VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

The four-day storm that slammed the Northeast also put the hammer on Virginia, knocking out any possibility of the weekly party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon on Saturday, said Capt. Skip Fuller from Rudee Inlet Charters. But the great news is that the forecast for this coming Saturday looked like a go, and the crew’s got two boats ready to roll. The weather this season back-logged so many anglers that both boats are expected to be used. The last trip looted lots of blueline tilefish, staying in shallower waters where they live, because of rough seas. But trips often also fish deeper waters for golden tilefish, snowy groupers and blackbelly rosefish. The trips, sailing 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday, are limited to 40 passengers per boat, costing only $170 per person, a great price for offshore angling. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

Boaters from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center caught no striped bass in the past week, but they continued belting bluefin tuna, and began to yank in bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna, Virginia Lawhorne said. That was apparently a wrap for the season’s striper fishing, and the fish must’ve started migrating north, after the first year in some time that the winter was cold enough to make the rockfish spend any substantial part of the season this far south. Boaters from the marina put a licking on them, big fish, including a new, 64-pound state record, for weeks. The tuna fishing was happening on schedule, and a healthy population of bluefins, sizeable tuna such as a 180-pounder docked Thursday, have held off the coast for weeks now, and the bigeyes and yellowfins just began to show up, as waters started to warm. A three-day storm kept boaters in port since the end of the week, but one crew motored out Monday, banging out bluefins and yellowfins. Winds 20 or 25 knots blew up 7- to 10-foot seas today. Visit Web Site.

Hatteras

Weather during the storm that pounded the East Coast forced the boat to be tied to the dock for the last days, said Capt. Bob Robinson from Fin Seeker Sport Fishing. But bluefin tuna were plundered previously, and a few bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, wahoos and a bunch of false albacore began to appear. Anglers aboard also made a few drops that pumped in groupers. Bluefins that were last caught included smaller ones than before, but most boats tackled a 100-plus-pounder per trip. The numbers of yellowfins, wahoos and also mahi mahi should increase as waters warm. Fin Seeker will keep after the big game and can also grouper fish. Today’s weather was supposed to remain sketchy, but Bob hoped trips would be able to run Wednesday through Sunday. Call: 757-618-7421. Visit Web Site.

Though no deluge of storms sat on Hatteras like up north, winds kept boaters from steaming out for tuna and big game, said Dave Hissey from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. When they last sailed from the marina last week, they had difficulty finding bluefin tuna they had lambasted before. But one crew located 150-pounders 30 miles to the north yesterday, so the tuna were back in. One angler on a kayak, launched from a boat, last week subdued a 166-pound bluefin, probably the first-ever that was kayaked from the port. Scattered yellowfin tuna and a few wahoos were leadered on the boats, and the yellowfin fishing was probably just beginning. April is usually a month to make off with them. In the surf a few puppy drum were beached at Ocracoke, and those catches should pick up as spring arrives. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Lake Okeechobee

A storm that began Thursday -- dumping 4 to 6 inches of rains from then until Friday night, followed by 25 to 30 m.p.h. winds all the next days – put a damper on the lake’s largemouth bass fishing, said Capt. Butch Butler from South Florida Bass Fishing.  A trip yesterday tried to duck out of the winds, only hooking a dozen bass, a small number compared with usual, on shiners. The anglers had to try to fish spots sheltered from winds, and when that happens, that doesn’t mean the fish will be attracted to each area. The winter’s been a tough one for weather, but the weather will break some time, Butch said. Spring, coming soon, is one of the best seasons for the largemouth bassing. Even now, in March, anglers should normally be whaling the fish. The storm and winds also affected crappie fishing, and few were caught. But the best angling for them was in the Kissimmee River, flowing into the lake, at night. Call: 863-634-5431. Visit Web Site.

