Virginia Beach

Trips clobbered striped bass, a good catch, Saturday, beat a decent catch of the fish Sunday, and angled a slower catch Monday, said Capt. Bill Richardson from Backlash Sport Fishing. The fish were moving around, had to be located day to day, and were scattered on Monday. They schooled 40 miles to the south in the past days but were out there, and the boat does sail for them at that distance. The weather kept them from shooting north. Sometimes the fish held within 3 miles from shore, where fishing for them is open, and sometimes they pushed beyond 3. The Coast Guard was thick on the waters, making sure boats fished within the legal grounds. Few boats fished for the rockfish anymore, because many had moved on to other angling this season, but Backlash will continue nailing them. The light pressure helped in some ways and was challenging in others. Was good for anglers to have the fish to themselves, but fewer boats on the waters meant less word about where the fish popped up day to day. Eventually the stripers will move north, closer to Virginia Beach, until they swim up Chesapeake Bay to spawn. The fish are the largest concentration of stripers anywhere, are fish that tumbled down the coast from up north to spend the winter. The population is largely the entire body of stripers that spend the warmer months off the Northeast Coast. Call: 757-286-0711. Visit Web Site.

The weekly party boat trip to Norfolk Canyon was weathered out Saturday, said Capt. Skip Fuller from Rudee Inlet Charters. The long-range forecast for this Saturday’s trip looked calm. The last trip that steamed to the waters, fishing two Saturdays ago, did a job on lots of blueline tilefish. Forecasts that had called for diminishing seas that day turned out incorrect, so the trip stayed in shallower waters that mostly hold bluelines, instead of reaching deeper waters that can harbor golden tilefish, groupers and blackbelly rosefish. A bunch of out-of-season sea bass were caught and released on the blueline grounds. The trips, sailing 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Saturday, hook mostly blueline tilefish, a few golden tiles, blackbelly rosefish and snowy groupers. Limited to 40 passengers, the trips are only $170 per person, a great price for offshore angling. Call: 757-422-5700 or 757-425-3400. Visit Web Site.

NORTH CAROLINA

Oregon Inlet

One boat from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center on Monday released nine bluefin tuna and kept one, a 175-pounder, Rachel Gaskins said. The fish were bigger this year, and others docked this past week included a 179-pounder and a 176-pounder. Yellowfin tuna should arrive in April and May, and many anglers already booked trips with the marina’s charter vessels. Mahi mahi should also begin to be seen around then. On inshore boats anglers often released 50 or 60 striped bass, keeping only their limits, and many of the fish weighed 35 to 45 pounds. The stripers were located 30 miles to the north, near Duck, after schooling right off Oregon Inlet earlier this winter. Ones that were weighed in during the past days included a 58-pounder, several from 44 to 47 pounds, and a couple of 39-pounders. Visit Web Site.

Hatteras

Fin Seeker Sport Fishing relocated the boat to Hatteras, an annual move after sailing from Virginia Beach for striped bass, to hunt big game, Capt. Bob Robinson said. A trip Sunday beat bluefin tuna and blackfin tuna. “Smacked them hard,” he said. A 168-pound bluefin was kept, and the bluefins ranged 100 to 200 pounds. The bite went down 35 miles to the northeast, between Hatteras and Oregon Inlet, probably 25 or 30 miles from the coast. More of the trips are supposed to run Friday to Sunday. In three weeks, when waters are warmer, yellowfin tuna should show up, and wahoos, mahi mahi and billfish should begin to be walloped. Grouper fishing will also begin any time on the vessel. Call: 757-618-7421. Visit Web Site.

Bluefin tuna, plenty of the fish, were dusted up, said Aaron Midgett from The Roost Bait & Tackle at Teach’s Lair Marina. Most weighed 160 to 170 pounds, and a 185-pounder was the biggest docked at the marina. One yellowfin tuna was brought in during the last three days. Some boats did a little bottom fishing offshore, too. Surf fishing was slow since the weekend or so, for no apparent reason. Previously a few puppy drum were beached, turning on one day and not the next. Visit Web Site.

