Article by Julie Ball
Decent weather has provided anglers with some good opportunities lately. The top species this past week was cobia. Some boats caught up to a dozen fish in an outing, with many pushing between 40 to 60-pounds.
The biggest cobia of the year hit the scale last week. Sight casting expert Aubrey Williams of Chesapeake took the lead in the state for the year with a 101-pound brute he enticed with a skillfully placed live bait. Cobia are starting to transition into their late summer trend of grouping into large schools near the mouth of the Bay and along the ocean front. More fish are also starting to rendezvous with structure, such as bridge pilings and buoys.
Flounder action is still going strong. Dozens of doormats, with some weighing up to 11-pounds, are fulfilling limits for anglers. Big flatfish are striking at jigs and live bait presented along structure in the lower part of the Bay. The Cell area, the CBBT structure and lower Bay wrecks are just a few of the best flounder hot-spots lately. Drifters also enjoyed good catches of nice keepers ranging up to around 23-inches along drop-offs and channel edges. Both Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlets offered good catches of keeper flounder, along with several surprise catches of triggerfish within the Lynnhaven Inlet.
Huge schools of red drum continued to roam off the ocean front and around the lower Bay, especially near the Baltimore Channel. Schools of jack crevelle and tarpon were still spotted roaming in the same areas with the reds this week. Elusive tarpon are thrilling a few enduring anglers with scattered hook ups and releases this week out of Oyster.
According to the folks at the Virginia Beach Fishing Center, the Spanish mackerel fishing along the coastal Virginia Beach is still very good. In general, the fish are on the larger side, with many pushing to over 2-pounds in water ranging from 18 to 40 feet. Plenty of taylor bluefish are also around. A good number of sharks, especially black tips, are sniffing out chum slicks along the coastal and lower Bay waters. Some of these fish were pushing to over 6-feet.
Interest in spadefish has been waning, but smallish fish are still available along the northern span of the CBBT, the four artificial islands, and many inshore structures. It’s been a great sheepshead year, and these fish continue to strike at crab, clam and fiddlers presented along the pilings and tubes of the CBBT.
Croaker are everywhere, and the bigger hardheads are now moving into lower Bay waters. The larger fish have been coming from the deeper areas north of the 3rd island of the CBBT, the MMBT, Back River Reef and the Cell. Many fish are ranging over a pound.
Anglers fishing Oyster are still filling coolers from the back waters. Nice spot hit within Rudee, Lynnhaven and Little Creek Inlets on bloodworms, with some fish still coming from off the concrete ships. Nice sized sea mullet are still available near the concrete ships and Fisherman’s Island Inlet. Speckled trout are becoming more active, especially within the backwaters of the Eastern Shore and Lynnhaven Inlet.
Amberjack are still circling offshore wrecks and the Southern Towers, but the fish are holding tight to the towers lately. Deep dropping is still decent off Virginia. According to Captain Steve Wray, skipper of the Ocean Pearl out of Lynnhaven Inlet, catches of big blueline tilefish, black bellied rosefish and seabass are common lately. His crew produced seven citation tilefish over 10-pounds on a recent trip.
Offshore, billfish action remains good, and more blue marlin have been making a showing lately with the bite spread out from the Canyon to the Cigar. Tuna are scattered, and there are still a few dolphin around, along with some wahoo and mako sharks.
Dr. Julie Ball is the I.G.F.A representative for Virginia Beach, VA. For more information, go to www.drjball.com.
