Fri., March 29, 2024
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Offseason Fishing Report 1-12-16


NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Cod served up decent catches on a couple of days on the party boat
Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. No trips fished aboard Sunday and Monday, and none was expected to sail today, Tuesday, because of gales. But Wednesday’s and Thursday’s trips fished decent. Just five anglers joined Wednesday’s trip, but they bagged 25 cod. A good-sized crowd fished Thursday’s trip, clocking a decent catch of cod. Cod fishing was tough, fell apart, on Friday’s and Saturday’s trips, though conditions were the same as on the previous two days. Lots of dogfish bit. The ocean on the fishing grounds was 47 degrees, and cod fishing’s usually been best aboard when the water was 42 to 44 degrees. The cod on the trips this past week averaged 5 to 12 pounds, and most hooked were keepers. The trips fished in 50-foot depths to 70-foot, and cod usually push deeper as the ocean becomes colder in winter. Most of the cod were clammed, and a couple were jigged, but few anglers tried jigging. Lots of herring schooled the water, and lots of bunker still did, too. The boat is this site’s nearest to New Jersey that fishes for cod daily each winter, and the trips are running 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

DELAWARE/MARYLAND

Weather or strong wind often prevented trips, including wind during the weekend through today, but online reports late last week said striped bass were trolled on the ocean off Delaware. That included at Fenwick Shoal, at part of the shoal closer to shore. Stripers were still boated at the mouth of Delaware Bay then. The fish seemed absent off Maryland within 3 miles from shore. Striper fishing is closed beyond 3 miles. Seas there were reported to be 3 to 5 feet or larger every day. The ocean there was 50 to 52 degrees. Boaters who braved seas off New Jersey sometimes reported good striper catches on Friday, within 3 miles from shore, and said the fish schooled beyond 3 miles the rest of the weekend. They speculated that the southern migration of the fish might’ve begun to depart New Jersey for the season.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

The weekly party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon sailed Saturday with Rudee Inlet Charters, piling up a great catch of blueline tilefish to 17 pounds, Capt. Skip Feller said. A few bluefish were hooked, and the ocean held a huge ground swell, but weather was fair. The trip also made a couple of drops in the deep, rustling up black belly rosefish and a 52-1/2-pound golden tilefish. The bluelines and bluefish were cranked from 300-foot depths, and the rosefish and the golden tile were pumped in from 550-foot depths to 700. A few sharks bit, but not enough to be a terrible nuisance. The water was 58 degrees, somewhat warm for the time of year. Long-term forecasts look like this coming weekend’s trip might get the weather to sail. The trips usually target bluelines first, and if enough are caught, and enough usually are, the trips then sometimes push deeper, if weather is okay, like this trip did. Besides rosefish and golden tiles, the deep can also give up wreckfish, barrelfish and other catches, and often does, on the trips. The unique trips sail every Saturday each winter, and sometimes anglers are offered to sail that Sunday or Monday, if weather is better then. The trips are sailing 3 a.m. to 8 p.m., and call 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Website.

One boat from Virginia Beach Fishing Center fished for striped bass on the ocean on a trip, releasing undersized ones, a report on the marina’s website said. Those were the first stripers the marina reported caught from the ocean this winter. The trip also released sizable stripers, including a 47-incher, up Chesapeake Bay. Striper fishing is currently open on the ocean and closed on the bay at Virginia. The marina also reported the good deep-drop fishing on the weekly party boat trip Saturday with Rudee Inlet Charters, covered in the report above. The trip sails from the marina. Visit Website.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

A few boats fished offshore, running into blackfin tuna, good catches, but false albacore were difficult to get away from, a report said on the website from
The Roost Bait & Tackle
at Teach’s Lair Marina. A 12-foot hammerhead shark, estimated to weigh 500 pounds, was also released. Speckled sea trout swam Pamlico Sound, and surf anglers hoped cold weather that happened on some days now would pull the specks into the surf. The cold can chill the sound, driving the trout into the warmer surf. Surf anglers beached puppy red drum, a few larger, and good catches of blowtoads, sea mullet and bluefish. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Basically sailfish, lots of king mackerel and some blackfin tuna were belted aboard with Captain Easy Charters, Capt. Bruce Andersen said. He had to give a quick report or couldn’t speak long, but was asked whether the fish were slow-trolled on live bait. “Absolutely,” he said. The boat fishes for catches like that offshore of the reef. The reef is a few miles from port, and those fish can gather a few miles off the offshore edge of the reef. Depths drop off quickly near the Florida Keys, and these fish usually swim in water somewhat deeper than 100 feet. Islamorada is one of the islands that make up the Keys. Captain Easy also bottom-fishes at patch reefs inshore of the main reef this time of season, for catches that can include large mutton snappers and more. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Website.

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