeing decent numbers of Sea Bass inshore around the first couple weeks of May, seldom any earlier than that not in any great numbers anyway.

Starting this Friday we will resume with our daily schedule for the Full-Day trips departing the docks at 7:00 a.m. and returning around 4:00 p.m. These trips will be wreck trips anchor-fishing for primarily Tautog for at least a couple more weeks before we begin to see any good numbers with the Sea Bass. We do have more Long-Range trips scheduled the next one is for this Saturday 4/18 and there is a list of other dates on the special trip link from the home page. Reservations are required for these special trips.

If You would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to make a reservation or book a private charter please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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