Not the most exciting weekend here at the Wharf however we did manage to get out three of our four scheduled days with small crowds and the tog fishing while certainly less than spectacular, for the most part was what I would have to call pretty decent.
While we never really saw too much wind over the weekend the forecasted small craft advisories for Saturday and Sunday must have scared the majority of folks that wanted to go fishing away. We went out each day with just the bare minimum size crowd we needed to run and the weather was nowhere near as bad as expected. With plenty of fresh bait and lots of anticipation we started out Friday morning with fifteen willing participants and an absolutely beautiful ocean to work with. Even though the bite was slow it was consistent and the fish started to add up by mid day. It was just pick fishing with nothing fast and furious but there were a few decent fish of around five and six pounds popping up and enough bites and throwbacks to keep it interesting. By the end of the trip all but just a few anglers would catch their allotment of tog and we once again saw a few keeper cod and even a couple Flounder in the mix for supper.
Saturday would start out as "one of those days" and would finish that way too. Winds were forecast to blow around twenty out of the northwest most of the day and it was going to be against the tide all morning. Anchoring was a challenge and the fish just didn't seem to want to cooperate, with only nine hearty souls on deck it was a painstaking battle trying to get a few fish to add up. It never really happened Saturday and despite several decent fish being landed and Murph of course putting on a fish catching clinic, (he said it was his first time) I proclaimed the tog to be the winner of that battle!
Sunday saw a similar forecast and another small sized crowd. We actually saw more wind on Sundays trip than the previous day and once again it would be against the tide for the better part of the day. These conditions as some of you know all too well are less than ideal for staying located over a wreck with a big boat. There was a period of time Sunday that I thought I couldn't anchor over a wreck if it was sticking out of the water. Conditions did improve as the day progressed, the boat stayed anchored, and the fish bit better than they did the previous two days allowing limit catches again for just about everyone in tune with the bite. Nobody wanted to go out and play on Monday so we sat tied fast to the dock shucking clams and wishing we were fishing. We give it a go again on Friday.
The four day a week schedule we have been relying on so far this year in theory has bunched up the folks to those four days and bettered our chances at getting out when you make the trip. With the exception of one weekend we continue to run with very small crowds every day making for very comfortable head boat trips. We will continue with this schedule until after the first weekend in May when we will resume fishing seven days a week. I plan on fishing for the Tautog until the closure on the eleventh of May so if you want a shot at these fish you have just a few more weeks and that's it for the Tog until the Fall. There will be a week and a half after May 11th before the Sea Bass season opens up where we will be targeting Black Drum with the All-Day trips. I am actually looking foreword to these trips, the way the Drum fishery has been the last several years the daytime bite has been red hot and we will be right at prime time to take advantage of catching these Delaware Bay Dinosaurs for several days. It is also possible that we may see some Stripers Blues or Fluke on these trips it should be a lot of fun.
Our Sea Bass season will open up on Saturday May 22nd and it should be a grand opener. I fully anticipate some excellent fishing for these fish right out of the gate. I will be sailing with the regular All-Day head boat trips daily departing at 7:00 a.m. and returning to the docks around 4:00 p.m.
We will be strictly fishing for Sea Bass anchoring over shipwrecks, rocks, and artificial reefs. We will also be running several long range trips starting on the same day. Long Range trips will depart at 2:00 a.m. and will return around 6:00 that evening. These deep drop trips will target Jumbo Seas Bass and Tilefish. Advanced reservations for these special trips are required as space is limited. Boarding will be in the order of reservations made about an hour before departure. There is a complete list of dates for these trips on our special trip link from the home page at fishlewes.com and reservations can only be made by calling (302) 645-TUNA.
For the most part Mother Nature has been fairly kind to us so far this spring and hopefully this trend will continue on into the summer months. Water temperatures continue to rise normally and fish are migrating both right on and even ahead of schedule. I have been getting reports of some spectacular early season Flounder fishing in the skinny waters of Rehoboth Bay and also along the Lewes Rehoboth Canal. Bluefish seem to be everywhere migrating along the coast right now about four miles off the beach chasing schools of baitfish, and the first of undoubtedly many more Drumfish have been hitting the docks in the past few days. We will be seeing some good fishing in the next several weeks!
If you would like any more information about trips sailing out of the Wharf or you would like to reserve space on one of the long range trips or book a private charter please give us a call at (302) 645-TUNA.
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