Fishing Report

The 2011 calendar is coming to an end, and it appears that striper catches in the Bay are winding down too. Fishing was good the week before Christmas, but not many bass were brought back in the past few days. Water temperature is down to 45 degrees. Yesterday, the Lil' Angler II returned with a pair of keepers caught on eels east of The Valley. Herky Billings trolled up 5 rock at Overfalls, but only one was legal. John Hazzard and Kyle Hamilton had one nice striper about 24 pounds. Many other crews came in fishless. There are still reports of striped bass moving south along the New Jersey coast, but whether or not they'll hook into the Bay depends on conditions. They should bite bait and artificials until the water hits 40 degrees.

Tog will likely cooperate in the Bay for a little while longer, then the Ocean becomes a better bet. Cod have been making quite a comeback, and anglers targeting them this winter should find success. Amanda and I are heading to the Florida Keys New Years Day. We spend most of the year making sure everybody else goes fishing, and we look forward to finally getting in some time on the water for ourselves. We'll hopefully have some fish pictures to share through our website photo gallery. Be on the lookout! Thanks so much to all our customers and everyone who stayed tuned to the Report this season. Here's wishing you lots of fun fishing experiences in the New Year!

It's beginning to look a lot like rockfish for Christmas. Now that we're officially into winter, Striper catches have still been as good as, if not better than they've been all fall. Seems like those fish that were taking their time moving down the Jersey coast are finally filtering into Delaware Bay. Fishing pressure has been light, due to Holiday obligations for many anglers, but those who ventured out in the last few days were rewarded with some great action. Yesterday morning, Captain Carey Evans called me from the Grizzly, already on his way home. He had his limit of 20 fish by 9:30 am.

He said the bite was on fire during the ebb tide at Overfalls, and there were hardly any other boats around. The bass weren't concentrated in just one spot, and Carey mentioned they made long drifts over the shoals. There must have been plenty of stripers in the area. Most of the fish ate live spot, but others fell for eels as well. Carey told me they released some nice ones too. The last one they let go weighed 26 pounds. The day before, Tuesday, Captain Chet's bassers on the Lil' Angler brought back 10 quality rock in the 15 to 20 pound range. Hale Bennett, Ashley Farren and Captain Dave Potter trolled Stretch 25 plugs at Overfalls for their limit of linesiders. The largest was Ashley's 23.6 pound trophy.

The majority of stripers caught in recent days have been keeper sized. Last week, there were many sub legal sized bass around, and normally, there are a lot of resident shorts this time of year. But it's likely the larger fish are part of the group still migrating through. In addition to live baits and trolled plugs, these fish respond well to bucktail jigs. Adding wiggle to the lures makes them even more attractive. Threading on a Skippyfish, Gulp! Sinking Minnow or Culprit worm does the trick. There should be fine striper fishing into the New Year. Tautog action remained good as blackfish stage on wrecks at the Bay mouth. On an early week trip, Captain Pete on Top Fin had a regular group that took home over 50 tog. Captain Carey's guys on the Grizzly also had 50 plus keepers that same day.

Best wishes for a Fishy Christmas!

After a little lull in striped bass catching, action perked up as more migratory fish from up north moved into the area. It seems like fresh groups push into the Bay for a few days, then swim on to be replaced by more. The new fish have been carrying lots of hitchhiking sea lice. Most bass now are of a smaller size class than earlier in the run. Many are shy of minimum length, and a majority of keepers are in the low 30 inch range. Although, an occaisonal lunker still hits the dock. Ron Mistretta muscled in a 35.1 pounder at 8 Buoy on the Katy Did. Kory Moore's first striper was a good one, weighing in at 33.3 pounds. With water temps near 50 degrees and flirting with the 40's, rockfish have been responding well to bucktail jigs.

You'd think with colder water, fish would prefer a slower moving live bait, but this time of year, artificials get a lot of attention. Dave Walker, Brent Wiest and Chris Van had 30 rock while tossing bucktail jigs tipped with Skippyfish at Overfalls and 8B Buoy on Tuesday. They managed to cull their limit of 6 keepers. Bass fishermen aboard Katy Did Monday bucktailed 13 keepers. However, eels and spot still get bit, especially in deeper water. Captain Ted's bassers aboard the Angler had all keeper sized stripers up to 25 pounds while drifting eels in The Valley yesterday, December 14th. Trollers towing Stretch 25 plugs on the 12 foot hill at Overfalls continued to capture fish too. With moderate weather, striper fishing should hold up through the end of the month. The tautog bite has been good too. Blackfish have been staging on wrecks at the Bay mouth.

Toggers aboard the Angler did well Tuesday, returning with 70 chunky keepers. Captain Pete anchored Top Fin at the Wall Tuesday for nice batch of tog, including Bruce Min's 9.62 pounder. Pete worked a wreck Wednesday for 40 more keepers.

Slower currents and decent water quality set the stage for some good tautog action this past week. Water temperatures remain in the low 50's, and Delaware Bay artificial reefs continue to give up tog. Sites 6, 7 and 8 have been productive.

