DELAWARE

Indian River

On the Bandit strong currents made tog fishing difficult on Friday, but patrons managed to bag a few, probably 20-some, Capt. Scotty said. The currents continued on trips Saturday and Sunday, and on Saturday a few of the blackfish were landed early, but then they refused to bite on incoming tide, but the fishing was good on outgoing late in the trip. On Sunday the fishing wasn’t good, and patrons had difficulty holding bottom with 16- and 18-ounce weights. Pool winners were generally 11 pounds on the trips, and the boat fished in 80 to 90 feet, and the water was 43 to 44 degrees or warm. Tog fishing’s been off compared with last year, but some of the slipperies were biting,  considerably more than farther north in Jersey, where the bite is pretty much shut down for the winter. The Bandit, sailing from Belmar, N.J., from spring through fall, is fishing for tog from Indian River, Del., through March for the second winter in a row. Delaware’s waters get less pressure and are somewhat warmer than Jersey’s, keeping the tog biting later in winter, and Delaware’s bag limit is 10 of the fish through March, while Jersey’s is four. Individual-reservation trips, usually made up of two or more groups, but also open to single reservations, are sailing Fridays through Sundays, and charters are running the rest of the week. No walk-ons are accepted. The individual-reservation trips are full this coming Friday through Sunday and are almost full the following weekend. So the trips are popular, and call ahead to reserve your spot. But some dates are open for charters for small and large groups the rest of the days. A local hotel offers a discount for patrons from the boat. The crew of the Bandit is also starting to look ahead to the boat’s spring season in Jersey that will start with bottom fishing for ling, sea bass and such in mid April. Charter bookings are being accepted for Jersey. Call: 732-692-9521. Visit Web Site.

VIRGINIA

Virginia Beach

Boaters from Virginia Beach Fishing Center yesterday probably sailed only 3 miles total from the marina to fish the ocean, and all limited out on striped bass, John Crowley said.  Virtually all boaters were limiting out on the rockfish every day, so the fish were still being caught like crazy. Practically everybody was trolling, and a few small blues were hitting, but not many. No speckled sea trout or other fish were really biting, and the fishing was all about the stripers. But the head boats, sailing 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. every Saturday, returned with a mess of sea bass this weekend, and some groupers were also taken. Virginia Beach Fishing Center features a marina, a tackle shop, charter boats and party boats and is located near the beach, boardwalk, hotels, ocean and Chesapeake Bay, near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.  Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

Striped bass that anglers had been boating in the ocean while running north from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center were no longer hooked, but one boater Sunday reported grabbing stripers at the inlet, Katie Gaskins said. The report from the marina last week also said the stripers to the north had disappeared, so it looked like they were gone for the season. Weather had been too rough for boaters to fish until that day, and another customer the same day headed offshore and put the brakes on yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna and bluefin tuna. Visit Web Site.

Hatteras

When the weather was decent enough for fishing, anglers were boating quite good catches of puppy drum in the sound, said Dave Hissey from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. Grubs, Gotchas, Tsunamis and such soft plastics fooled the fish, and white seemed the go-to color, and falling tides on the right days were the key. Lots of puppies were also beached from the surf on the north side of Cape Point almost a week ago, and a few were located on the south beach, but overall surf fishing was slow. Artificials also got the attention of the pups in the surf, and waters close to shore were 52 degrees, about the same as they had been a while. When the weather allowed offshore boaters to make the trip, they deep-jigged excellent catches of blackfin tuna and trolled fairly decent numbers of bluefin tuna. Jigging with butterfly jigs on 60- to 80-pound braid was really taking off. Visit Web Site.

LOUISIANA

Venice

Yellowfin tuna failed to hit the deck of the boat for Capt. Scott Avanzino from Paradise Outfitters in a week as of Saturday, and the weather was rough, he said in the report on Paradise’s web site. The weather was also looking shaky for a trip scheduled that day, but by 5:30 a.m. winds were fairly calm the past 8 hours, so a charter left the dock. They ran all over the Gulf of Mexico but finally connected with a 45-pound wahoo.  Then they made up for a lack of tuna by hammering beeliners or vermillion snappers, and king mackerel and bonitos also swam the slick. On Friday there was another beeliner bashing on the vessel, and the charter also reeled in four blackfin tuna, numerous bonitos and a huge amberjack for an “action rich day,” the report said. Anglers on several other boats came back with similar catches. On Thursday a charter looked everywhere for wahoos with no luck, but they limited out on snappers that were feeding like mad and bailed six blackfins, lots of kings and a load of bonitos. Fishing for big, triple-digit yellowfin tuna usually turns on through March in the Gulf, and charters have already caught their fare share in past weeks this year. The Allisons should continue to be found this season. Paradise fishes offshore in the Gulf for big game and also targets the Gulf’s rigs and wrecks for snappers, cobia, groupers, amberjacks and such. Call: 985-845-8006. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Clearwater/Tampa/Tarpon Springs

Above average temps and plenty of sunshine added up to excellent early season angling, and all the migrating fish were beginning to show up, said Capt. Rich Knox from Absolute Flats Fishing in an e-mail. Baitfish were swimming just offshore, and huge schools of Spanish mackerel to 7 pounds and a number of king macks to 40 pounds weren’t far behind. Snook were beginning to appear at the mouth of the Anclote River and along the mangroves on the river’s islands. This was top-water plug time, and skill was needed to keep the snook that averaged 12 pounds from escaping into the ever-present structure. Some of the deep-water canals and springs along the rivers were giving up small tarpon, and more and more redfish and big speckled sea trout were arriving. Spring slam trips for snook, redfish and trout are being booked, and so are giant tarpon charters in May and June in world-famous Boca Grande. Call 727-376-8809 or 800-890-9373 or Visit Web Site.

Miami/Fort Lauderdale/Boca Raton

Lots of crazy weather, rains and up and down temperatures were making fishing erratic through the week, and a few sailfish, mahi mahi and kingfish were hooked when they happened to appear, but no big concentrations of the fish turned up, said Capt. Ron Mallet from the Just Add Water. Live pilchards drifted in 100 to 200 feet, only 1 to 2 miles from shore, grabbed the strikes. The water was 74 degrees, warm for this time of year. Somewhat of a cool front was expected later this week, and anglers hoped that would trigger more fish to migrate to local waters from up north. Rains kept a charter from fishing the ocean yesterday, so they targeted the harbor instead and fought jack crevalles and barracudas on live pilchards and light tackle. Fishing for the jacks was better than angling for the ‘cudas lately, because nearshore bait was turning on the jacks. The harbor fishing is one of the great things about Just Add Water, because customers always have the option of light-tackle-busting action in the back waters when the ocean is too rough or simply when charters such as those with children prefer the calmer water. Call: 954-423-8700. Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

Lots of different species were hitting, and much of the action took place in deep water from 250 to 450 feet, Capt. Bruce Anderson from Captain Easy Charters said. Bottom fishing there produced vermillion snappers, red snappers, yelloweye snappers and blackfin snappers among other fish. Some amberjacks such as an 80-pounder drilled yesterday were also hauled up. What’s more, good numbers of king mackerel could be hammered in shallower water closer to shore around the reefs, where lots of wahoos also roamed, and so did some sailfish. So fishing was very good, Bruce said. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

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