NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Cod fishing began to pick up on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. Rain fell and wind blew on yesterday’s trip, but the anglers bagged one or two cod apiece. Cod began to be hooked at nearly every place fished on the last couple of trips. That was in 50- to 75-foot depths, relatively shallow. Cod usually begin to show up toward the beginning of the year on the boat’s trips, and usually are found shallow, in depths like that, at first. The fish will school deeper as the ocean cools. The water was 46 to 47 degrees, and the cod averaged 6 to 15 pounds, or were decent-sized. All were hooked on clams, and none of the anglers attempted to jig the fish on the last couple of trips. Lots of herring schooled the water, and sometimes baitfish like that will trigger cod to swipe jigs. Tom hopes the fishing continues to improve, and the angling only lasts so long, so get after the fish. Eventually cold water will make cod depart the area. Substantial snowfall can speed that up, because snow melting into rivers pushes cold water into the ocean. The boat is this website’s only that fishes for cod daily this time of year, and the trips are running 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

Delaware/Maryland

Seas were too rough for boaters to search for striped bass on the ocean, online reports said from Delaware and Maryland. But the water was in the mid-40 degrees off Maryland, and the anglers heard about stripers still found farther north. So they hoped those fish would migrate south to local waters. Stripers were reportedly seen off the local coast by commercial boaters, but 12 miles off. Striper fishing is closed beyond 3 miles from the coast.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach Fishing Center gave no new reports since just before Christmas, and that news, from a report on the marina’s website, was posted in last week’s report here. Back then, boaters landed a few striped bass along the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay. That was on slow-trolled or drifted eels, and the catches seemed not abundant, but the fish caught were sizable. Striper fishing was closed in the bay beginning on New Year’s Day, like every year. Anglers in the past usually began striper fishing on the ocean beginning in January. Stripers from northern states migrate south and winter in the ocean off Virginia. The ocean fishing used to be incredible off Virginia. But in recent years, the fish were scarce within 3 miles from shore. Striper fishing is closed beyond 3, and the fish schooled abundantly beyond 3 in recent years. Sometimes bluefin tuna school close to shore off Virginia in winter, and charter boats will jump on them, when that happens. Given that no new report was posted on the marina’s website, neither stripers nor tuna seemed available to the marina’s boaters yet this season. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Fishing’s been pretty good, said Capt. Bruce from Captain Easy Charters. Trips did lots of sailfishing, landing a couple apiece, usually. Quite a few blackfin tuna were hooked during the sailfishing. Lots of king mackerel and a few wahoos and mahi mahi were also caught then. Those trips, fishing just offshore of the reef, 5 miles from port, in 100 to 150 feet of water, often hooked up on live bait fished from kites. Kite fishing’s been popular lately, and it works. Trips also bottom-fished on the reef, and yellowtail snapper catches were great during that angling. Sharks often bit the snappers that were reeled in, one of the challenges. Winter’s been mild so far, usually in the 80 degrees each day. No day was colder than 70 degrees so far, he thought. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Website.

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