Captain Chet's toggers on Lil' Angler II took home over 20 keepers Friday, among which were a 7.35 pounder for Mike Piasecki, and a 7.9 pound citation for Dennis Reardon. There was a hot bite on the Star Site Sunday. Tog fishermen on the Lil' Angler II brought in 62 chunky blackfish. Mike Crouse captured a 7.43 pounder, Joe Pergeorelis put an 8.23 in the box, and Doug Mickowski muscled in an 8.5 pounder. Tog sharpies aboard the Grizzly had their 50 quality fish limit by noon. Mo Wilson wrestled a 10.75 pounder, Robert Wilson wound in a 10.25, and Maurice Wilson managed an 8.75 pound tautog. Martha Marie's gang got a nice mess of tog, including Captain Les Clemmer's 8.19 pounder. Corey Newkirk nailed a 9.21 pounder at Site 8 aboard Katy Did. On Monday, the crew aboard Katy Did was togging again, and returned with 46 keepers, including Joe Walker's 6.16 pounder. The Lil' Angler II came in with 32 blackfish. The Grizzly got 30 tog, with two citations over 7 pounds. Top Fin's toggers kept 16 nice fish, and patrons on the Angler had good success Monday, with some individual limits on the boat.

Ocean tog fishing was good too, with nice catches on Site 11. Boaters traveling off to Site 11 encountered large schools of bluefish and stripers under birds, between the shipping channel and the reef. Fish were caught by casting bucktails and metal jigs, or trolling Stretch plugs. Remember that any rockfish caught in Federal waters must be released. Wreck fishing for sea bass is shaping up in deeper water. Fares with Captain H.D. Parsons had numerous knothead bass to over 6 pounds during a 12 hour trip to a snag in 160 feet Saturday. Several slammer bluefish and cod came over the rail as well. Richard Adams reeled in a 12 pound codfish. Striper catches at the Bay mouth fell off some over the weekend, but it's likely we're in between batches of fish. There has been a mass of bass moving down the coast, and hopefully conditions will be favorable for them to hook into the Bay before continuing south. Some sizeable stripers are still hanging around. Tom Lenhard landed a 35.7 pounder in The Valley Monday aboard the Adventurer. Seth Hetherington hooked a 36.2 pounder Monday with an eel at 8B buoy.

There's been a good bucktail bite recently, but the vast majority of striped bass in the area right now are shy of the 28 inch minimum length. Dave and Joe Walker, and Brent Wiest released about a dozen bass, and kept 4 plus a big blue while tossing jigs tipped with Skippyfish tails at 8B just before dark Tuesday.

Bay water temps are finally starting to drop through the mid 50's. Tautog action has been up and down with changing conditions, but there have been some decent catches off the Star Reef and the Brown Shoal Reefs. Daniel Caldwell decked a 9.7 pound citation tog at the Star Site aboard the Pirate King II. The Walls and Ice Breakers also gave up fish on days when the water was clean, and the current wasn't smokin'. Chris Dawson happened to be at the Outer Wall when things were right, and was rewarded with the tog of a lifetime.

On Sunday, Chris wrestled a 19.7 pounder, and won! The 30 incher ate a "white legger" crab at the elbow, and was the heaviest blackfish we've had checked in at Lewes Harbour Marina so far this year. Striper fishermen were out en force over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend because of the nice weather and reports of good catching. The Lewes launch ramp was very busy. Trailers were parked out onto Pilottown Road, and returning boats were lined up all the way to the inlet. It was reminiscent of the good old days of sea trout fishing in the early 80's. The heavy boat traffic seemed to put off the bite somewhat, but those who got on the grounds early did ok. On Saturday, Captain Brent's bassers aboard Katy Did had 10 quality keepers while drifting eels and spot on Overfalls. Most of those fish were in the box before 8 am. Captain Carey's guys on Grizzly had 7 keeper stripers, including Ron Allen's 33 pounder. Herb Guest got a 25.9 pound rock at Overfalls. Drew Ambler landed a 24.9 pounder. Matt Hete drifted an eel at 8A Buoy for his 30.1 pound citation striper. Chuck Flickinger was eeling on Overfalls when he connected with a 36.5 pound trophy. David Biles boated a 34.9 pound linesider at Overfalls, and Kurt Wilber worked The Eights for a 35 pound citation winner. Although live bait fishing has become more popular in past weeks, trollers pulling Stretch and Bomber plugs continue to catch their share. Bucktailers have been taking bass as well. RJ Gooner was trolling at Brown Shoal when he landed stripers weighing 16.6 and 18.3 pounds. Kevin Parker and his crew iced a limit of linesiders to 27 pounds by drifting eels at Brown Shoal Saturday morning.

It sounds like there are still a lot of stripers moving south along the Jersey beaches. The bulk of migratory bass have yet to move into Delaware Bay, and hopefully conditions will be such that they get pushed in for more great fishing though the next few weeks.