NEW YORK

Point Lookout

A few cod were bagged on every trip on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom said. The fishing wasn’t good, and had been good, and now the crew waited for the next wave of the fish to come through. The ocean was warm, but the water temperature began to drop. The water most recently was 47 degrees, and previously was 51 degrees for a long time, stubbornly failing to cool, because of warm weather. Tom hopes the current cold snap draws the cod in. Last year, the water was in the low 40 degrees at this time, and cod fishing became good a day or two before New Year’s. Lots of the fish kept biting until late January. Currently, plenty of cod schooled farther east, from Block Island to farther. The fish only need to migrate 100 miles west, and they’ll arrive in the Captain Al’s waters. Maybe this cold snap will help. Lots of herring schooled locally. Lots of dogfish bit aboard, and no trip sailed in yesterday’s cold. Today’s trip would probably be docked, too, because forecasts for 17 degrees in the morning would probably keep anglers from showing up. Weather is supposed to warm after today. The Captain Al is this site’s closest boat to New Jersey that sails 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

Fishing for the migration of striped bass was yet to kick in on the ocean off Delaware and Maryland, online reports said. One report in a magazine described the angling as “horrible,” saying the fish swam 8 to 10 miles off the coast. That report also noted that lots of stripers were still boated off South Jersey. The ocean was 52 degrees off Delaware and Maryland. Decent blackfishing was reported from the area.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

A special trip steamed for sea bass on the ocean on New Year’s Eve Day, the final day of sea bass season, with Rudee Inlet Charters, and all the anglers limited out, Capt. Skip Feller said. A 6-1/2-pounder was the biggest sea bass, and bluefish, summer flounder and triggerfish also bit. Excellent day, he said, and the weekly open-boat trip to Norfolk Canyon was weathered out last Saturday. Weather for this coming weekend’s one of the trips looks questionable, could go either way, and Skip hoped the weather straightens out, so the trip runs. These are unique trips that fish the canyon, several hours from port, each winter for catches that can include blueline tilefish, golden tilefish, black belly rosefish, wreckfish, barrelfish and more. The fishing’s usually super, and the trips are sailing 3 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday. Sometimes anglers are offered to fish on the trips during the next day or two, if weather looks better then. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Website.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

Weather became more seasonable beginning on Saturday, after the warm autumn through early winter, a report said on the website from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. Seventy-degree days were finished, but the late arrival of cooler weather might keep the water warmer than usual, keeping fishing going for speckled sea trout and puppy drum throughout winter, like four years ago. The boomerang shape of the island makes the water considerably warmer at Hatteras than to the north, and that can help.  Currently, the surf was in the high 60 degrees to the low 70s, but would become cooler, because of the weather. Surf casters banked lots of sea mullet and some blowtoads, bluefish and summer flounder. Once Pamlico Sound cools, that will chase the sound’s drum and specks into the surf. One boat fished the sound, picking up keeper specks and just-undersized drum. Another boat fished on the ocean on a meat trip, docking amberjacks, triggerfish and a few toros. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Fishing’s been great, said Capt. Bruce Andersen from Captain Easy Charters. A couple of sailfish were landed on pretty much every trip, and a trip Sunday whacked wahoos 30 to 55 pounds, a good catch. That was on livelined pilchards trolled just offshore of the reef in 120 to 130 feet of water on 16-pound spinning tackle. The trip also trolled a couple of blackfin tuna and some king mackerel. Most grouper seasons were closed beginning on January 1, but a couple of trips limited out on sizable black groupers aboard, just before then. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Website.

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