NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Cod, good catches, were pounded Thursday and Friday on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. The fish schooled shallow in 60 feet, and will push deeper, and farther from shore, as the ocean becomes colder this winter. Seventy-five feet was the deepest any numbers of cod swam currently. On the trips, most of the cod were clammed, but a few were jigged for the first time this season aboard. Herring were also jigged, and lots of big piles of herring were marked on the last four or five trips. No mackerel were seen, and trips were weathered out Saturday and Sunday. Cod fishing resumed on the boat Monday, but the weekend’s winds, from the south, had riled up the ocean’s bottom, slowing cod fishing. Though catching cod in the shallows close to port is convenient, stirred up bottom that can shut off fishing quickly can be a drawback in the skinny waters. Cod fishing peaked around this time of season the past couple of years off Point Lookout. The Captain Al is this site's closest boat to New Jersey that’s fishing for cod daily. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

The weekly party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon was weathered out this weekend with Rudee Inlet Charters, Capt. Skip Feller said. The trips deep-drop mostly for blueline tilefish but also other catches including black belly rosefish, wreckfish, barrelfish and sometimes, when trips sail deeper, golden tilefish and groupers. The unique trips are slated for 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday each winter. Sometimes anglers are offered to sail on other days, like a Sunday or a Monday, if weather looks better then. In other news, no striped bass were really caught from the local ocean. None of the rockfish was entered in a tournament for them this past week from Virginia Beach.  Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Web Site.

No striped bass were entered in the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shoothout held Thursday to Saturday, a report on Virginia Beach Fishing Center’s website said. The prize money was raffled off among entrants, and this was the first time that none was entered in the annual tournament. One striper, a 30-pounder, was entered in the contest last year, winning the trip’s anglers the prize money, $180,000. About $150,000 was up for grabs this year. The 30-pounder not a large striper for Virginia Beach, where the bass from the entire eastern seaboard migrate to spend much of winter. The fish caught often weighed 40 pounds, sometimes 50 or more, in past years. Currently, plenty of stripers schooled beyond 3 miles from shore off Virginia, but striper fishing is closed there, in federal waters, year-round. Stripers now also swam Chesapeake Bay, where striper fishing was closed starting on January 1, like every year. The fishing is opened on the ocean within 3 miles from January 1 through March 31 each year.  On the day before the tournament, Wednesday, a trip docked a limit of six stripers to 38 pounds for the three anglers aboard. That was some of the only news about stripers bagged from the ocean from Virginia Beach this season. Anglers hope the fish swim into the legal fishing grounds this winter, from either farther from shore or the bay. In past years, striper fishing was tremendous from Virginia Beach in winter. Boaters bagged the most and largest stripers in the world from the port for a time then. Bluefin tuna were bagged from the same waters for a winter or two recently. Nothing was reported about the tuna caught this year yet. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

A real mix of fish put up good angling with Captain Easy Charters, similar to previously, Capt. Bruce Andersen said. Sailfish, mahi mahi and blackfin tuna were slow trolled on livelined baits along the offshore edge of the reef, a few miles from port. Sometimes wahoos were high-speed trolled on large lures. Some cool fish – an African pompano and a cobia – were in the mix while anglers aboard bottom-fished at wrecks with livelined cigar minnows. Sometimes during winter cobia will be targeted aboard with live baits pitched toward big rays seen along the surface. The rays kick up forage that the cobias follow. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

The next traveling charters to the Florida Keys will fish this weekend with Capt. Joe Hughes from Jersey Cape Guide Service from Sea Isle City, N.J., he said. Snook, redfish, speckled sea trout, jacks and tarpon are some of the fish that will likely be targeted, from the bay behind the Keys to the Everglades in the mainland.  The fishing’s been good, covered here in past weeks, and Joe runs the trips annually from Christmas to Easter, mostly on weekends, sometimes on holidays. One option is to arrive on a Friday, fish all day Saturday and part of Sunday,  return Sunday evening, and be back to work on Monday. But the schedule is flexible. Visit Web Site. Call: 609-827-3442.

COSTA RICA

Los Suenos

Fishing was very good for sailfish, dorados, a few marlin and bottom-fish on the <b>Dream Girl</b> from Costa Rica, Capt. Pete from the Hyper Striper from Highlands, N.J., wrote in an e-mail. He runs the Dream Girl form Costa each winter, and usually starts fishing from Highlands on the Hyper again by April. Spring striped bass charters are being booked on the Hyper, and the schedule does fill up. Reserve dates while available. But jump on the Dream Girl now. :) Office: 732-872-4094. Boat: 732-688-1933. Visit Web Site.

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