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Offseason Fishing Report 1-8-19

NEW YORK

Point Lookout

Cod fishing was decent the past few days on the party boat Captain Al, Capt. Tom Weiss said. Some good catches to a 17-pounder were made. Pool-winning cod usually weighed 15, and 4 to 8 pounds was the average weight of cod on the trips. The ocean was 45 to 46 degrees on the fishing grounds, in shallow water 50 to 75 feet deep. Forty-two to 46 degrees is prime for cod, and the fish usually school shallows at first in winter. When the ocean becomes colder that season, they usually pull deeper for warmer water. A few dog sharks bit, but the dogs weren’t much of a problem. A few mackerel and some herring were mixed in. Blackfish, out-of-season in New York, a fair number, were released. Most of those were throwback-sized, and the keeper-sized weren’t huge, a few of them weighing 5 pounds. When mackerel and herring are in, sometimes cod can be jigged. Not many customers tried jigging, but a couple of cod were jigged on one of the trips. Most cod were clammed on the trips. The trips sailed even in sometimes sporty weather forecasts in past days, including on Sunday. But wind was northwest, and that’s not bad in the shallows close to shore the boat is fishing. Land protects seas from that wind direction to an extent that close to shore. The trips head out unless a gale is blowing. Plenty of room, plenty of spaces, have been available aboard this time of year. The boat is this website’s closest to New Jersey that fishes for cod daily each winter. The fishing can be best early in winter, so don’t delay. The trips are running 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. See More Info. Call: 516-623-2248.

DELAWARE/MARYLAND

Now that sea bass season closed beginning on Jan. 1, boaters all jumped after  blackfish from Delaware and Maryland, online reports said. Scuttlebutt said bluefin tuna were sighted inshore during the sea bass trips, but that was unconfirmed. The blackfishing became slower but caught. One captain from Delaware recently said the angling required lots of cruising to put together catches. Trips from Maryland sounded similar. But a few anglers were limiting out. The blackfishing was excellent until about New Year’s. A trip from Delaware then didn’t limit but bagged blackfish that were each 9 to 14 pounds. Trips for sea bass limited on big sea bass farther from shore, like 60 miles, before that season closed.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

Surf-fishing was slow, River from Teach’s Lair Marina wrote in a report on the marina’s Facebook page. Friends beached a few small summer flounder. River banked a couple of very small. Blowtoads disappeared from the water, and small sharks bit in the surf at Cape Point. Surf-angling seemed better at Ocracoke, on the next island south of Cape Hatteras. Flounder and drum hit better there. Visit Website.

Atlantic Beach

None of the boats fished recently from Captain Stacy Fishing Center because of weather, Loretta Davis said. Previously, one or two bluefin tuna and good fishing for wahoos was tied into. One boat from the docks sailed Saturday, landing a sailfish, a wahoo and no bluefins. But the angler said seas were so rough that he “couldn’t really do anything.” Anglers from the marina hope for giant bluefin tuna this time of year. In fishing seasons when they’re arrived in recent years, that was from before Christmas into January. Visit Website.

FLORIDA

Marathon

Fishing from the Florida Keys was insane, Capt. Greg Fabrizzi from Manicsportfishing from Keyport, N.J., said. He fishes the Keys from Marathon in winter. Florida frankly is windy in winter. But customers jump aboard to fish anyway, because they’re only vacationing there a moment and can’t wait. But the fish are there to be caught, and how. The catches aboard included yellowtail snappers at patch reefs. Mutton snappers. Pompano. Cobia. Barracudas. Cero mackerel. Kingfish hooked at wrecks in 200 feet of water on livelined bait. The patch reefs are located inshore of the main reef, and the main reef is 60 to 80 feet deep and is located inshore of those wrecks. Catches also included amberjacks and blackfin tuna at wrecks and the Islamorada Hump. And more. Follow Manic on Facebook.

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