DELAWARE

Indian River

Tog fishing on the Bandit was off this weekend, because water temps dropped quickly, Jerry the mate said in an e-mail. Saturday produced the best fishing, and the blackfish were sluggish and produced a pick for customers, but most of the tog that were boated were hogs. Patrons who had white crabs for bait caught many of the biggest. One angler hauled in a 15-pound 10-ouncer to win the pool, and others from his group nailed 8- to 12-pounders. Two anglers who braved the bow combined for seven keepers, including a 7-pounder and a 5-pounder, on green crabs. The Bandit, fishing from Belmar, N.J., from spring through fall, is sailing for tog from Delaware for the winter, allowing anglers to bag a limit of 10 while Jersey’s bag limit is reduced this season. Open-boat trips take place Fridays through Sundays, and call to reserve, and charters are available the rest of the week. Call: 732-692-9521. Visit Web Site.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

Boaters sailing from the Virginia Beach Fishing Center limited out on striped bass every trip and will continue to hook the fish through mid March, John Crowling said. Plenty of the rockfish weighed 25 to 45 pounds and bit in the ocean within a few miles of the marina on trolled lures like umbrella rigs, Mojos and Stretch plugs. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Morehead City

UPDATE, 2/14: Over Under Adventures sent an e-mail with an updated report saying that its crew in Morehead City got into giant bluefin tuna the past two days and wanted to let everyone know that the vessel is “in the bite.” Call Over Under ASAP if you’d like to fish for these amazing creatures. Here’s the original report from 2/13: Over Under Adventures e-mailed a recap of its giant bluefin tuna season from Morehead City. The fishing was less than red hot but good enough to keep anglers busy and thinking positively. Over Under started targeting the giants the first week of December and released two 70-inchers, but a school of much larger fish showed up the second week of December. Charters on the vessel boated eight giants from then through December 23, and January’s fishing proved slower, and only two giants were caught with Over Under. Anglers on the boat’s charters also had numerous other bites and pulled hooks during the season, and sometimes double and triple headers were fought. The bluefins that were landed with Over Under ranged 375 pounds to 690 pounds, and a 785-pounder was the largest that the crew knew was caught locally this season. But other big fish were battled and lost, and surely some 800-pounders were swimming around. Over Under’s fish were hooked on skirted ballyhoos, and half were caught up top, and the rest hit the baits deep on planer boards. The fishery is becoming more and more popular with Over Under’s charters, so two of its boats will likely be on the scene next year. Call: 866-OUA-TUNA. Visit Web Site.

LOUISIANA

Venice

Two charters fished the Midnight Lump with Paradise Outfitters on Friday, and one boated eight or nine blackfin tuna and a decent-sized yellowfin tuna, and the other picked up four wahoos and two blackfins, the fishing report on its web site said. On Thursday a charter trolled eight wahoos by 10 a.m. and then got on the chum slick and landed three blackfins and five fat vermilion snappers. Another charter that day tackled two fat wahoos, five yellowfins, six blackfins and made an unsuccessful run at amberjacks. Early last week the catch included a couple of 170-pound class yellowfins, a 150-pounder and other big Allisons. The action at the Lump—a 200-foot mound in 400 feet in the Gulf of Mexico, where upwellings attract bait, huge yellowfins, blackfins and wahoos in winter—usually lasts until March, before the fish swim to deeper water. Paradise Outfitters fishes for big game and also for rig and wreck fish, such as snappers, cobia, groupers and amberjacks. Call: 985-845-8006. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Clearwater/Tampa/Tarpon Springs

Fishing was good for speckled sea trout from 2 to 6 pounds on live pilchards, shrimp and pinfish, Capt. Rich Knox from Absolute Flats Fishing said in an e-mail. And although 63-degree water temps made catching them on artificials no guarantee, charters were still having great success throwing plugs worked slowly or ¼-ounce jigs with shrimp imitations, and when the tide was up, 7-inch Berkley jerk shads were nailing the specks on the skinny water flats, and those trout were usually big gators. Lots of smaller redfish were biting around the docks, spoil islands and oyster bars, and bigger ones from 5 to 10 pounds were roaming the flats and sandy bottoms on higher tides. The smaller reds grabbed mostly live shrimp, but ¼-once jigs with 3- and 4-inch Berkley imitation shrimp worked second best.  The bigger reds chased mostly live shrimp that were tail-hooked, 3/8-ounce gold spoons or Berkley shrimp on a light jig head. Snook and small tarpon were starting to show interest in live shrimp, small, sub-surface plugs like MirrOlures and rootbeer-colored jigs worked slowly. Patience and covering lots of territory was the key, and outgoing tides between cold fronts seemed best. Waters at the Anclote Power Plant in Tarpon Spring were producing jack crevalle, pompano and permit on 1/8-ounce Doc’s Goofy jigs tipped with shrimp and worked with a hop and crawl technique. Be sure not to miss out on giant tarpon charters that are being booked now for May and June in world famous Boca Grande. Call 727-376-8809 or 800-890-9373 or Visit Web Site.

