NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Lots of cod were caught Friday and Saturday on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. The fishing was great, and no trips sailed on the next days, Sunday and Monday, in wind. But Tom hoped today’s trip would sail in forecasts for calm wind. On Friday’s trip, cod were pitched aboard the whole time the anglers fished. Many of the cod were throwbacks, but a decent number were keepers. The high hook landed 18, and even more cod were swung in during Saturday’s trip, and the fish were larger. The keeper ratio was much better, and the angling was super. The cod on the trips swam water 60 to 70 feet deep, relatively close to shore. Most caught were clammed, and none of the anglers made much effort to jig the fish. But the crew tossed jigs occasionally, hooking a few of the fish that way for customers. Lots of baitfish were marked on the trips, and were mostly herring, Tom thought. But the cod also spit up sand eels. The cod last year remained in the shallows close to shore like that until late January. Then they suddenly schooled deeper, apparently because of a storm and previous snowfall after snowfall. Cod usually swim deeper gradually in winter, as the water cools. The ocean was 43 to 43 ½ degrees on these last two trips. After calm wind today, the next days are supposed to be windy, so today’s trip might be the only to sail in the next days. The Captain Al is this site's closest boat to New Jersey that fishes for cod daily, and the trips are scheduled for 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

The weekly party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon was weathered out on Saturday with Rudee Inlet Charters, Capt. Skip Feller said. The trip might be docked this coming weekend, too, because of long-range forecasts, but that could change. Cold is supposed to arrive, and wind is supposed to blow, in the next days. The unique trips each winter sail for blueline tilefish and sometimes also a variety of other fish, including black belly rosefish, wreckfish, barrelfish, golden tilefish and groupers. The trips usually target bluelines first. If enough bluelines are beaten, and seas and weather are fair, the trips next push deeper and farther offshore for the other catches. The fishing sails 3 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday throughout winter. Sometimes anglers will be offered to sail on other days, like that Sunday or Monday, if forecasts are better for then. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Website.

Striped bass fishing was opened on the ocean starting on New Year’s Day in Virginia, and was closed starting that day on Chesapeake Bay. Boaters from Virginia Beach Fishing Center sometimes boated the bass on the bay before the bay’s closure, according to reports on the marina’s website. But stripers in the ocean “are not as active,” since the angling was opened there, the reports said. Striper fishing used to be world-class on the ocean off Virginia in winter. But the fish schooled beyond 3 miles from shore, where the angling’s closed, in recent winters. The bass are the East Coast’s entire population of stripers that migrate south to spend winter off Virginia. Sometimes they school as far south as North Carolina in winter, when the season is especially cold. Striper fishing is closed beyond 3 miles from shore year-round along the entire East Coast. Visit Website.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

Bluefin tuna were spotted Friday in the ocean, a report on <b>Oregon Inlet Fishing Center</b>’s website said. That was the most recent report on the site, maybe because weather kept boats from fishing afterward. But the marina’s anglers wait for bluefins to arrive each winter, and that was the first report about bluefins on the site this season. A boat from the fishing center that day returned with yellowfin tuna and blackfin tuna, and released a 200-pound blue marlin. The fleet docked plenty of yellowfins and blackfins recently.  Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

A 20-pound permit was landed on the first cast, and a tarpon was landed on
the third, on a trip with two anglers Wednesday with Capt. Joe Hughes from Jersey Cape Guide Service, he said. Joe told the anglers the fishing would be downhill from there! They also reeled up jacks to 8 pounds, mangrove snappers to 3 or 4 pounds and bonnethead sharks, great fishing, Joe said. Jersey Cape is from Sea Isle City, N.J., but this trip was one of the traveling charters to the Florida Keys that he runs each winter. On Friday from the Keys, Lindsay and Jody Clarkson sailfished with Joe on Lindsay’s boat. Joe’s wife Patty was also aboard, landing her first-ever sailfish, on a trolled, live blue runner. Joe and Patty also fished the Keys throughout last week, and catches included speckled sea trout, big jacks, a snook and bonnethead and lemon sharks. They jumped a tarpon on a fly and had shots at lots of baby tarpon. A charter also fished the Keys last week on Monday with Joe, covered in the last report. A usual variety of fish bit during the week, and the angling was off to a good start. Weather was unusually warm, reaching the 80 degrees and high 70s, and the trips fish from Christmas to Easter each year, mostly on weekends. Visit Website. Call: 609-827-3442.

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