While much of the Northeast party boat fleet has been tucked away for a long winter’s nap, there are plenty of boats sailing and catching, giving fishermen the chance to ring in the next decade with some fresh fillets.
New Jersey and Long Island
Black sea bass season closed on December 31 in New Jersey and New York, so the offshore wreck trips are off the table until next winter. In their place, boats around the New York Bight will be sailing for blackfish, ling, and cod.
The Norma K III out of Point Pleasant, NJ made a few stops for blackfish on January 2, and found good life at most of them. The high hook went home with a limit, and a few other anglers were just shy. The Norma K III will be running blackfish trips, weather and fishing permitting, through January and into February. Winter tog fishing runs hot and cold, but on most days, the tog will be biting, and patient fishermen can count on returning to the dock with some fresh fish.
The Dauntless out of Point Pleasant is sailing daily at 7:30 for ling and blackfish. Their most recent report indicated that ling are starting to show, and that fishing should improve as the winter wears on. As of New Year’s Eve, fishermen aboard the Dauntless were enjoying a mixed bag of ling, cod, mackerel, pollock, and blackfish. The Dauntless sails every day that weather allows year ’round.
The Mimi VI out of Point is still sailing for tog, and reporting good catches recently. Tog fishing can get tricky as the water temperature continues to fall, but right now, it’s still tolerable for the tog. The tog will bite all winter, but feeding windows become narrower in the colder waters.
The Viking Fleet out of Montauk kicked off their winter cod trips this week. They had been targeting a mixed bag of sea bass, ling, cod, and more with limited success during the waning days of 2019, but with sea bass closed, they’ll be focusing solely on codfish going forward.
The Laura Lee Express out of Captree is running weekends now, targeting cod and ling. The trips on 1/4 and 1/5 have been cancelled, but 1/11 and 1/12 are a go, weather depending. While ling will dominate the catch, the occasional larger cod keeps things interesting.
New England
At the end of the year, the Rhode Island cod fleet was finding a mixed bag of mackerel, blackfish, sea bass, big bergalls, and some cod. The Rhode Island cod fishing has been fair the past couple years, but not as good as it was 5 to 10 years ago. Every year is different, however, and this year’s cod season is still young. Seven B’s V will be running cod trips on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays only. Captain Rich aboard the Frances Fleet reported a slow pick on the codfish, with fish to 12 pounds and high hook taking home 5 to 6 fish.
Farther north, where cod are off limits, the boats from Eastman’s Docks in Seabrook Beach, NH, have had a great start to the year with big pollock and Acadian redfish filling boxes. With the good fishing (and few other boats sailing in the region), trips have been selling out, so you’d be wise to make reservations.
While the Helen H out of Hyannis didn’t have any trips listed, their schedule is up, and fishermen will be able to book trips beginning on January 6. The Nantucket Fluke trips will go quickly, so if you’re hoping to ride the Helen H to the Shoals, you’ll want to decide on a date fast.
Where are the ice reports? Freshwater?
Where are the ice reports?
How’d bout a few south Jersey fishing reports? Whats with the NE reports???
ice report the cubes in your freezer are ready bout the only ice in s.e. ma right now and wont b any anytime soon 50s this week bit of a warm start to ice fishing season
Where is the regular weekly fishing report for NY?