Thu., March 28, 2024
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Upstate N.Y.
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Offseason Fishing Report 2-13-18

NEW YORK

Point Lookout

A few cod and ling were pitched aboard Friday and Saturday on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. The fishing was slow, and the cod weren’t big. But angling might’ve begun to pick up, because bergals gave up better action than before. Maybe winter’s slowest fishing hit bottom and was on the rise. Small blackfish, out of season in New York, were also hooked and released. The ocean was 38 to 38 ½ degrees at the depths fished, 75 feet to 160. No trip sailed Sunday in rain, but trips are slated to fish 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Friday through Sunday. The boat will be in the ship yard beginning March 1 for a couple of weeks for maintenance, so no trips will fish then. When cod are in, the boat targets them. Otherwise, trips fish wrecks for cod, ling or whatever will bite. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

DELAWARE/MARYLAND

Little was reported about fishing in this area yet. Maybe that will change before long. Brackish water in rivers and creeks, warmer than bays and the ocean this season, can be some of the first places fished in the year. Yellow perch are hunted in the lower stretches of tributaries off Delaware Bay in Delaware, once the perch begin biting. But the fish seemed yet to hit, because of cold water. The bay itself was in the upper 30 degrees. Farther upstream can be a place for bites on some rivers and streams. Nanticoke River, on the Delaware and Maryland peninsula, was fished farther upstream, tossing up good catches of yellow perch, white perch, sometimes throwback-sized striped bass, and crappies, according to online reports. But the water was cold enough that bloodworms failed to catch the white perch, one report said. The cold “seems to drain the blood from the worm,” it said, so the perch seem to lose interest. But grass shrimp nabbed the perch. The throwback stripers gathered mostly near the Delaware and Maryland border on the river. A place called the Hawk’s Nest was the hot spot, the report said. Striper fishing is closed in rivers and bays this time of year, so the stripers, even if they were keeper-sized, had to be released. During some winters, boating for blackfish on the ocean is popular from Delaware. But the ocean was cold this year, slowing the angling. A trip fished from Virginia Beach, another report said, two weekends ago, cranking up blackfish, sea bass and mostly dogfish from ocean wrecks. Ice froze on the deck and windows. 

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

Boaters from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center ran into a good number of yellowfin tuna 20 to 40 pounds, Norma York said. A few trips fished for them from the marina, including one on Wednesday and another on Friday. A few blackfin tuna were also taken. A few bluefin tuna caught on commercial boats were heard about. One weighed 393 pounds. Not a lot was reported about bluefins, but some were around. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

A little of everything bit for Captain Easy Charters, Capt. Bruce Andersen said. Lots of king mackerel, lots, smashed live bait fished just offshore of the reef the past couple of weeks. Some sailfish pounced during that fishing, and a few mahi mahi, from schoolies to gaffers, none heavier than 12 pounds, were mixed in. A 35-pound African pompano, an uncommon catch, was nailed on a live bait, a cigar minnow, fished along bottom for mutton snappers while a charter from Belmar, N.J., fished for kings aboard. At the reef, a few miles from port, bottom-fishing for yellowtail snappers was becoming better, because of warming water. The fishing had already been good. Call: 305-360-2120. Visit Website.

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