Welcome to the first Offseason Report of 2008 to 2009!

Virginia Beach

Wonder where striped bass off New Jersey have been headed this fall? “We’ve been catching them about two weeks real good,” said Capt. Steve Richardson from Backlash Sport Fishing. The linesiders stack up along the ocean off Virginia Beach through the next two or three months, staying last year until April. A trip yesterday with Backlash left port at 1:30 p.m. and came back with a limit of the fish by 2:30 p.m. The fish were located 2 miles straight off the inlet, but they can appear a little south or a little north, as different schools come through. For some reason the rockfish also tend to be large, many of them lately averaging 20 pounds, with a few 30-pounders mixed in, and Steve knew about several 40-pounders drilled. On yesterday’s trip the bass averaged 18 to 22 pounds, and the sizes can vary on different days, also depending on the school. The charter trolled the stripers on 9-inch, white and chartreuse, rubber shads. Striper fishing is a focus on the vessel now, but trips for bluefin tuna and swordfish are available. A few bluefins topping 100 pounds were caught this week, and lots of swords were boated at night lately. Call: 757-286-0711. Visit Web Site.

“Wide open,” said Capt. Mike Standing from Waterman Sportfishing.  “All you want.” That’s how he described striped bass fishing. Charters with him nailed the linesiders left and right. A trip yesterday morning knocked down a catch 4 miles to the north, and another in the afternoon put the breaks on the fish 3 miles straight off the inlet. The bass that day weighed 12 to 20 pounds and were trolled on rubber shads on leadheads. Trolling will catch the most, but live bait like eels can attract bigger ones to 40 pounds or even 60 pounds. They grow them big here! Bluefish to 12 and 15 pounds also schooled around. Bluefin tuna fishing was on a tear last week, although it tapered off this week, and swordfish, steady catches, were hauled in at night, and Waterman also charters for both. Anglers aboard can also bottom fish for groupers, tilefish and sea bass, great fishing at this time of year. Call:  757-753-3113. Visit Web Site.

Weekly party boat trips on Saturdays for offshore wreck-fishing got weathered out the past several weeks, said Capt. Skip Fuller from Rudee Inlet Charters. But the trips, when they sail, are going after sea bass, blueline tilefish and a few groupers at Norfolk Canyon. Private boaters who fished the waters on days with better weather cleaned up on catches. The 16-hour party boat trips, pre-paid and limited to 40 passengers, are running 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. each Saturday through winter. The 65-mile run takes 3 or 3 ½ hours to reach the first wrecks at the canyons. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Hatteras

Surf casters sometimes dusted fair catches of speckled trout, puppy drum and black drum, depending on the weather, said Damon Gray from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina.  Strong winds often blew. Rubber grubs got the trout to bite, and cut mullet or other baits were the favorite for drum, and the wash was in the upper 50s. Not much could be angled in from Pamlico Sound, and puppy drum filled the sound all winter last year, but that depends on the year and the water temperature. Visit Web Site.

Morehead City

Giant bluefin tuna , fish that can average 250 to 800 pounds, started pounding the trolling spread the past few weeks, were just beginning to appear, said Capt. Shane Brafford from Second to None Charters. One trip on the boat lambasted a double-header of 89-inchers, and another muscled in an 83-incher that weighed 259 pounds dressed. Weather was rough much of the past week, and the boat’s latest trip left port Saturday morning in calm seas while the full moon was hanging in the dark sky. But winds began to whip when the sun rose. By mid morning a 74-inch bluefin pummeled a trolled ballyhoo and was subdued, the boat’s fourth giant of the season. The fishing can last until early February but usually peaks in December and January, a short season. The tuna roam 4 to 8 miles off Morehead City, and were first discovered in the waters a dozen years ago, when king-mackerel anglers started getting run-offs that spooled reels. The giant fishing faithful now make the annual pilgrimage for a chance to fight bruisers that can potentially weigh 1,000 pounds, the mother of all sport fish. “Imagine standing by the side of the road and hooking a passing truck!” Shane said. “That’s about what it’s like.”   Call: 252-422-0066. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Miami

Sailfish, good numbers, swarmed along the coast the past three or four weeks, said Capt. Frank Godwin from Sonny Boy Sportfishing. Probably 250 were caught and released in a recent tournament, and his charters whacked catches on live bait like threadfin herring or goggleyes fished three per kite. Trips only sail about 3 ½ miles from shore to land them in 90 to 150 feet. King mackerel also ran rampant in shallower waters 60 to 90 feet, also attacking live bait. Tons of Spanish mackerel schooled even shallower, fun to play on light tackle on live bait like pilchards while chumming with the baitfish. A trip today was going to fish the reefs for black groupers, barracudas or whatever else showed up, like mutton snappers or cero mackerel. Call: 305-361-2217. Visit Web Site.

