March winds continued into April causing yet another cancellation of our long-range trip this past weekend but we were still able to get away from the docks a couple times to fish inshore for the Tog.

As the weekend approached it was apparent the offshore trip would not go anywhere with the given forecast. We did make an attempt inshore Saturday morning with a small group of hearty fisherman, and with conditions that were really not that bad from early on, we gave the Tog a try close to home. The fish won this battle in a big way we never even landed one fish. By midday with the winds clocking in excess of 25 knots and gusts of well over 30 coupled with an ever increasing wave height and apparent lack of biting fish, I decided to pull the plug. We were back at the dock by 1:00 with our Skunk flag flying high in the wind!

With a moderating forecast for Sunday we gave it another shot only this time the fish cooperated and we caught some! The Tog actually bit quite well on a couple of stops and we managed to put together a nice little trip with these crafty bottom dwellers. Even though the keeper to throw back ratio in my book was lousy with too many shorts, the action was fairly decent at times and by days end there were quite a few keeper fish spread around the boat.

The wind dropped out even better than we had hoped on Sunday and other than some typically strong running currents in the mouth of the Bay conditions were very favorable to look around and try to find some fish. I fished several different wrecks from about 40 to nearly 100 feet of water and actually caught a few fish on just about every stop. There was just one problem; most of our action was with fish that were falling short of our minimum size limit of fifteen inches. Persistent anglers did wind up catching more than enough keepers for supper and somehow we even managed a couple limits at the rail and we even saw our first few inshore keeper Sea Bass landed for the 09’ season one of these Bass would weigh in at over three and a half pounds! Don’t get too excited with the inshore Sea Bass just yet though, remember the definition of “a few”. We had three keeper Bass and a handful of shorts, but with the calendar saying just April 5th I’ll take these early scouts as a good sign for what lies ahead!

Water temperatures are most defiantly warming up now, I saw a steady 46 degrees as far as 14 miles off the coast and surface temperatures as warm as 49 degrees right in the mouth of the Delaware Bay. Along with these warming temperatures some fish seem to be on the move. I am getting more and more confirmed reports of fish being caught in several different locations both hook and line as well as commercially. The first few Flounder have been taken by rod and reel in the traditional early spots and it seems like one of the best early starts for Stripers in several years with numbers of these Linesiders having been landed so far that will cause your eyebrows to rise and your pulse to quicken! Get your group together and book a trip it almost sounds like itÂ’s too easy to catch a Striper right now.

In the weeks ahead we will undoubtedly be seeing some good fishing for both Tautog and the Stripers and I will be willing to bet that we hear of the first big Drumfish landed hook and line in the next couple of weeks. I will resume with the daily schedule for the regular All-Day trips on Tuesday April 21st until then it will just be FridayÂ’s through MondayÂ’s trying to bunch up the anglers. We will continue to fish over wrecks concentrating on Tautog and I expect to start seeing some good numbers of Sea Bass as we begin rolling into May. All-Day trips will depart the docks at 7:00 a.m. and we usually return around 4:00 p.m. While reservations are not required it is still a good idea to call or email before you make the drive so we can give you any updates with the weather and the fishing conditions.

We still have several dates planned for the Long-Rang Sea Bass and Tilefish trips, there is a complete list of dates posted on the special trip link from the home page at fishlewes.com remember reservations in advance are required for these offshore adventures as space is limited. Some of our best Tile fishing last spring was during the months of April and May and these trips will continue to be your best bet for the Sea Bass for a few more weeks. We are also booking reservations now for the Lewestown Lady for both Striper and Drum trips as well as bottom fishing for this spring.

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 space for one of the special trips please give the office a call at (302) 645-TUNA.

Until Next Week Happy Fishing!

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