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Offseason Fishing Report 1-2-19

NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Trips were catching cod on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Weiss said. Some days fished okay, others fished tough. Seemed that when southerly wind blew, the fishing was slower. When northwest wind returned, the catches picked back up. The ocean was 45 to 46 degrees on the fishing grounds, and 42 to 46 is ideal. Most trips hooked the fish inshore in 50 to 75 feet of water. But a few were hooked deeper, in 110 to 120 feet, on one trip this past week for the first time this season. Cod locally usually school shallower at first in winter and deeper as the ocean becomes cooler. All cod were clammed on the boat so far this season. Sometimes when mackerel or herring school, the cod are jigged. Trips marked lots of baitfish, though Tom didn’t know what kind. None of the bait was hooked. Lots of bunker schooled, he knew, because seagulls kept being seen with bunker in their mouths. Dogfish were not too bad of a nuisance. They usually “rip us to shreds” this time of year, but were manageable, he said. The boat is this website’s closest to New Jersey that fishes for cod daily each winter. The trips are sailing 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

DELAWARE/MARYLAND

Most news about striped bass dried up from Delaware, and only a few, not many at all, were reported trolled off Fenwick Island last week, according to online reports. That’s in Delaware near the Maryland border, and the stripers were 30 to 33 inches. They were mostly hooked on Mojos in white or chartreuse. A few stripers, just enough to keep anglers interested, bit off Cape Charles, Va., in Chesapeake Bay. Those were big, in the 40 inches, but striper fishing closed on the bay beginning on New Year’s Day. Any other sizable stripers seemed to school beyond 3 miles from shore in the ocean in this area from Delaware to Virginia. Striper fishing is closed beyond 3 miles from shore. Blackfishing sounded good on the ocean throughout this area. Several boats reported limiting out on 3- to 5-pounders from Delaware to Maryland on the ocean. Big blackfish, weighing in the teens, were sometimes in the mix. Sea bass fishing had been good from Delaware and Maryland farther from shore, but sea bass season closed beginning on the first of the year.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

Chesapeake Bay’s striped bass fishing was great in the final days of December, a report said on Virginia Beach Fishing Center’s website. Some big were pasted, but the bay’s striper fishing closed beginning yesterday. Visit Website.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

Wind calmed, the water cleared and lots of summer flounder, sometimes a keeper, bit in the surf at Cape Point in past days, a report said on Teach’s Lair Marina’s Facebook page. You had to work hard for a keeper, but quite a number of keepers came in. A few puppy drum were eased from the surf to the north and south. One angler clocked them on sand fleas, but those were almost impossible to find now. If you fished meat, you caught dog sharks. Some anglers waxed blowtoads, good-eating fish, from the beach. The fishing from shore was pretty good in past days. Visit Website.

Atlantic Beach

When the charter boats had the weather to sail, they landed a few bluefin tuna, not many at all, said Loretta Davis from Captain Stacy Fishing Center. But wahoo fishing was decent. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Capt. Joe Hughes from Jersey Cape Guide Service, Sea Isle City, N.J., began annual trips to the Florida Keys that he guides from Christmas to Easter, he said on the day after Christmas. Wind made fishing difficult on one of the trips that day. But something can always be caught from the Keys, and the fishing angled jacks and snappers. Weather was somewhat better the previous day, Christmas, and his trip that day fought lemon sharks while sight-fishing on the flats, redfish, a baby tarpon, jacks and snappers. The trips, fishing mostly on weekends or holidays, can be a mini-vacation. Anglers can arrive on a Friday, fish all day Saturday and part of Sunday, and return Sunday evening. Or they can fish on a different schedule. Joe can arrange flights and hotels. Visit Website. Call: 609-827-3442.

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