NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Catches, mostly cod and a few ling, were very good last week, close to shore, on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. The fishing was best on Friday, when the 16 anglers aboard iced 80 cod. A southerly swell slowed the inshore angling Saturday and Sunday, so the boat was moved farther off. Cod and ling were caught there, but dog sharks were a nuisance. But things should settle. The fish landed closer to shore came from 55- to 70-foot depths. The ones taken farther off came from 90 to 110 feet. A handful of mackerel began to be hooked for the first time this season aboard. Some of the cod spit up herring, “and we see piles of bait around,” Tom said.  When cod are chasing fish or bait like mackerel or herring, they can sometimes be jigged, and a few cod were jigged aboard for the first time this season. Most were nabbed on clam. Pool-winning cod weighed 17 or 18 pounds every day, including through the weekend. The Captain Al is this site's closest boat to New Jersey sailing for cod daily, and the fishing usually peaks in January. Trips run 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

With Rudee Inlet Charters, the weekly party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon fished Saturday, Capt. Skip Feller said. Anglers crushed a good catch of sea bass and blueline tilefish. A few bluefish were clubbed, and the trip also spent a little time fishing deeper, and the catch included two snowy groupers, including a 35-pounder. The trip’s fishing was good. The day was foggy, but seas and winds were calm. Long-range forecasts currently look like this Saturday’s trip will sail. 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. Catches can include sea bass, blueline tilefish, golden tilefish, black belly rosefish, wreckfish, barrelfish, groupers and more. 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.

At first, boating for striped bass was slow on Monday, a report on Virginia Beach Fishing Center’s Web site said. All of the sudden, huge schools of stripers appeared in the ocean just off Rudee Inlet, and the fish, large, began to be weighed in, one after another. The bass caught averaged in the low 30 pounds, and most weighed in were about 40. A 55-pounder was biggest, and two 50- and 51-pounders were checked in. Until late last week, few stripers swam close to shore recently. On Thursday, one of the charters telephoned the marina, saying he was returning with stripers, and all boats caught the fish, though none limited out. This was amazing news, the report said. The bass were also boated through the weekend, including limits on Sunday. The report sounded like Sunday was the better day for the angling. What’s more, a few bluefin tuna started to be checked in from the ocean just off the inlet. The tuna appeared there, swimming among stripers, last year for the first time, and anglers hoped for a repeat this year. Six bluefins – weighing 169, 200, 217, 221, 227 and 358 pounds – were docked Saturday, and a 200-pounder was weighed in Sunday. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

Weather was beautiful, approaching 70 degrees, several days through the weekend, and fishing turned on, from the sound to the surf to the offshore ocean, a report said on the Web site from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. In the surf, speckled sea trout, not a ton, but some, showed up, and puppy drum were sometimes beached among them. Surf fishing became much better than in a while. On Pamlico Sound, puppy drum were smoked. “Wow, is all I can say,” the report said. One boating trip pumped them in all day. On the offshore ocean, blackfin tuna fishing was “unreal,” the report said, and one trip returned with a mess of king mackerel. A photo looked like about 18 of the fish were aced. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Sailfishing was good, and quite a few sizeable blackfin tuna were smashed while trips aboard sailfished, Capt. Bruce Andersen from Captain Easy Charters said. The sails were caught along the offshore edge of the reef, a few miles from port, on either slow-trolled, live ballyhoos or the ballys pitched when sails were seen showering bait. Seven sails was the best catch of them in the past week’s charters. Occasional king mackerel and wahoo were in the mix. But sails and blackfins 15 to 20 pounds were the main catch. Weather was sometimes windy and rough, but winter was mild so far. Not many cold fronts rolled in. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

Lots of yellowtail snappers were bailed along the reef several miles from the dock on the party boat Miss Islamorada, Capt. Ben Loy said. The boat limited out almost every day. Bags of frozen chum were dangled along the water surface, and anglers free-lined chunks of bait into the slick, hooking the yellowtails near the surface. On Saturday, after yellowtail fishing was finished, the trip sailed around to search for sailfish. One was spotted and caught on a pitched bait. A sail was also landed on a bait from a kite aboard that day. On Monday’s trip, after a few yellowtails were plucked, the trip fished deeper, and lots of snappers and porgies and a few hogfish were tugged in. Trips dealt with windy weather that somewhat churned up waters, but sailed nonetheless, and caught. Visit Web Site.

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