NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Cod fishing was weathered out the past couple of days on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. That included in the severe cold yesterday that was now subsiding. A trip ran last Tuesday, and the angling was slow in a big swell after the storm. Another sailed Thursday, and the fishing improved, picking cod. Another got out Saturday, and the angling was a little better, catching a few cod at every spot. A few blackfish, out-of-season in New York, bit and were released, and that bite seemed to be declining, because the ocean temperature dropped a couple of degrees. Blackfishing seemed to start shutting down for winter. The water was 42 to 43 degrees on Saturday, and was 44 the previous weekend. The cold snap will have surely dropped the temperature. These trips continued to angle cod in shallows 50 to 75 feet. Cod usually move deeper as the water cools as winter goes on. No baitfish like mackerel and herring were really seen. Boats west of where the Captain Al fished landed mackerel. The mackerel schooled around Ambrose Channel. The cod were clammed on the Captain Al. None was really jigged aboard this season yet. Jigging sometimes works when baitfish are in. The boat is this website’s closest to New Jersey that fishes for cod daily each winter. The trips are running 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

DELAWARE/MARYLAND

Large blackfish were decked from the ocean on charter boats and party boats from Lewes, Del., to Ocean City, Md., last week, online reports said. Some weighed more than 17 pounds, and a good number weighed 10, one said. Then dangerously low temperatures barreled in during past days. That kept anglers off the water.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

Bluefin tuna are hoped to pile into the local ocean in a couple of weeks, said Brigitte from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center. Not a lot of trips sailed from the marina because of weather. A 104-inch bluefin was released on Friday on a trip that also landed yellowfin tuna and blackfin tuna. A trip Saturday drilled yellowfin and blackfin tuna. Visit Website.

Hatteras

Weather was in the high 20 degrees yesterday, a report said on Teach’s Lair Marina’s Facebook page. Wind gusted, and nobody fished. But previously 19 blackfin tuna were reeled aboard one boat. Blackfins and yellowfin tuna are biting. Maybe the cold would “run some drum outta the sound,” the page said. “Hopefully,” it added. Little was doing in the surf this past week. The water was cold. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Islamorada

Mike Spaeder and son Mike fished on traveling trips to the Florida Keys last weekend aboard, said Capt. Joe Hughes from Jersey Cape Guide Service from Sea Isle City, N.J. Joe runs traveling charters to the Keys each winter, and Saturday’s trip pumped in several lemon sharks and bonnethead sharks during sight-fishing. The trip released a medium-sized tarpon and reeled in snappers and jacks. On Sunday’s trip, wind blew 20 or 30 knots, and thunderstorms rolled through in the morning. That was all difficult for fishing. But the trip made it work, bailing a good number of snappers and jacks, a lot of action. It was great, he said. That’s something about the Keys: Something can always be fished for, no matter the weather. Another trip was going to fish yesterday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, from the islands aboard, Joe said before the outing. Visit Website. Call: 609-827-3442.

Marathon

Fishing was on fire at the reef, said Capt. Greg Fabrizi from Manicsportfishing from Keyport, N.J. He’s fishing from the Florida Keys for winter. Catches along the reef, a few miles from shore, and farther from shore included yellowtail snappers, mangrove snappers, groupers, sailfish and more. Offshore of the reef, king mackerel swam everywhere. So did amberjacks. Some African pompano were around. Sharks were always available. A variety of other fish also bit. The angling from the Keys is amazing. “It’s all good. It really is,” he said. This was his first winter of chartering full-time from there, though he ran charters part-time from the Keys previously. Business was also something. Charters kept booking and came from a variety of sources from charter-booking websites to people who walked past the boat from the restaurant at the port. Charters were all happy, because they were on vacation. The only downsides were that you’re on an island, if you’re a charter captain. There’s only so much to do there. Cost of living is also steep. But everyplace has give and take. Follow Manic on Facebook. Call: 908-216-8355.

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