NEW YORK
Point Lookout
Ling, no cod, were scooped up during the weekend on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. The angling was slow, and when cod are in, trips get after them aboard. Otherwise, the trips fish wrecks for cod, ling, pollock or whatever will bite. The boat is running 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Friday through Sunday. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.
DELAWARE/MARYLAND
Reports were scarce from this area. Sometimes anglers head to Delaware for blackfishing in winter. The ocean can be slightly warmer off that coast than farther north, and that can make the tautog bite in winter, while the chew is slow farther north, because of cold water. One online report mentioned a 16-pound blackfish landed off Delaware this past week, and that was the only news about the fishing. Maybe the ocean was too cold off Delaware. This has been a year when the ocean was colder than in recent years, after the severe cold snap around the first of the year.
NORTH CAROLINA
Atlantic Beach
None of the fleet fished in some time because of weather like strong wind, said Loretta Davis from Captain Stacy Fishing Center. By now, the boaters seemed to give up on trying for bluefin tuna. A shot of the tuna gave up catches in December for maybe 10 days. Then the season for bluefins was closed a moment, until reopening this month. But none of the anglers found bluefins again. Sometimes the tuna can stick around in January and even February. Currently, the anglers seemed to give up on bluefins and begin preparing for spring fishing. Some of the boaters had been commercial bottom-fishing, reeling up sea bass, vermillion snappers and triggerfish. They seemed to give that up and begin preparing for spring charters, too. The bluefins were somewhere this month, just not in range of the local fleet. The tuna begin migrating north soon, and are sometimes caught off Hatteras and Oregon Inlet in the next couple of months. Visit Website.
FLORIDA
Islamorada
Fishing was sometimes weathered out this past week aboard, but a trip sailed yesterday with Captain Easy Charters, Capt. Bruce Andersen said. King mackerel to 25 pounds were decked just offshore of the reef on live bait fished on kites in 150 feet of water. The trip also fished along the reef, about 3 miles from port, bailing a mess of yellowtail snappers. The outing also cranked in a bunch of vermillion snappers, a bigger snapper, in 250 feet of water a little farther from shore. Early last week, before rough weather, trips also nailed sailfish and blackfin tuna the same way that yesterday’s trip drilled king mackerel: on live bait on kites just beyond the reef. Call: 305-360-2120. Visit Website.