VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

Striped bass fishing has slowed down, and bluefishing has taken over, said John Crowling at Virginia Beach Fishing Center. The blues were schooling 18 to 30 miles offshore, and the stripers either pushed off to those waters or started swimming up Chesapeake Bay for the spring spawn. Virginia’s striper season closes after March 31. No catches of mackerel were heard about yet, and none of the head boats from the marina were running for macks so far. But the head boats were still fishing for sea bass and tog, and the sea bass fishing was great 50 miles offshore, and plenty of the humpbacks were jumbos. Tog fishing was still slow, and the head boats sail every Saturday on full-day trips.  Anglers were starting to talk about bluefin tuna that can now probably be caught 35 miles offshore along with the bluefish, and boaters generally start to run for the bluefins by the first week of April. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

Anglers on two boats from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center took a course offshore yesterday and came back with limits of yellowfin tuna, Jenny Lippincott  said. The yellowfins were medium-sized, and the boaters also caught and released undersized bluefin tuna. Not much was biting in inshore waters, but bluefish, Spanish mackerel and drum should be on their way soon. Later in the season fish like flounder and trout will get bagged. Visit Web Site.

Hatteras

Large drum sometimes started running in the surf at Cape Point and southern Ocracoke, said Dave Hissey from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. The water reached 60 degrees, about the temp when drum start showing up. Many of the fish were larger than the legal maximum size of 27 inches, so they had to be released, but some 24- to 27-inch keepers were thrown in. Cut baits were the meal ticket, and the numbers of drum will increase during spring as ocean temps rise, and southwest winds were blowing this week and should bring warm water. No lack of skates and dogfish also filled the wash, and the dogfish have been thick this year. Several boaters pointed the bow offshore and found yellowfin tuna, scattered wahoo and a few undersized bluefin tuna. Nobody was really boating inshore yet. Visit Web Site.

LOUISIANA

Venice

A charter looked all over for wahoos for a moment Thursday before finally landing four nice-sized ones that were the catch for the day, said the fishing report on Paradise Outfitters’ web site. The anglers had planned to hunt wahoos, cobia and mangrove snappers before rain nixed those plans, forcing the boat to leave the dock later than usual, but the day ended up calm and dry, with T-shirt weather by the afternoon. On a charter last Tuesday the crew was pumped to hammer lots of wahoos that were caught the previous day, but the fish had disappeared from the spot, and the first bite came elsewhere late in the day. But then two wahoos, including a good-sized 65-pounder, and three blackfin tuna were bagged among a few other tuna bites and also king mackerel attacks, including one mackerel bite that left a row of teeth in a downrigger ball. Another crew that day picked up three big yellowfin tuna that weighed 80, 90 and 100 pounds. Last week on the previous day, Monday, a charter got into lots of action, with 20 bites and eight fish landed: six wahoos, one decent-sized yellowfin tuna and a cobia. The fish this winter seemed to keep moving, and no one spot consistently produced catches for any length of time. Paradise Outfitters fishes for big game and also targets rigs and wrecks for species like snappers, cobias, groupers and amberjacks. Call: 985-845-8006. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Clearwater/Tampa/Tarpon Springs

All inshore fish—snook, redfish and speckled seatrout--were biting, and live pilchards were taking them near the islands, oyster bars and rock piles, Capt. Rich Knox from Absolute Flats Fishing said in an e-mail. Cobia were sometimes showing up on the flats or at certain channels and along some channel markers or also on the reefs and rock piles a little ways from shore. On the flats the cobia ride behind big stingrays, waiting for the rays’ flapping wings to stir up bait fish, crabs and shrimp. The custom tower on Rich’s boat allows him to cruise and look for a big torpedo shadow tailing a ray, and anglers throw a bait in front of the fish and hold on, and 50-pound cobia are not uncommon in spring. In other locations charters chum for the cobia with a chum block and live bait fish. King mackerel and Spanish macks were putting up fights in good numbers off the beaches, and anglers caught them on fluorocarbon, 80- to 100-pound test for the kings and 40 for the Spanish, because the macks seemed to shy away from other lines and also wire leaders. Book now for giant tarpon charters that start soon in world famous Boca Grande a short trip to the south. Call 727-376-8809 or 800-890-9373 or Visit Web Site.