FLORIDA

Lake Okeechobee

Largemouth bass fishing was best on the lake in the afternoons, when waters warmed during this colder winter, said Capt. Angie from Captain Angie Douthit Guide Service. So adjustments had to be made because of sluggish bass in the low temperatures, but a variety of top-waters, Rat-L-Traps, spinner baits and such artificials connected. Rubber worms also worked, and a 4-1/2-pound largemouth, the biggest on a trip Monday, was landed on a top-water lure but regurgitated a black rubber worm. Bigger, female bass seemed to be waiting for temperatures to become more consistent instead of fluctuating in the cold fronts. An East Texas Big Bass Lure, a top-water with props on both ends, worked best on the trip, caught all the fish, and plastic baits were also fished. The plastics can also hook up, but technique matters, such as casts placed perfectly in the holes in vegetation. Winds were calm that day, the first beautiful day in some time, though air temps only reached 58 degrees, very cold for Florida. Cloudy or off-color waters hold more heat, so targeting them was key. Angie saw off-color waters that were a full degree warmer than other areas, and slightly higher temperatures can make a difference. The anglers on the trip had originally wanted to fish for a combo of largemouths and crappies. But the lake’s crappie fishing was sluggish, and the anglers stuck with largemouth angling. Crappies swam the lake, and the schools could actually be smelled. But they were reluctant to bite in Okeechobee. Crappie fishing was better in the Kissimmee River at night. Waters were cold, but the lake’s average depth, 13 ½ feet, was normal. The depth was helpful for boaters unfamiliar with the lake to avoid depths that were too shallow or to avoid rocks or corral in Okeechobee. Corral in a lake might sound strange to northern anglers. But Okeechobee was probably once a hole in the ocean. Angie noted that Okeechobee is a natural lake, not an impoundment. It’s a huge body of waters, covering 735 square acres, home to tremendous largemouth bass fishing. Angie, a professional bass angler who guides when not competing, enjoys fishing for the lunkers with artificials. She’s up on the latest techniques and likes to teach, and some anglers take a trip just to learn. Call: 863-228-7263. Visit Web Site.

The cold – low temperatures that continued much of this winter – made the lake’s largemouth bass fishing more challenging than usual, but steady catches were made, said Capt. Butch Butler from South Florida Bass Fishing. Anglers aboard fished with shiners, and live bait can attract more bites than artificials when the bucketmouths are sluggish in the chill. Smaller shiners than usual can help in the cold, but otherwise the baits are fished in the usual way: a foot and a half under a bobber along edges of vegetation. Lake conditions were perfect, with clear waters, lots of vegetation and a mean depth of 13 ½ feet, a normal depth. Warmer days were all that was needed. Temperatures never rose higher than the 50s on a trip Saturday, and rains fell. Crappies bit at night in the Kissimmee River, a river that dumps into Lake Okeechobee, but crappie fishing was slower in the lake itself. Butch fishes for crappies in the river and lake, tossing small minnows or jigs, and many anglers visit just to take advantage of the area’s great fishing for the slabs. Shell crackers, or red eared brim, nibbled on wiggler worms in the lake, and a few bluegills pounced on crickets in the waters. Call: 863-634-5431. Visit Web Site.

Boca Grande/Pine Island

Cold weather, frigid waters and rough seas made some fishing difficult, but trips loaded up on other fish, said Capt. Larry Conley from Reel-Ality Sportfishing. Trips fished in Pine Island Sound a few days, avoiding seas in the Gulf of Mexico, and a few speckled sea trout and some sheepshead came up. The trout were reluctant to bite in the cold, but some were taken on Gulp shrimp, while the sheepshead were hooked on pieces of real shrimp. But a trip Monday, when winds finally calmed, ran out to the Gulf. Seas were subsiding but remained up to 5 feet. However, they were more of a roll than a chop, not bad. First the anglers fished 10 miles from shore, bailing fish on every cast, a thorough mix of grunts, mutton snappers and small red and black groupers, on live shrimp. Then the trip pushed out to 20 miles at the box car reef, tangling with good-sized gag groupers, some mangrove snappers, and amberjacks that were probably just shy of the 30-inch keeper size. The groupers chomped big, live pinfish, and the mangroves and a.j.’s inhaled live shrimp. The reef’s fishing for amberjacks, big, powerful fish, can sometimes be great. Amberjacks swim within short range from shore at this time of year and in the warmer months will move farther from the coast, like 100 miles. Larry was hoping to catch a goliath grouper on the trip, and none showed up this time, but goliaths are found in nearly all waters, from the passes to the Gulf. They can grow up to a whopping 600 pounds, but most caught on the boat weigh 50. But the 50-pounders are also amazing to catch, and anglers have to exert skill and have luck to land them. Goliaths, when hooked, rush into structure like holes, often breaking off the line. Larry talked about hooking 80-pounders one day at the pass, and he had to hook the fish with the rod in one hand, while throttling the boat with the other to keep the fish from diving into structure and breaking off. New Jersey anglers might be surprised that such large fish gather that close to shore, but lots of big fish do. A 1,000-pound hammerhead shark was landed at the pass last year, and huge sharks like bull sharks show up in the area during tarpon season, feeding on the tarpon -- big, 100- to 200-pound fish themselves. Tarpon fishing at Boca Grande, the Tarpon Capital of the World, usually begins in late April, and Reel-Ality goes after them. Larry wondered whether the cold winter would make them show up late, but it might not. Call: 239-471-0875 or 215-932-8411 (cell). Visit Web Site.

