New Jersey Fishing Reports

The closing of striped bass season today somewhat slows the fishing a moment, until trophy striper season opens May 1, said Mary Norton from Virginia Beach Fishing Center. Trophy season, when one of the rockfish 32 inches or larger can be kept per person, lasts through May 15, both in the ocean and in Chesapeake Bay. The bite in the ocean started to taper off several weeks ago anyway, though the linesiders were now swimming the bay. A slot striper season opens only in the bay May 16 through June 15, when an angler can keep two fish 18 to 28 inches per day. But speckled seatrout and puppy drum were sometimes picked up from the inlet. Lots of flounder, plenty of keepers, were also boated along the nearby Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Some captains reported running across schools of big bluefish 13 miles offshore, and that means that baitfish will school to the coast soon. New Jersey anglers take note: The blues are headed to the Garden State and are a sign of the beginning of the spring migration. Mackerel will pass by the Jersey Coast first, then blues will soon follow, then migrating stripers will swim through. The party boats from the marina were weathered out but are bottom fishing for sea bass and tautog. Virginia Beach Fishing Center features a marina, tackle shop, boat launching, slips, charter boats and party boats and is located near the ocean, beach, hotels and the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

Boaters from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center last fished Friday during a window of weather, and they gathered up a bunch of dolphin, great fishing, Katie Gaskins said. They also claimed a scattered yellowfin tuna here and there. Customers only reported fishing offshore and not inshore. Visit Web Site.

Hatteras

Surf fishers sometimes pulled puppy drum and 3-pound bluefish from the wash, said Damon Gray from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. A few puppies bit in Pamlico Sound, after loads had been schooling there weeks ago. Winds often blew and kept anglers from heading out, but when offshore boaters sailed, they leadered a few bluefin tuna, a few yellowfins, some blackfins and, on one day, a number of large mahi mahi, a mixed bag, really. Visit Web Site.

LOUISIANA

Venice

A brutal stretch of weather forced Paradise Outfitters to take 10 days off from fishing the Gulf of Mexico before charters started leaving the dock again last week, reports on Paradise’s web site said. But even a trip yesterday met 4- to 6-foot seas, tough conditions. The season was turning out to bring horrible weather, but spring fishing seemed to be running a month early, oddly enough. Mahi mahi and marlin were expected to start showing up in a few weeks. Once the weather cleared somewhat, a fair number of trips fished through the past week, boating quite a few wahoos, sometimes yellowfin tuna, including a 130-pounder, an 80-pounder and a 72-pounder, blackfin tuna, including one catch of 20-some, a number of amberjacks and bottom fish, including beeliners and scamps. The trips usually put the brakes on healthy catches, with an outing or two of slow bites. Paradise Outfitters fishes the Gulf of Mexico for big game and rig, wreck and reef fish. Call: 985-845-8006. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Clearwater/Tampa/Tarpon Springs

Massive schools of pilchards were storming onto the flats and patch reefs, and snook, redfish and speckled seatrout were blowing up on the baitfish, Capt. Rich Knox from Absolute Flats Fishing said in an e-mail. So the spring migration was on, and Rich was netting the pilchards, chumming them live and telling charters to hold on for the impending hook-up. Spanish mackerel, big, smoker king mackerel and hefty cobia were also turning on a little farther from shore. Water temps were in the low 70s, and the air was reaching the low 80s, and spring fishing had sprung. Looking slightly ahead, now’s the time to book giant tarpon charters for late April through June in Boca Grande, world famous for its run of the silver kings. Huge schools of the fish from 100 to 200 pounds flood the passes, beach front, harbor and sounds, putting up tough, acrobatic fights on light tackle, something every anglers should try in a lifetime. Call 727-376-8809 or 800-890-9373 or Visit Web Site.

Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton

East winds threw big pilchards into the mix along the shore, and king mackerel, bonito and scattered dolphin shot in to feed. Charters tackled all three of the fish, Capt. Ron Mallet from the Just Add Water said, and they also stalked the harbor, pinning down 10-pound barracudas and 5-pound jack crevalles, all on live pilchards. No sailfish appeared, and currents that sails prefer were still for the moment. Some of the best fishing of the year was poised to break open from now through early June for the spring migration. All these fish will bite to one degree or another throughout the year. King mackerel used to come in better in winter, but lately summer was best. Kings were even scarce through winter until popping up during the past weeks. Bonito definitely come through in greater numbers in summer, and dolphin swim the waters, for those who want to run and gun, trolling them in the warmer months. Sailfish will keep making surprise visits at times, though winter triggers more of them to migrate along the local coast. As summer peaks fishing will become somewhat less consistent, and charters will have to slip in and out between ever-present thunderstorms that roll through each afternoon. Rough weather can persist through October, but conditions normally lay down in November, and then sailfishing and all the other fishing that was talked about in Ron’s reports through the past months will start again. So although this is the last report from him on this site this season, his fishing was about to take off, and charters fish year-round. To keep up on the action, visit Just Add Water’s web site and read the reports that Ron writes. Call: 954-423-8700. Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

