NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Every trip picked cod on the party boat Captain Al, and a 26-1/2-pounder, decked this weekend, was biggest, Capt. Tom Weiss said. Ninety-five percent of the cod hooked were keepers, and 5 to 12 pounds was the average size. A few bigger were mixed in. The trips fished in 55-foot depths to 80-foot, where cod are usually found at first in winter. The fish usually push deeper as the ocean becomes colder. The water was 51 to 51 ½ degrees, the same temperature for some time now. A few of the cod were jigged, and the rest were clammed. Plenty of herring schooled, especially in the shallower depths.  The Captain Al is this site's closest to New Jersey that fishes for cod daily. The trips, sailing each winter, are running 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. No trip will fish on New Year’s Day. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

DELAWARE/MARYLAND

Striped bass finally arrived off the coasts of Delaware and Maryland, three weeks late, online reports said. But seas and weather mostly kept boaters from sailing for them. Fewer of the stripers showed up within 3 miles from shore, where fishing for them is legal, than anglers preferred, so far. Some were concerned the fish might’ve been migrating 8 or 10 miles from shore. Stripers were sometimes still boated farther north. Anglers had a window of weather last week when they decked the fish at the mouth of Delaware Bay, during a late-day bite. Stripers might’ve also remained in the ocean off southern New Jersey, and maybe farther north in the state. But weather gave boaters little opportunity to try for them.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

The southern migration of striped bass was yet to migrate to the ocean off Virginia, a report said on Virginia Beach Fishing Center’s website. Chesapeake Bay’s stripers remained 40 or 50 miles up the bay, because of warm weather. Fishing for stripers in Virginia on the ocean is legal beginning January 1. Fishing for them on the bay is open currently and closed beginning January 1. One trip on a private boat bottom-fished on the day after Christmas, docking sea bass, triggerfish, a tautog and some summer flounder. Sea bass bit well, but sea bass season will be closed beginning January 1. Visit Website.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

Surf anglers beached speckled sea trout at Avon and farther north, a report said on the website from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. Photos of solid 3-pounders were seen at the shop, and anglers hoped colder water pulled the fish farther south to Hatteras soon. The water’s been warm, like in September. Maybe that would keep the trout biting longer than usual this season. The warmth kept plenty of bluefish, some of them big, hitting at Cape Point. Good-sized sea mullet swam the surf, and a few summer flounder bit for surf casters. In Pamlico Sound, specks, flounder and drum were boated. One boat sailed offshore yesterday, tying into blackfin tuna and a wahoo. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Three sailfish were tackled aboard yesterday, and on the day before, a couple were, and fishing for them’s been good, said Capt. Bruce Andersen from Captain Easy Charters. Some big blackfin tuna – including 30-pounders yesterday – were pasted during the sailfishing. Both fish grabbed live baits like ballyhoos trolled along the offshore edge of the reef, a few miles from port. Trips also bottom-fished at patch reefs inshore of the main reef, toggling up catches like lots of yellowtail snappers. An 18-pound mutton snapper was cranked in during the patch-reef fishing the other day. This was a warm season, so far, and the weather was 82 degrees at 6 p.m. yesterday, when Bruce gave this report in a phone call. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Website.

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