Jupiter

Lots of sailfish bit this past week, and half-day charters usually produced five shots at the fish, said Capt. Tony Matarese of Showtime Sportfishing Charters. So apparently the run was late, and usually the best winter action is finished by now, but anglers are now hoping to get at least another couple of weeks of good action. A bunch of wahoo were also caught, and the wahoo had appeared and then disappeared, and now they were back. Dolphin were scarce, but the ones that were around were mixed sizes, and tons of spinner sharks and blacktip sharks haunted waters close to the beaches, giving up fun fights on live bait. All of these fish are landed on live bait, and so are cobia close to shore when the water’s clear, but the water was mostly dirty. When Showtime chases the cobia, charters look for manta rays that the cobia follow, and the anglers toss live bait or big bucktails. Live crabs work well, but pilchards, goggleyes or other bait fish also score strikes. Water temps continued to drop and were 74 degrees or about normal for this time of year.  Call: 561-743-6942. Visit Web Site.

Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton

A shot of warm weather moved in for a moment, and that tended to shut down sailfishing, but sails were hooked farther north, and they should migrate to local waters, Capt. Ron Mallet from the Just Add Water said. In fact, the sails could be hitting by the time anyone reads this report. The water’s warm and was 76 degrees, and normally it’s in the low 70s by now, and cooler temps should come and be the prescription for a better showing of the big game. But scattered schoolie dolphin from 4 to 10 pounds were on tap for charters on drifted live bait 1 or 2 miles straight off the inlet. The mahi mahi were closer to shore than usual, and boaters who ran farther offshore found none of the fish. A few false albacore were also fought on live bait, and the local albies are 10 to 20 pounds, big ones compared to Jersey. King mackerel fishing continued to be quiet, and usually the kings are almost a nuisance during this time of the season. Spanish mackerel could also be live baited close to shore. A charter Tuesday fished in inland waters, because the ocean turned out to be bumpy and caused some seasickness. But the charter whacked the heck out of jack crevalles and barracuda on live bait inland. Capt. Ron often fishes the inland waters when the ocean becomes too rough, and it’s one of the advantages of his charters that his boat can fish both for big game offshore and for light-tackle smaller game in the back waters. Call: 954-423-8700. Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

UPDATE, 2/14: Over Under Adventures sent an e-mail with an updated report saying sailfishing picked up considerably yesterday, when the below report was originally posted, and a trip on the boat that day went 3 for 6 on sails, and some boats landed 7, and one crew said they saw 20. The crew from Over Under was still expecting the coming cold front to improve the bite even more and said to look for a good sail report next week. Here’s Over the original report from 2/13:King mackerel fishing was great, and limit catches were the norm with Over Under Adventures this past week, an e-mail from Over Under said. A charter Saturday loaded the box with macks and then decided to try sailfishing. Action offshore of the reef was slow, so the crew decided to stay right on top of the reef, and sails were found pushing ballyhoos up in showers from the water. The anglers tossed live ballys to a half-dozen of 12 sails that were seen, but none would take the bait. A cold front was moving in, and the crew hoped that would help the sails decide to eat. Previously the weather was summer-like last week with temps in the 80s and hardly a breath of wind. The calm, clear conditions didn’t help bottom fishing, but a charter worked hard and landed some snappers. The cold front should pick up the bottom fishing. Bait fish have been plentiful, although the bait is getting a little shy and wise to anglers’ ways as the season becomes later, and crews have to work a little harder to fill the livewells in the mornings. The boats that Over Under works with are currently in these locations: the Pretty Work is fishing from Islamorada; the Low Profile left this past week to fish the Bahamas for several months; the Justified will fish from Oregon Inlet, N.C., starting in March; and the That’s Right, a new, 50-foot Evans being delivered in March, will fish from Ocean City, Md., starting in April. Over Under also fishes from Avalon, N.J., for big game offshore in summer. Call: 866-OUA-TUNA. Visit Web Site.

Reef fishing gave up loads of snappers, groupers and king mackerel, said Capt. Bruce Anderson from Captain Easy Charters. The fishing took place 3 to 5 miles from shore in 70 to 180 feet, and snappers like yellowtails bit cut bait such as ballyhoo or squid, and bigger snappers like muttons grabbed live bait, and the groupers and kings also pounced on live bait.  Sailfishing was fair and hasn’t been red hot, but most of Bruce’s charters have preferred reef fishing. The water’s been somewhat warmer than usual, but milder weather rolled in lately, making conditions more like usual. A charter Monday with Mike, Bob, Tom and Jerry from Philly reeled in four big black groupers, a mutton snapper and a limit of king macks. A charter Friday with Ralph, Chris, Dan and Dan Jr. from South Jersey nailed a 30-pound black grouper, a 30-pound almaco jack, a red grouper and a limit of kings. Captain Easy did no deep-dropping this week, but charters often do, having a blast reeling up tilefish, a few types of snappers, a couple of kinds of porgies, and a variety of groupers, including snowies, warsaws and misties, in 300 to 700 feet on cut bait such as squid and ballyhoos. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

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