Snappers, lots of yelloweyes and vermilions, were coming up from the wrecks in 120 to 220 feet, about 3 to 7 miles from shore, and sometimes so were big groupers--gags and blacks to 30 pounds, said Capt. Bruce Anderson from Captain Easy Charters. That was the main event in past days, but king mackerel were also fought around the same waters, and quite a few mahi mahi were picked up just about anywhere, not a targeted fish on trips, but a quarry whenever they happened to turn up. Amberjack fishing was also heating up at the Hump, around 11 miles from shore, on live bait, anything from small blackfin tuna to bluerunners or speedos, fished 300 feet down. Last week blackfin really came on at the Hump, as was reported then, but then the bite slowed. The tuna are like that, hitting the waters maybe a day, a week or a month, leaving and then returning, off and on. Commercial fishing for the a.j.’s closed today, so the bite will go bonkers for recreationals. “Stupid fishing,” Bruce said. Big sharks including tigers, bulls, hammers and occasional makos will be the only thing getting in the way of amberjack catches then, because the monsters feed on the jacks. But that also means sharking is on at the Hump. Blackfin tuna will keep appearing, and bottom fishing will continue, and sailing for mahi mahi will come into its own in the warm weather until July or August. Then charters will focus on the dolphin almost daily, the time to bail the fish. In fall mahi fishing slows somewhat, but the green hornets are still caught, and blackfin tuna fishing especially kicks in during September and October. Groupers also give up a bite then. Afterward Keys anglers will again look forward to winter trips for sailfish, king mackerel, bottom fish and other usual suspects. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

Charters on two boats from Over Under Adventures, the Pretty Work and That’s Right, were pounding out catches of king mackerel and yellowtail snappers in the same waters, an e-mail from the company said. The kingfishing was probably hottest, and if cigar minnows could be found for bait in the mornings, plenty of kings could usually be walloped. Scattered catches of early season mahi mahi were boated offshore, and blackfin tuna were drilled at lumps 10 to 15 miles off. Call: 866-OUA-TUNA. Visit Web Site.

Key West

Two trips steamed to the waters around the Dry Tortugas to fish two days each with Yankee Capts this past week, Capt. Greg Mercurio said. Yellowtail snappers, pretty much all anyone could want, put up a steady bite, and mutton snappers kept anglers reeling in fish at night. At sunset and sunrise, groupers, decent numbers, jumped on baits. The anglers mostly hooked chunks of king mackerel for bait, bagging the kingfish on the trips, but they also used pinfish and fresh ballyhoos. Two more two-day trips will ply the Tortugas waters this week. Yankee Capts, sailing on a 90-foot party boat, fishes the Dry Tortugas, 60 miles from 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. The crew and boat have been fishing from the Keys for 30 years and currently offer the Tortugas trips through May. From Memorial Day to Labor Day the vessel sails for cod from Gloucester, Massachusetts, and in September and October its trips target tuna from New Bedford, and both of these trips, both charters and open-boat outings, have also been running 30 years. Then the boat returns to the Keys. Call: 888-88-CAPTS or 305-923-2926. Visit Web Site.

Bahamas

Bahamas fishing was finally beginning to take off, an e-mail from Over Under Adventures said. The bite got off to a slow start previously, but good-sized mahi mahi now appeared, and charters fought good numbers of them in the past week. Along with the dolphin, they also scored plenty of wahoo and some healthy sized yellowfin tuna, great mixed bags of fish. The down side of the moon and a substantial weather front seemed to push in the migration of fish, and charters sometimes endured rough weather but connected. Another report on Over Under’s web site mentioned a white marlin landed, and a photo of a sailfish caught was featured in the e-mail. Over Under fishes from the Bahamas through spring until returning to Avalon, New Jersey, to run for big game offshore from summer through fall. Some of the boats from the fleet also fish for big game from Ocean City, Maryland, during that time. Yet other trips also chase the big fish from North Carolina. In winter one of the vessels sets up in Morehead City, North Caroline, to take on giant bluefin tuna on charters. Call: 866-OUA-TUNA.
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