Winds kept blowing on Monday, but Capt. Angie from Captain Angie Douthit Guide Service at least took a largemouth bass trip that day by herself, she said. Still, she fished one of the canals off the lake, to escape winds. Some healthy sized bass to 4 ½ pounds jumped on the black and blue jig she flipped. A population of larger females moved onto the spawning beds in the past week, because despite this year’s rough weather, the lake began to warm as spring approached. Water temps reached as high as 68 to 70 degrees. But not all the lake’s bass will spawn at the same time, and pre-spawning, spawning and post-spawning largemouths will fill the waters. Angie looked forward to May, her favorite month for the bucketmouth angling. That will be the tail end of spawning season, and the spawning season is long, beginning in September, peaking in December to February. Flipping baits like Angie did on this trip is an effective technique but takes experience. But top-water lures and rubber worms worked well lately, and so did rubber frogs worked across the top of the grass. Spinners sometimes grabbed attention. Angie enjoys fishing with artificials, is up on the latest techniques and even teaches anglers, if they want. None of her trips fished for crappies or panfish this past week. Call: 863-228-7263. Visit Web Site.

Boca Grande/Pine Island

A huge storm bore down on the waters Friday, and 30 m.p.h. winds on Monday were the calmest weather since then, said Capt. Larry Conley from Reel-Ality Sportfishing. But a trip was able to fish Pine Island Sound that day, and the five anglers on deck waxed speckled sea trout, landing two and three at a time, all day long. The fish swam the 3-foot shallows with weedy bottoms, chomping Gulp shrimp. Waters that day reached 70 degrees, as cool as it usually gets, but the warmest in some time this year. The trout were about the only fish biting in the Sound, but lots of the specks did. Seas were too wicked, like 5 to 7 feet, to fish offshore in the Gulf Mexico in a while. But when the weather’s better, amberjacks, mangrove snappers and lane snappers are on the feed in the Gulf. Red, gag, goliath and scamp groupers hovered at structure and rocky bottom from the passes to the Gulf. They hang at rough bottom like blackfish or sea bass do up north. Giant tarpon fishing at Boca Grande, the Tarpon Capitol of the World, usually begins in late April with Reel-Ality, though the cool winter might delay the start. They average 80 to 175 pounds. “They’ll hurt you,” Larry said, half kidding. The fishing is great sport. Call: 239-471-0875 or 215-932-8411 (cell). Visit Web Site.

Miami

East winds forecast for the weekend should push in sailfish, said Jackie Glinski from the Blue Waters II. A few sails were leadered, but west winds forced the fish-holding waters offshore. King mackerel were active two miles from shore, and big bonito and some Spanish mackerel were trolled within a mile or two from the coast. Amberjacks were wrestled off the Dade County wrecks. A few hammerhead sharks haunted waters several miles offshore, and more should migrate in. A couple of mako sharks were spotted among them, and makos, a cold-water fish, are usually scarce in the local area, and one or two might be boated in a season. Waters were warming, and a trend of better weather than earlier in the season looked promising.  Call: 305-373-5016. Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

A mix of amberjacks, almaco jacks and blackfin tuna, somewhat fewer blackfins than before, slammed jigs at the Hump, located 11 miles offshore, for anglers once again this past week with Captain Easy Charters, Capt. Bruce Anderson said. Charters previously tangled with the same kind of catches, never knowing which of the three species would attack the jigs, lots of fun with the hard-fighters. Bruce explained in a previous report that blackfins will show up in waves for periods of time at places like the Hump. A large population of the fish might appear for a week or two, disappear for a while, then reappear, unpredictably at different times of year. But when no large body of the fish is around, one or two of the blackfins are often hooked when anglers try for sailfish or other species. Lots of yellowtail snappers were reeled up from the reef 3 miles from shore, and mutton snappers, fish that frequently weigh up to 20 pounds in these waters, were angled from the patch reefs inshore of 3 miles. King mackerel were sometimes battled 4 miles from the dock, a little farther out than the reef holding the yellowtails, on live baits, usually pilchards or cigar minnows. So a little of everything bit, and fishing was good, Bruce said. The weather was mostly seasonable, not hot, but warm and pleasant for the most part. It sure beat the several-day storm in the Northeast in the past days. One charter from the Northeast had to cancel because the weather kept the plane from flying. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

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