Jupiter

Fishing screeched to a halt, and all the sailfish seemed to move 15 to 20 miles to the south off Boynton Beach, south of Palm Beach, said Capt. Tony Matarese of Showtime Sportfishing Charters. A cold front pushed through, and normally that would trigger a run of fish locally, but not this time. Nothing much else was biting either, and fishing seemed to be in transition, later in the season than usual, and now anglers were probably waiting for summer-like fishing, when big dolphin, false albacore, king mackerel and nearly all species show up. That action usually lasts until the heat of August and, like all the local fishing, takes place only 4 miles from shore. The full moon is coming April 1, and that could jump start fishing. Bait fish will also arrive with the new migration of fish, and currently Showtime is in trolling mode, because that’s better than waiting for the occasional bait fish to show up. Eventually charters will switch to swimming live baits, when Tony can reliably catch his own, like sardines and greenies. Water temps were 78 degrees, normal for this time of year. Call: 561-743-6942. Visit Web Site.

Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton

Windy weather kept most trips from sailing the ocean, but a charter snuck out yesterday and went 1 for 3 on sailfish in bumpy seas on the verge of being too rough, said Capt. Ron Mallet from the Just Add Water. Other boaters also seemed to score one or two sails apiece, and the sailfish still seemed to be around, if the weather would allow boaters to make the trip, and the fish should be caught another month. Ron’s charters always grab the sails on live pilchards fished on everything from kites with baits fished up top to flat lines with baits just below the surface to deep lines, depending on where the chew is happening that day. But because seas were usually too kicked up for anglers on charters, Ron fished a lot in the back waters this week, and his anglers loaded up on plenty of jack crevalles and barracudas. The jacks averaged 3 to 5 pounds, and some were big, and one was a 20-pound whopper. The ‘cudas were smaller and 5 to 10 pounds. One of the advantages on the Just Add Water is that the vessel can fish the back when the ocean’s throwing a heave. Forecasts were also calling for winds to 30 knots for much of the coming week, so Ron was expecting to spend time haunting the canals again, chasing the jacks and ‘cudas on light tackle and live pilchards, a blast on the light rods. The ocean was 77.3 degrees, very warm, and the winter chill was apparently finished, and it never really arrived this year. Call: 954-423-8700. Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

Anglers with Captain Easy Charters were taking advantage of evening shark trips that usually take place at this time of year, and the sharks were absolutely tearing up the place, Capt. Bruce Anderson said. Mostly blacktips from 40 to 80 pounds were running off with baits, and they put up a tremendous fight, with jumps and other bad-temper action. A charter Friday did battle with five or six blacktips, a couple of nurse sharks, and one bull shark, and the most incredible site was an 800-pound hammerhead that attacked one of the hooked blacktips, eating the smaller shark in half within 10 feet from the transom! Whoa! Keep your hands and limbs in the boat folks! The fishing takes place only 5 minutes from the dock, and small tarpon were also starting to be mixed in at the same spots. More and more tarpon will arrive, and tarpon fishing peaks from May to July. Both sharks and tarpon are hooked on fish carcasses from other types of trips earlier in the day, and Bruce chums with fish scraps from the earlier trips. Those daytime trips were catching plenty of snappers at the reef, a few amberjacks at deep-water structure and some dolphin far offshore. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

Windy weather was keeping Pretty Work Charters from running offshore, so anglers onboard were mostly reef fishing for good catches of yellowtail snappers in the past days, Capt. John Oughton said. Snappers from 1 ½ to 4 pounds were boated at the reef 3 or 4 miles from land, and groupers were occasionally mixed in, and a few king and cero mackerels could also be found along the reef. The winds made fishing tough, but the crew was working hard and putting together a catch for anglers. Charters on the Pretty Work were looking forward to dolphin fishing offshore when the weather clears up, and dolphin season should start turning on any day, maybe in the next week or so. The mahi are caught at the Gulf Stream 14 miles or farther from land. During the previous week Pretty Work had been nailing a mess of cobia along the sand flats, but cobia prefer clear water, and there was no point in targeting the lemonfish in the stirred up water in the rough seas this past week. Call: 305-481-6527. Visit Web Site. 

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