Fri., March 29, 2024
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Offseason Report 2-28-17


NEW YORK

Point Lookout

A handful of cod per trip were bagged Friday and Saturday on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. Sunday’s trip stayed docked, because forecasts for wind and cold kept anglers from showing up. Wind blew fairly strongly. Tom hopes to fish deeper water and see if cod school there on this weekend’s trips, if weather is better. Last weekend’s trips caught the cod in shallow water 60 to 80 feet deep. A few spots were fished in 100 feet, but none of the fish showed up there. Trips aboard had been finding cod in the shallows until now, though cod usually school deeper by this time of year, seeking warmer water. The unseasonably warm ocean, 41 degrees during the weekend’s trips, seemed to keep cod in the shallows later than usual this winter. Maybe now was time to find them deeper. A few blackfish, out-of-season in New York, were released on the trips. Loads of bait was marked, especially outside inlets. Bunker were beginning to push into bays. The boat is this website’s only that targets cod exclusively this time of year. The trips are sailing 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Friday through Sunday. If cod are in, the trips target them. Otherwise the trips wreck fish for cod, pollock, ling or whatever will bite. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

One of the head boats from the marina, the Rudee Angler, began jigging mackerel 6 to 10 miles from shore, a report said on Virginia Beach Fishing Center’s website. The fishing was incredible, and the migration hadn’t swum within range in 20 years, a report said yesterday on the boat’s website.  Net boats began finding the mackerel in catches a few weeks ago, so the crew from Rudee Angler decided to check it out. They were glad they did, and now trips are running for the Bostons every Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. How long the fish would stick around couldn’t be known, so fish for them soon. Puppy drum and sometimes speckled sea trout were hooked from Rudee Inlet. Most anglers at the inlet targeted the drum, fishing cut mullet. When they tried for the trout, they fished Gulps or MirrOlures. Some anglers scored blackfish at wrecks. Otherwise, inshore fishing was slow. Nothing was mentioned about striped bass in the report. Visit Website.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

A few bluefin tuna were docked at Oregon Inlet Fishing Center so far this season, Denise MacNamara said. They’re coming in, she said, and she expects a good month of fishing for them. March is typically the time for the angling. But a couple of 400-pounders and a 500-pounder were already seen at the marina. A 93-incher was brought in Friday. All hands on deck took a turn at cranking the fish in before the tuna was landed. Yellowfin tuna and blackfin tuna bit for the fleet. If trips headed offshore currently, those fish were available. Visit Website.

Hatteras

A photo of a 101-inch bluefin tuna was posted on Teach’s Lair Marina’s website. Keeping it real, a report with the photo said. “(We pride ourselves) to not report unless there is picture proof,” it said! Another report on the site talked about a trip that smoked blackfin tuna last week on Monday. On the next day, none of the tuna could be found. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

A half-day trip yesterday bailed yellowtail snappers at the reef aboard, said Capt. Bruce Andersen from Captain Easy Charters. Yellowtail fishing’s been great, and trips on the boat tangled with “a little of everything,” he said. In previous days, blackfin tuna and some sailfish were tackled aboard. That was just offshore of the reef, 4 or 5 miles from port. King mackerel also swarmed those waters. Fishing last week aboard fought bull sharks to 310 pounds. The sharks stalked the same waters but also the Islamorada Hump. That’s a mound that attracts fish 11 miles from shore, rising 290 feet from bottom, in 600 feet of water. The sharks chase kings in the waters closer to shore and get after amberjacks at the Hump. Amberjack season will be opened beginning Wednesday, and Captain Easy will jump on them. The a.j.’s already gathered at the hump, and anglers with Captain Easy sometimes hooked them by mistake and released them. Amberjacks are a tough-fighting, strong fish, like a bluefish but bigger, up to 40 pounds. Good sport. Weather’s been mild this winter at Islamorada and is warm. “Pretty nice,” he said. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Website.

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