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Offseason Fishing Report 1-19-16


NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Wind blew a gale most of the week, but a couple of the daily trips for cod sailed on the party boat Captain Al, between the weather, Capt. Tom Weiss said. A trip Friday pounded a good catch of cod and a load of mackerel mixed in. A trip Sunday picked a couple of cod here and there, no decent number of the fish. No mackerel appeared, and a coating of snow, not a lot, fell that day. The trips fished in 50 to 75 feet of water, and the ocean was 44 degrees, becoming colder. Forty-two- to 44-degree water has usually fished best for cod in the past on these trips. Herring were also mixed in lately. The trips might next get the weather to sail on Wednesday, and a storm is potentially forecast for the end of the week. 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

Wind blew, and seas were rough, and almost no boating for striped bass was reported from the ocean in the past week off Delaware and Maryland. One trip attempted the fishing Friday off Delaware, according to an online report. The trip met 3- to 4-foot seas, 2 seconds apart, and returned to port. The ocean was 50 degrees, unusually warm, and the anglers believed stripers schooled off the state. But boaters needed the conditions to be able to reach them. Part of the southern migration of stripers apparently remained off southern New Jersey, because the fish were reported boated there still. 

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

The weekly party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon was weathered out last weekend on the Rudee Angler, Capt. Skip Feller said. A storm forecast might cancel this coming weekend’s trip. The most recent one of the trips, two weekends ago, piled up a great catch of blueline tilefish, some black belly rosefish and a 52-1/2-pound golden tilefish, covered in the last report here. Catches on the unique trips can include the bluelines, goldens and rosefish, and wreckfish, barrelfish and more. Each trip usually targets bluelines first, and if enough are caught -- and enough usually are -- and weather allows, the trip then sails to deeper water for the rosefish and the rest of the species. The fishing grounds are several hours from port, and the trips are slated for 3 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday. Sometimes anglers are offered to fish that Sunday or Monday, if weather is forecast to be better then. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Website.

Charter and private boats searched for striped bass on the ocean, but none of the fish was reported found, a report said on Virginia Beach Fishing Center’s website. The folks at the marina believed stripers held far up Chesapeake Bay, where plenty of bait schooled in relatively warm water, and that cold weather could push the stripers to the ocean. Striper fishing is closed on the bay and open on the ocean this time of year. One charter boat traveled up the bay and released good-sized stripers. Boaters also hope bluefin tuna show up in the local ocean soon, like they do during some years. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Weather was often rough in the past week, slowing fishing somewhat, but when weather was decent, catches were good, said Capt. Bruce Andersen from Captain Easy Charters. Sailfish were picked aboard on most days. Sometimes king mackerel were clobbered. Various other fish were in the mix, like mahi mahi and blackfin tuna. A trip yesterday tackled mahi and a cobia and also bottom-fished, reeling in yellowtail snappers. Trips mostly slow-trolled live bait like pilchards and ballyhoos for the sails, kings, mahi and tuna along the offshore edge of the reef, only miles from port. The cobia swiped one of the baits deep, on a “down” rod, at a wreck. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Website.

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