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Offseason Fishing Report 2-2-16


NEW YORK

Point Lookout

A handful of cod were waxed Thursday, and a handful of cod and ling were hung Sunday, on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. Those were the two days the daily trips for cod sailed recently. Kind of slow, he said, but the ocean was 41 degrees. That’s still okay for cod fishing, he said, and dogfish backed off that were a nuisance until recent trips, and anglers hope cod fishing improves this week, as the ocean settles. Last week’s ocean was affected by the previous weekend’s blizzard. No mackerel and herring were seen, though sometimes both were hooked previously aboard. Lots of unidentified readings were marked. When readings are herring, the fish are usually hooked on the trips. Different depths were fished on the two trips, and only 100 feet or deeper gave up bites. The boat is this site’s nearest to New Jersey that fishes for cod daily each winter, and the trips are running 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

DELAWARE/MARYLAND

The ocean temperature dropped to 38 degrees near Maryland’s coast, so the water was probably too cold to hold striped bass, online reports said. One trip was reported to search for the fish, finding none. Another report said stripers probably still swam the rips at the mouth of Delaware Bay near Delaware, and that this past weekend probably offered weather to sail for them. But no trips were reported to do so. Weather was too rough for boating most of the week previously, since the blizzard two weekends ago.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

With Rudee Inlet Charters, the weekly party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon was weathered out Saturday, Capt. Skip Feller said. Long-range forecasts look like this coming Saturday’s weather will be fair, and the trip might sail. Catches on the unique trips can include blueline tilefish, golden tilefish, black belly rosefish, wreckfish, barrelfish and more. The trips usually fish for bluelines first, and if enough are caught, and enough usually are, and seas are calm enough, the trips then push deeper, targeting the rest of the catches. The canyon is several hours from port, and the trips sail 3 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday each winter. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Website.

No recent fishing reports were posted on Virginia Beach Fishing Center’s website, and the most recent report, posted more than a week ago, said no boaters from the docks landed striped bass from the ocean. When the marina’s anglers are boating the fish, frequent reports are usually posted. Locals are also waiting to see whether bluefin tuna show up near the coast, like they do during some winters.  Stripers winter off Virginia, after migrating from the north in autumn. Fishing for the bass was world-class during winters in the past off the state. In recent winters, stripers off Virginia seemed to school beyond 3 miles from shore, where fishing for them is closed. Sometimes stripers migrate as far south as the ocean off North Carolina, when winters are cold. This winter’s been mild so far. Visit Website.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

This was prime blackfin tuna season, and that couldn’t be stressed enough, a report said on the website from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. A bunch of citation blackfins were docked. The tuna must be 20 pounds or larger to earn a citation from North Carolina, and blackfins caught this time of year are bigger than in summer. Charters sailing from the marina were into the tuna and amberjacks.  One boat returned with a 138-pound amberjack that was 85 inches long. Along the surf, not a lot of anglers fished, “but the ones that are, are eating fish on a regular basis,” the report said. Lots of puppy drum were around. Fresh shrimp and jigs with artificial grubs banked them. A few speckled sea trout swam the surf “here and there, if ya work at it,” it said. A few blow toads hit, and a few sea mullet chewed. The mullet entered the surf when the water warmed, when wind blew from southwest. Visit Website.

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