VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

Boaters launching from Virginia Beach Fishing Center were bailing striped bass in the ocean  mornings, afternoons and nights, limiting out on each trip on fish as big as 30 to 50 pounds while trolling, Capt. John Crowling said. The rockfish were found no more than 5 miles north or south of the marina, within 3 miles from land, where they could be legally caught. That was the main event, but party boats from the marina were also bottom fishing offshore every Saturday, and the weather allowed them to get out the past two Saturdays for very good catches of sea bass. Virginia Beach Fishing Center features a marina, a tackle shop, charter boats and party boats and is located near the beach, boardwalk, hotels, ocean and Chesapeake Bay, near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

Striped bass started to be hooked in the ocean the past couple of days, not the main run of the fish, but a good sign, said Jenny Lippincott from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. Big, slammer blues were  mixed in with them the other day, and offshore boaters battled bluefin tuna, including larger ones, like a 178-pounder that was checked in. Visit Web Site.

Hatteras

Surf fishers beached speckled trout, not a lot, but usually large ones, such as 5-pound 10-ouncer that was weighed  in, said Dave Hissey from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair. Artificials including Gulps and MirrOLures were the way to go, and occasionally puppy drum were grabbed in the suds, and the only ones that Dave heard about were incidental catches while anglers cast the artificials for the specks. No striped bass were reported landed in the wash. Offshore boaters fought king mackerel and a stray yellowfin or blackfin tuna. Visit Web Site.

Atlantic Beach

Giant bluefin tuna fishing was very good on the troll, said Loretta Davis from Captain Stacy Fishing Center. King mackerel also slammed baits offshore. The marina’s head boats were undergoing maintenance and should resume bottom fishing in February, but charter boats bottom fished this weekend and put anglers into good fishing for snappers, groupers and triggerfish. Visit Web Site.

LOUISIANA

Venice

Paradise Outfitters’ web site included no reports about trips this  past week, and its winter season was just getting started, but the site did give a review of its trips in 2007, and here’s the rundown:

A total of 148 days on the water or:
--112 day trips
--18 overnight trips

Blue-water species caught:

--210 wahoos (1 jumped in boat unhooked)
--208 bull dolphin (22 other large ones released)
--181 yellowfin tuna (18 additional released, some of them tagged)
--124 blackfin tuna (many more released)
--7 swordfish
--5 blue marlin (4 tagged and released, 1 reeled in dead)
--1 sailfish tagged and released
--1 white marlin released

Reef or shelf species caught:

--609 red snappers
--59 mangrove snappers
--58 other snappers
--38 scamps
--33 amberjacks
--31 grouper (11 snowies, 8 warsaws, 7 yellowedges, 6 gags)
--31 bull reds released
--19 cobia
--18 almaco jacks
--8 rainbow runners
--5 jack crevalles
--4 tripletails
--4 triggerfish
--1 tarpon
--1 flounder

Call Paradise Outfitters at 985-845-8006. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Tampa/Clearwater/Tarpon Springs

Big speckled sea trout to more than 6 pounds pounced on baits on charters, and so did redfish from 3 to 12 pounds, said Capt. Rich Knox from Absolute Flats Fishing in an e-mail. The trout smacked pilchards, shrimp or Texas-rigged jerk shads in open water, and the reds chased down shrimp or the rubber shads off the points in the mangroves. Large schools of jack crevalles couldn’t be missed on the shallow flats off the Anclote power plant, where anglers tossed jerk baits, jigs and nearly any live bait to grab them. Snook and small tarpon—mostly 10- to 30-pounders but sometimes up to 60-pounders—gave up fights in the Anclote and Pithlahatcotee rivers. A brutal cold front with 30-degree temps pushed through by the middle of last week, cooling and muddying waters, but air temps this week climbed back to 75 or 80. Call 727-376-8809 or 800-890-9373 or Visit Web Site.

Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton

A few sailfish came through because of a bit of a cold front early last week, and no great numbers of the fish turned up yet,  but if anglers put in the time, they could score, said Capt. Ron Mallet from the Just Add Water. Live pilchards and goggleyes got the strikes in 100 to 200 feet in the ocean, only a mile or two from shore, and more of the fish should migrate to local waters as cold fronts make them leave northern areas. East winds from the front also caused scattered, 3- to 10-pound dolphin to show up closer to shore at the same places as the sails, and the mahi chased the live pilchards, the smaller of the two baits. King mackerel were yet to materialize in good  numbers this season, but scattered ones appeared from shallow to deep waters, chasing the same baits. But Spanish mackerel fishing was solid close to shore, and Ron’s charters swam live pilchards to catch them, though other anglers connected with bucktails or small silver spoons. Live shrimp will also fool the Spanish, especially because shrimp were running. In the back waters from the inlet to the harbor and canals fishing for jack crevalles and barracudas was dependable, and a good option when winds kicked up the ocean too much. The jacks were on the smaller side but were numerous. Ron did no bottom fishing at the patch reefs in the ocean during the week, and the winds made anchoring difficult, but his charters do hit the reefs for snappers and such fish. Call: 954-423-8700. Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

A cold front and winds zapped any attempts to fish recently, and water temps along the edges of the reefs dropped 10 degrees, but the weather was improving now, said Capt. John Oughton from the Pretty Work and Over Under Adventures. Before the weather, when the water was 78 degrees, charters were tangling with king mackerel and were bottom fishing for yellowtail snappers. Anglers were still waiting for sailfish to arrive this winter from up north. The weather had been unseasonably warm, but current temps seemed to be settling in to a normal range. Call: 866-OUA-TUNA. Visit Web Site. 

Rough weather from a cold front kept Captain Easy Charters from sailing in the past days, but previously charters were boating wahoos, including decent-sized ones from 30 to 40 pounds, king mackerel, snappers and groupers, Capt. Bruce Anderson said. Fishing’s been generally good, he said. The wahoos and kings gathered in 100 to 250 feet, and the snappers and groupers bit at the reefs near the same area, but recently Bruce was also finding them at patch reefs in 12- to 25-foot shallows closer to shore. Anglers were waiting for sailfishing to turn on, and the fish usually appear a little shallower in 140 feet. The water’s been unusually warm and in the high 70s, but the hope was that cooler weather this winter would start to spark the bite. Last year sailfishing was good early in the season but dropped off later from January to February, but this year the action was slow early in the season. Anglers will see whether the best sailfishing happens later this year. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

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