Fort Lauderdale

Weather fronts after weather fronts kept sailfish on the move, but a few were around, said Capt. Mark Fann from Fanntastic Fishing. King mackerel fishing was solid, and both blackfin tuna and hammerhead sharks began to arrive, should stick around through spring. Amberjacks could be tackled at the wrecks, and occasional cobia swiped baits near the bottom at the same wrecks. The snapper and grouper seasons will open April 1. Call: 954-288-1055. Visit Web Site.

On a couple of days when winds blew from the east, party boat trips with Flamingo Fishing limited out on king mackerel, Rebecca Moudy said. The rest of the trips bottom fished, mongering catches including grunts, triggerfish and snappers. One of the night trips sailed, bailing plenty of king mackerel, until fog rolled in so thick that the boat returned to port early. Anglers could hardly see a hand in front of their faces. But rough weather that plagued many other boats failed to affect Flamingo much, because winds usually blew from the west. Land then shelters waters where the boat fishes, no more than 3 miles from shore, while seas farther out get rough. Three trips sail daily 8 a.m. to 12 noon, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Call: 954-462-9194. Visit Web Site.

Miami

Anglers aboard were going to sail this afternoon, after the weather kept most trips docked, said Jackie Glinski from the Blue Waters II. The days had been cold and rough, and waters were 68 degrees, very cool. A few sailfish swam farther offshore than expected, and occasional king mackerel were around. But she would know better how fishing was shaping up after today’s trip. Another cold front was expected today, but hot weather was forecast for next week, and anglers crossed their fingers that the worst of this unusually frigid winter would be finished. Cold isn’t necessarily bad for sailfishing, because the fronts can push the fish south to local waters to seek relative warmth. Jackie last week talked about amberjacks that were fought at the wrecks a couple of miles off Dade County, and those fish should be around. Swordfishing during the daytime, instead of the usual nighttime, should also be available in deep waters. Expensive electric reels are used to haul the swords up from the depths. Sharks such as hammerheads usually arrive in March to June. Call: 305-373-5016. Visit Web Site.

Islamorada

Big amberjacks, fish that became abundant a week or two ago, kept swarming around the Hump, located 11 miles from shore, and wrecks, said Capt. Bruce Anderson from Captain Easy Charters. Charters wrestled them in and also almaco jacks in the same waters. Live speedos, bullet bonito and 2-pound blackfin tuna hooked the a.j.’s, and small baits including the speedos attracted the almaco’s. Blackfin tuna 20 to 25 pounds put up a good catch on a charter Monday, and the way they were caught was cool. The tuna fed on flying fish, and when that happens, the crew hangs dead ballyhoos from kites, so they skip across the water surface, imitating the flying fish, eliminating the sight of the leader from the leader-shy tuna, too. The blackfins fly out of the waters, exploding on the bait. That type of fishing only works best when the fish crash flying fish, but when they do, the hook-ups are awesome. Mutton snappers were pumped in from the wrecks 3 to 4 miles from shore, and yelloweye snappers were reeled up from the bottom along the reef in 400 feet. Fishing was good, Bruce said. Call: 305-451-9578 or 305-360-2120. Visit Web Site.

A full load of anglers fished aboard the party boat Miss Islamorada on Monday, piling up 60 lane snappers and a bunch of porgies, both great-eating fish, from wrecks 4 miles from shore, Capt. Ben Loy said. Pieces of squid or shrimp were dropped down with 4- to 6-ounce weights to the 120- to 200-foot depths. That’s about how fishing went on trips recently, and lots of jacks were also mugged. Yellowtail snappers became slower to bite because of fluctuating temperatures because of several cold fronts. Yellowtails don’t mind the cold so much as they mind changes in temps. Temps sometimes plummeted to the 40s, and Monday was beautiful with a high of 68 degrees, but another cold front was supposed to drop the air down to the 40s now. A few king mackerel were drummed up on trips in the past week, but the population was scarcer than before, and they seemed to move out. A mako shark was hooked from the boat two or three days ago, took big, spiraling leaps into the air, thrilling customers, until the fish predictably bit through the line and got off. 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.