VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

The weekly party-boat trip to Norfolk Canyon was weathered out on Saturday with Rudee Inlet Charters, Capt. Skip Feller said. Weather forecasts began looking questionable for the trip toward the end of the week. By Friday afternoon, forecasts looked rough. Skip was glad the trip was called off, because weather indeed became tough. Long-range forecasts look good for this Saturday’s trip. On the most recent trips, lots of blueline tilefish were crushed. Catches on the trips can also include black belly rosefish, wreckfish, barrelfish, golden tilefish and groupers. What’s more, sea bass season was opened this month and in February. Trips were already catching and releasing sea bass when the season for them was closed. The unique trips, running 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday, sail to Norfolk Canyon, 4 to 4 ½ hours from port, each winter. Sometimes when weather is predicted for a Saturday, anglers will be offered to sail on that Sunday or Monday, if weather looks better then. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Web Site.

Weather was rough, and not a lot of trips boated for striped bass, according to reports on Virginia Beach Fishing Center’s Web site. But a few sailed on Saturday, and the high hook docked six stripers to 34 pounds. The fish that day were smaller, and less abundant, than the rockfish boated around Christmas. Stripers recently swam both Chesapeake Bay and the ocean, and the fish in the bay were migrating toward the ocean. Striper season was closed on the bay but was opened on the ocean on January 1 in Virginia. One boat attempted to sail on Sunday, but turned around, because of winds. Some fished on Monday, running into good catches of healthy-sized stripers. That was all the detail the reports mentioned. Few reports were posted around Christmas, also apparently because of weather. But a report on December 23 said stripers in the ocean schooled a little north. A 43-inch striper was checked in that day. That report also talked about bluefin tuna. None of the tuna showed up locally so far this season. Last year, bluefins swam 2 miles from shore, in the same places as stripers. Whether that fishery was a fluke remained to be seen this season. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

Few fished, because of weather, a report said on the Web site from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. But a couple of boats sailed offshore, and anglers on both cranked in blackfin and yellowfin tuna. Another trip sailed for drum on the ocean, catching plenty. Surf fishing was slow, and few days were fishable there, too. Drum were occasionally beached. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Trips averaged two to six sailfish landed apiece, and fishing for sails, and other catches, was good with Captain Easy Charters, Capt. Bruce Andersen said. Sailfishing peaks in winter in the Florida Keys. Sails are caught year-round there, but more of the fish migrate to the waters in winter. The migration seemed to arrive. The fish were caught along the offshore edge of the reef, 3 to 5 miles from shore, in depths 40 to 150 feet. The fish were either trolled on live bait or hooked on pitched live baits, usually ballyhoos for both. Pitched baits can be used when sails are found showering bait along the surface. Blackfin tuna, mahi mahi, king mackerel and cero mackerel were mixed in when trips sailfished. Charters aboard mainly fished for sails, because that’s what they wanted. But a couple of trips bottom-fished on the reef, pumping in good catches of yellowtail snappers. Weather became somewhat cooler than before, but daytime temps reached at least the low 70s, on most days. The low 50s was the coolest that nights became. Cooler weather draws in migrations of fish like sails and kings. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

Many fish, including large, were mugged during the past week with Jersey Cape Guide Service, Capt. Joe Hughes said. Jersey Cape, from Sea Isle City, New Jersey, runs traveling charters from the Florida Keys in winter, usually on weekends. But Joe always begins the trips throughout the week between Christmas and New Year’s. The fishing got off to a good start. Several trips, fishing from near the dock on the bay to the back waters along the mainland, clobbered redfish, speckled sea trout, snook, black drum, mangrove snappers, jacks, ladyfish and more. Lots of fish. Trips usually fought a 60-pound tarpon or two apiece, to boot.  Waters were warm, and fish were aggressive. Catches on the trips were drilled on jigheads with either Gulp New Penny Shrimp or live shrimp or flies. Fish sizes included reds to 8 pounds, snook to 8 or 9, and jacks to 10. The tarpon, decent-sized, can be caught all winter, if an angler knows where to find them. Anglers can arrive on a Friday, fish all day Saturday and part of Sunday, and be back to work on Monday. The trips, fishing from Christmas to Easter, can be a mini, fish-filled vacation. Visit Web Site. Call: 609-827-3442.

Quite a few yellowtail snappers bit on a trip Monday, New Year’s Eve, on the party boat Miss Islamorada, Capt. Ben Loy said. The fish were a mix of throwbacks and keepers, but weighed up to 4 pounds. That’s a large yellowtail. The trip fished at the reef several miles from shore. Chum bags were placed in the waters, and the anglers flat-lined chunks of bait on the hooks, letting it gradually sink into the slick, on light tackle. In other words, no weight was used on the lines. Weather was windy that day, but a catch was made. During the previous week, the week between Christmas and New Year’s, always one of the busiest aboard, because of holiday travelers, lots of porgies, a few big mutton snappers and some groupers were landed. Those trips fished at wrecks and corral a little farther from shore, in 130 feet.  Coming up, trips will fish for king mackerel, if kings migrate in. Big schools usually migrate once cooler weather starts. Cold fronts did begin. The tough-fighting, good-tasting kingfish, averaging 5 to 15 pounds, are fun on light tackle. Visit Web Site.

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