New Jersey Fishing Reports

Blackfishing was up and down on the Bandit the past couple of weeks, and moon currents sometimes wreaked havoc, but plenty of the tog could be hooked during the right conditions, and some big ones came up, Jerry the mate said in an e-mail. The water was 44 degrees, and trips were probably going to fish a little deeper this week. This past week’s trips sailed Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and Thursday’s fishing was best. On that day one angler limited out on the fish, including catching a 13-pounder and an 11-pounder, and he was on fire the past two weeks, drilling five of the slipperies that weighed 8 to 13 pounds. On the same trip a couple of others limited out and nailed tog from 8 to 10 pounds. Saturday’s bite was a slow pick, and the high hook bagged five blacks, and a 10-pounder was the pool winner. Sunday’s fishing was slow, but some of the fish bit, and quite a few big ones broke off. An 11.3-pounder was the pool winner, and one angler took a 9-pounder, and another scored an 8-pounder. The angler with the pool winner, his personal best tog, and his friends took home a nice bunch of keepers. Pool winning fish lately weighed 8 to 13 pounds. The Bandit, sailing from Belmar, N.J., from spring through fall, is fishing for tog from Indian River through March for the second winter in a row. Delaware’s waters are somewhat warmer than Jersey’s, keeping the tog biting later in winter, and the grounds get less pressure than off the Garden State. Delaware’s bag limit is also 10 of the fish through March, while Jersey’s is four. Individual-reservation trips, usually made up of two or more groups, but also open to single reservations, are sailing Fridays through Sundays, and a few spots are available this coming Sunday, and no walk-ons are accepted. Charters are running the rest of the week. A local hotel offers a discount for anglers from the boat. The crew of the Bandit is also starting to look ahead to the boat’s spring season in Jersey that will start with bottom fishing for ling, sea bass and other bottom dwellers in mid April. Charter bookings are being accepted for Jersey. Call: 732-692-9521. Visit Web Site.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

Lots and lots of big striped bass kept getting boated in the ocean 2 miles from shore, near Virginia Beach Fishing Center, John Crowley said. Customers today sailed for the fish at 8 a.m. and were back at the dock by 9 a.m. with limits, including some fish from 40 to 50 pounds. Party boats came back from trips recently with healthy numbers of sea bass, and the humpbacks moved a little closer to shore, because the water was warming. So the head boats will now start running shorter trips from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and on Fridays through Sundays. Previously they were sailing on longer-range trips only on Saturdays. 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 the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

Boaters fishing the sound were pulling up puppy drum, keeping their limit of one fish from 18 to 27 inches per angler per day, but sometimes releasing a mess more, said Dave from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. Twenty-five of the fish were hooked on one boat yesterday. The drum chased artificials including Gulps, Tsunamis and small spoons in the shallows. A handful of puppies were also beached from the surf in the last couple of days, but mostly dogfish swam along the shore. Unconfirmed rumors were heard about speckled sea trout taken from the wash today, and Dave didn’t doubt that some might’ve been caught. On offshore vessels anglers were finally getting into scattered yellowfin tuna, and blackfin tuna fishing was good, and bluefin tuna gave arms a workout. Visit Web Site.

LOUISIANA

Venice

Paradise Outfitters ran lots of trips in the past week, and a bunch of different fish were landed, according to the report on its web site. The first mako shark of the year, a 300-pounder, was boated at the “mako hole” after another was lost on the trip because of a broken hook. “Never (saw) a hook failure before,” the report said. But afterward the crew inspected the remaining piece and found corrosion they must’ve missed. The shortfin that was bagged bit a chunk out of the transom door when the fish was pulled in the boat after some time, “… a nice reminder why the fish are the baddest of the sea,” the report said. A 500-pound mako was hooked two different times but lost the previous day at the same place on a charter. Quite a few cobia catches were reported from Paradise for the first time this season. Yellowfin tuna were also bagged on charters through the week, and none was apparently one of the big, triple-digit Allisons that show up in the Gulf in winter. Blackfin tuna were also bagged, and so were amberjacks, lots of beeliners and some groupers. A number of trips looked for wahoos but found none, but sometimes ‘hoos were battled aboard. Paradise fishes offshore in the Gulf for big game and also targets the Gulf’s rigs and wrecks for snappers, cobia, groupers, amberjacks and such. Call: 985-845-8006. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Clearwater/Tampa/Tarpon Springs

Great catches of speckled sea trout were nailed on live bait with Absolute Flats Fishing, Capt. Rich Knox said in an e-mail. The bait, including pilchards, for those who knew where to catch them, but also pinfish and shrimp worked best because of water temps rising into the high 60s. Half-day charters bailed 20 to 35 of the trout from 2 to 6 pounds on 8-pound test with 20-pound shock leaders. Redfish from 18 inches to 12 pounds were also hooked 1 to 4 days on either side of the new and full moons in the shallows along the coast and barrier islands. Anglers could get the redfish going if they fished with live pilchards while chumming with the live baitfish. A few snook were also landed in the Anclote and Cotee rivers, a great sign that the fish were waking up with warmer water. Spring slam trips for snook, redfish and trout, all in one outing, are being booked, and so are charters for the giant tarpon run from world-famous Boca Grande in May and June. Call 727-376-8809 or 800-890-9373 or Visit Web Site.

Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton

The weather kept changing from warm to cool and back again, but a cool front did push sailfish through on a southerly migration one day, and the conditions caused scattered dolphin to show up another day, Capt. Ron Mallet from the Just Add Water said. Afterward bonito and king mackerel became the thing for a moment. So fishing was in flux, and the menu varied day to day, but charters connected with fights. Ron’s anglers swam live pilchards for all these fish anywhere from less than a mile to 1 ½ miles from shore in 60 feet to the hundreds. Plenty of barracudas and jack crevalles put light tackle to the test for his charters in the harbor. Trips on the boat often mix in that fishing along with targeting bigger game in the ocean. But sometimes anglers simply prefer the harbor’s calmer waters. The harbor fishing is also a plus when the weather is too rough for boating on the ocean. Fishing the harbor is usually an option during those days, one of the great things about Just Add Water. Light tackle and live pilchards offer fun fights with the harbor fish. Another cool front was forecast for this week, after warm weather in the high 80s, so anglers were hoping for another push of migrating fish like sails because of the falling temps. The water was 74 degrees, about the same as it’s been, and would normally be colder this time of year. Call: 954-423-8700. Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

Anglers on the Pretty Work from Over Under Adventures won third place this past week in the Poor Girls Sailfish Tournament, an e-mail from Over Under said. But sailfishing lately was hit or miss. More cobias and big king mackerel than before were starting to hit, and a few wahoos showed up around last week’s full moon. Bottom fishing was also improving, and black groupers were more numerous than before in the deep or 125 feet. Over Under’s boat That’s Right ran a trip offshore to the Hump, arriving at those waters with no other boats in sight. “Should have been perfect, right?” the report asked. “Wrong,” it answered. The fishing was slow, but a double header of blackfin tuna was picked right away, and a triple header was bagged an hour later, and then a few singles showed up for a total catch of 10 of the tuna. Six other boats were fishing at the Hump by the time That’s Right steamed back to port. That’s Right, licensed for 15 passengers, is also running multi-day trips to the Dry Tortugas this season, and a two-day trip fished there last week. The anglers boated snappers including yellowtails and muttons, groupers including reds, scamps and yellowfins, a few 50-pound amberjacks and other fish. Considering tough conditions from tides, winds, green and somewhat cool water, lots of fish were found. Call: 866-OUA-TUNA. Visit Web Site.

Lots of different fish were biting, said Capt. Bruce Anderson from Captain Easy Charters. But his charters were mainly targeting big amberjacks at the Hump about 11 miles from shore and deep-water bottom fish in 250 to 500 feet from 7 to 12 miles from land. The amberjacks, including three or four that weighed more than 90 pounds apiece and one larger than 100 pounds in the past days, were caught best on live, 3- to 5-pound blackfin tuna. The tuna were landed on trolled feathers and then dropped down to the a.j.’s on liveline rigs. Dead, butterflied blackfins also worked, but live ones scored better. Snappers, like vermilions and yelloweyes, and snowy groupers and tilefish were among the deep-water bottom fish. Squid baits on three- or four-hooked rigs drew the strikes from them along bottom structure including rocks, wrecks and any type of sticky bottom. Fishing for snappers and groupers at the reef closer to shore also produced no lack of catches, and king mackerel, a few wahoos and occasional sailfish were around, but Captain Easy mostly sailed for the amberjacks and the deep-water bottom fish. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

Key West

A three-day trip and two two-day trips fished the Dry Tortugas with Yankee Capts this past week, but the fishing was mostly slow, and currents were strong from the full moon and the eclipse, Capt. Greg Mercurio said. But big king mackerel were fought aboard, and a handful of mutton snappers, yellowtail snappers and red groupers were reeled in. The weather was great: flat calm with mid 80-degree temps during the day and mid 70-degree nights. However, that was about to change. Strong winds were forecast this week, when a 3-day trip was supposed to leave the dock tonight, and a 2-day outing was slated to head out Friday night. The 90-foot party boat Yankee Capts fishes the Dry Tortugas, a 60-mile sail from the boat’s port at Key West, on one-, two-, three- and four-day, open-boat trips in addition to charters. On the open trips, as many as 48 passengers live, sleep and eat onboard. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and beverages can be purchased. Yankee Capts has been fishing from the Keys for 30 years and currently offers the Tortugas trips through May. From Memorial Day to Labor Day the boat fishes for cod from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and in September and October it targets tuna from New Bedford, before returning to the Keys. Call: 888-88-CAPTS or 305-923-2926. Visit Web Site.

Bahamas

Fishing from the Bahamas was erratic so far for Over Under Adventures, an e-mail from Over Under said. The company’s boat Low Profile arrived in San Salvador in the islands this month to fish there from winter through spring after fishing from Avalon, N.J., for big game last summer and fall and from North Carolina for giant bluefin tuna earlier this winter. Catches on the boat’s first trips in the Bahamas this season produced plenty of wahoos, but afterward action dropped off, until fishing was okay last week for a pick of yellowfin tuna, dolphin and smaller wahoos. But bottom fishing was excellent every day for yelloweye, button and black snappers. The crew expected great catches after last week’s full moon waned, and a trip Saturday was excellent, producing five yellowfins to 56 pounds and two wahoos that weighed 76 and 64 pounds. But Sunday’s fishing was slower, and a bunch of small tuna bit. The yellowfins and wahoos were biting best on horse ballyhoos skirted with blue and white Islanders behind a 2-pound trolling weight. Over Under sent another e-mail that said discounts of up to 25 percent are being offered on Bahamas trips booked by March 10, and mention the e-mail to receive the discount. A few dates were open in early April, late May and the first week of July, and call for other details. San Salvador is one of the top destinations in the world for big wahoos from February through March. Afterward large dolphin, yellowfin tuna, wahoos and billfish become the main targets. Blue marlin fishing usually turns on best from late May into July. After early July, Over Under returns to Jersey to fish for tuna and other offshore game through fall. Call: 866-OUA-TUNA. Visit Web Site.