NEW YORK

Point Lookout

A handful of cod, one or two landed at every place fished, were eased aboard Sunday on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said in a phone call. The fishing wasn’t good, but was a definite improvement, he wrote on the boat’s Facebook page. Water temperatures had risen 2 degrees compared with before, and were 38 degrees on the trip. Ocean pout were also hooked, and a couple of small blackfish were released. The trip fished with clams in 90 to 120 feet or in around 17 fathoms. The trip didn’t fish deeper, but deeper is where ling could probably be caught: in 180 to 200 feet. That was the only trip that fished aboard this past weekend, but the Captain Al will be slated to fish for cod and ling 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays the next couple of weeks. The boat will resume fishing daily in about mid-April, targeting the same fish. The trips will fish for porgies when porgies show up sometime in May. The boat last fished daily this winter for cod, like every year. That angling in winter usually starts in late December and peaks in January. During that fishing, the Captain Al is this site's closest boat to New Jersey fishing for cod daily. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

Fishing was scrubbed this weekend on the weekly party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon with Rudee Inlet Charters, Capt. Skip Feller said. That was because of strong winds, but the long-range forecast looks like this weekend’s trip will sail. Whenever the trips fished this past season, catches were good. The fish included blueline tilefish, golden tiles, black belly rosefish, snowy groupers, wreckfish and more. The unique trips sail 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday in winter and early spring. Sometimes, if weather is rough, anglers will be offered to sail on another day, like that Sunday or Monday, if forecasts look better for then. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Website.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

After a windy three days, boats motored out for bluefin tuna Thursday from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, a report on the marina’s website said. Two 100-pounders were bagged, including one that was jigged instead of trolled. Several were released that weighed 90 to 450 pounds, and one blackfin tuna was bagged. On Friday, lots of boats fished for the bluefins on “this fantastic, sunny day,” the report said. Four of the tuna were bagged and weighed 100 to 378 pounds, and many were released that weighed 200 to 475. Two bigeye tuna 148 and 189 pounds were docked, and so were a couple of yellowfin tuna. “Not a shabby day,” the report said. Sunday was also beautiful, and 13 boats headed out for the fishing. Two of the bluefins, a 400-pounder and a 90-pounder, were bagged, and many were lost that broke off. There were a lot of bites. No reports were posted since then, maybe because of weather. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Fishing was good for Captain Easy Charters, and could be different every day this time of year, Capt. Bruce Andersen said. Amberjacks now stacked up thick at the Islamorada Hump and at deep wrecks. Charters pumped in the sizeable, tough fighters on livelined bait like blue runners fished on bottom.  The hump is an underwater dome, 11 miles from shore, that rises 290 feet from bottom, in 600 feet of waters. Sharks were the only challenge there, because sometimes they chomped a hooked amberjack. But the shark fishing itself was phenomenal, and is something that Bruce would like to do more. Tiger sharks like 800 pounds – “and I’m not exaggerating,” he said – large hammerhead sharks, dusky sharks and other sharks gather there in March and April. Closer to shore, wahoos and king mackerel were trolled along the offshore edge of the reef, several miles from port. Wahoo fishing’s been good this year. Sometimes cobia grabbed a trolled, livelined bait like a cigar minnow or a ballyhoo at wrecks offshore of the reef. Mutton snappers were cranked from wrecks. Lots of yellowtail snappers chewed along the reef, when anglers wanted to set up a chum slick for them. So fishing was good for a variety of catches, and sometimes deciding what to fish for was difficult in the morning.  Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Website.

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