NEW YORK

Montauk

The party boat Helen H was moved to Montauk on Sunday to begin cod fishing for winter, but trips were weathered out since then, Capt. Joe Huckemeyer said. But the weather looks good for Friday and Saturday, and if enough anglers sign up, a trip will run Friday, and enough already signed up for Saturday, and that day’s trip is a go. The crew will also try to steam Sunday. Call: 508-790-0660. Visit Web Site.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

The weekly, bottom-fishing, party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon this week cleaned up on blueline tilefish, “as good as we’ve seen,” Capt. Skip Feller from Rudee Inlet Charters said. The trip fished on Monday, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, because rough weather cancelled the trip on Saturday, the usual day the trip sails. The weather looked good on the holiday, and the anglers were able to switch to the day, so the trip headed out. Out-of-season sea bass were mixed in and tossed back, and too many people were aboard for the trip to fish deeper for catches like golden tilefish. But sometimes the trips fish deeper. Sixteen-hour trips are sailing to Norfolk Canyon every Saturday from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. for catches including blueline tilefish, golden tiles, black belly rosefish, wreckfish and groupers. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Web Site.

Fishing was awesome, a report on Virginia Beach Fishing Center’s Web site said. Lots of big striped bass were docked, and good numbers of 150-pound bluefin tuna were checked in. Weigh-ins this weekend included plenty of 40-pound stripers and a few 50-pounders. No location of the catches was reported. But previously both the stripers and the bluefins were reported caught on the ocean close to shore near the marina. The tuna then were mixed with the stripers. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

Vertical jigging for blackfin tuna was going off, a report on Teach’s Lair Marina‘s Web site said. The jigging is hands-on fishing, “where you hook and fight your own fish,” the report said. The line on the reels is colored, marked in meters. When the captain on the bridge reads fish, he tells the anglers to drop the line down six or seven colors. The anglers count the color changes as the line spools off, “and bam, you’re on the fish,” the report said. The fishing is a blast, it said. A few yellowfin tuna, an occasional, scattered mahi mahi, and ever-present amberjacks were around. In the surf, not much happened. But if anglers put in a bunch of casts in six hours, they’d catch a speckled sea trout or two. “By no means is it hot and heavy,” the report said. “But it damn sure is fun going hunting for them every day.” Two catches of puppy drum were known about from the surf. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Lots of sailfish, king mackerel and blackfin tuna bit, said Capt. Rick Rodriguez from Sea Horse Charters. Fishing was off today on a trip, for some reason. The weather was beautiful and 75 degrees, and plenty of bait was around to catch for fishing. Maybe the weather was too nice. “But tomorrow’s another day,” Rick said, and he hoped the fishing would turn back on tomorrow, and it will likely change in some way.  Otherwise plenty of those fish were usually hooked, and bottom fishing was always an option. Bottom fishing could scoop up good catches of yellowtail snappers, mangrove snappers and mutton snappers. But anglers lately wanted the big game, and Sea Horse Charters prides itself on walloping sailfish and kings. Trips hook the sails and tuna while trolling very slowly, just keeping the line tight, down the offshore edge of the reef in 120 feet, with live ballyhoos, cigar minnows and blue runners. The fish usually hold along a color change or a current edge. Or the trips head for birds working the waters or weed lines and troll. The kings are trolled along submerged structure like wrecks, points and ledges. The winter was unseasonably warm, and the migrations of fish were more scattered than usual. But catches were still being made.  Call: 305-664-5020. Visit Web Site.

A couple of trips steamed last week with Captain Easy Charters, and sailfishing was good, and king mackerel and blackfin tuna were beaten, Capt. Bruce Anderson said. A few sails were fought to the boat each day, hooked on slowly trolled ballyhoos offshore of the edge of the reef, 3 to 5 miles from shore. The kings were tackled in the same area on either trolled ballys or cigar minnows. The blackfins were a by-catch when the anglers sailfished. Chilly weather settled in during a day or two, but otherwise the weather was pleasant. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

Dick Lackman and son Mike jumped aboard one of the weekend getaways to the Florida Keys, Capt. Joe Hughes from Jersey Cape Guide Service from Sea Isle City, New Jersey, said. Joe runs the traveling charters from Islamorada from Christmas to April, mostly on weekends, sometimes on other days, like holidays. Winds blew on the trip Saturday, so the anglers fished close to Islamorada, crushing a bunch of jack crevalles and some barracudas, snappers and assorted other fish. The trip Sunday headed to the back country near Cape Sable, at the western, southern tip of the mainland. More than 25 redfish, two snook, some speckled trout and other fish, including gafftopsail catfish and a big sheepshead, were axed. The redfish were taken on live and Gulp shrimp, and the trips fished with spinning rods, though Jersey Cape also fly fishes. Anglers on weekend getaways can arrive on a Friday, fish all day Saturday and part of Sunday, and get back to work on Monday morning. The trips can be a mini, fish-filled vacation for a large variety of catches, from redfish and specks to sailfish, king mackerel, blackfin tuna and more. Visit Web Site. Call: 609-827-3442.

Costa Rica

Los Suenos

Capt. Pete Wagner, from the Hyper Striper from Highlands, New Jersey, arrived in Los Suenos to fish for the winter on the Dream Girl, he said in an e-mail. He sails on the trips every year. Sailfish 80 to 110 pounds gave up consistent catches, and large mahi mahi were drilled. Bottom fishing shoveled up groupers and snappers. Visit Web Site. Call: 732-212-1847 or 732-688-1933.

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