Three-hundred sailfish were released in a tournament Saturday and Sunday, so the fishing was starting, said Jackie from the Blue Waters II. Live bait got the bites along the current edge 2 or 3 miles from shore. Kingfish were live-baited or trolled a bit closer to shore, and huge false albacore sped through the same waters. Spanish mackerel swiped trolled spoons or feathers in 30 or 40 feet near the beaches. At the reefs groupers chomped, and amberjacks began to appear at the wrecks. The vessel hunts all these fish, and Jackie also passed on the news that anglers on smaller boats started to whack 50- to 200-pound tarpon at Government Cut, the entrance to Miami Harbor, while fishing shrimp or crabs. Call: 305-373-5016. Visit Web Site.

Clearwater/Tampa/Tarpon Springs

Speckled seatrout, 20- to 28-inchers, put up a mess of strong fights on light, 6-pound spinning tackle, said Capt. Rich Knox from Absolute Flats Fishing in an e-mail. This time of year is great for finding the fish along the holes on the flats. Everything from baits including shrimp, pinfish and mullet to lures including Berkley Jerk Shads, MirrOLures, shrimp imitations and gold spoons got pounced. Snook fishing turned on at night around the dock lights in the Anclote and Pithlahascotee rivers, and juvenile tarpon 5 to 10 pounds haunted the deep bends of the rivers and up some of the deep canals. Charters use electric motors to stalk the tarpon, looking for rolls on the surface, tossing livelivined shrimp for a hook-up, leading the fish 5 to 10 feet. What’s more, the outflow at the Anclote Power Plant turned up a mixed bag of big trout, redfish, pompano, permit, jack crevalles, cobia, bluefish and ladyfish, AKA the poor man’s tarpon. Looking ahead, now’s the time to book giant tarpon charters for late April through June in Boca Grande, world famous for its run of the silver kings. Huge schools of the fish from 100 to 200 pounds flood the passes, beach front, harbor and sounds, putting up tough, acrobatic battles, something every angler should try. Call 727-376-8809 or 800-890-9373. Visit Web Site.

Boca Grande Pass/Pine Island

Trips with Reel-Ality Sportfishing mostly bottom fished, wrangling in groupers and snappers along the wrecks and rough stuff 8 miles from shore, Capt.Larry said. Gag groupers and lots of small reds came up, but every other trip hauled in a 35- to 50-pound Goliath grouper. The snappers included mangroves and muttons. The boat would get set up along the rough bottom, and chum, such as frozen bait from previous trips, would be mixed with sand in a baseball-sized clump and thrown overboard, dispersing through the area, attracting fish. Hooked baits sent down on bottom rigs included chunks of ladyfish or bait like pinfish that Reel-Ality would catch. The bigger groupers love pinfish. Ladyfish swam all over and were caught, and Spanish mackerel also popped up all around and were landed on spoons, popping plugs or shiners. Speckled trout season is closed until January 1, but lots were reeled in earlier this year close to shore. Redfish and snook could also be stuck closer to shore. Although May and June are the most popular months for tarpon fishing at Boca Grande, billed as the tarpon capital of the world, they can be wrestled in throughout the year during certain conditions and on certain baits. Winds blowing in the direction of the tides work best. Call: 239-471-0875 or 215-932-8411 (cell). Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

One trip last week walloped 10 sailfish, said Capt. Bruce Andrerson from Captain Easy Charters. Sailfishing now was pretty much red hot, a great start to the season. That’s a lot different from scarcer sails last year. Many of the sails lately on his trips were hooked in 100 to 150 feet between 3 to 5 miles from shore. But a fair number were also tackled in 20-foot shallows on the inshore edge of the reef closer to shore. Fishing there is a great, because anglers on the boat look for showers of ballyhoos busting the surface, getting chased by sails. The boat sneaks up, and the anglers pitch a bait. Reef fishing on board also produced plenty of yellowtail snappers, mutton snappers, groupers and such fish 3 miles from shore.  Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

Yellowtail snappers, king mackerel and even an occasional sailfish were reeled aboard daily trips on the party boat Miss Islamorada, Capt. Ben Loy said. The types of fish varied day to day, and for example loads of yellowtails were pulled up yesterday, but fewer were found a previous day, but then the kingfish made a stronger appearance on that trip. The snappers are hooked on dead bait on bottom rigs, and the kings, averaging 10 pounds, are fooled with either live ballyhoos or a chunk of dead bait on a jig bounced up and down, fun fishing. A 45-pound kingfish was pummeled on the boat yesterday. Sailfish might be a rare catch on some head boats, but the live ‘hoos supplied on this vessel can attract them, like when fished on kites, and patrons so far this season landed 15, including one yesterday. The boat usually starts fishing at the patch reefs 3 miles from shore and ends up 4 miles from land in 90 feet, only a half-hour trip from the dock. The Miss Islamorada sails 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from world famous
Bud N’ Mary’s Marina. Call: 305-664-2461. Visit Web Site.

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