Article by Julie Ball
The summer fishing season is picking up momentum. With good weather, warmer days and cooperative fish, this trend should continue.
Cobia is still the big news, and with good reason. Cobia hunters are thrilled that the smaller fish of prior weeks were joined by the big boys last week. Dozens of large cobia, ranging from 50 to nearly 90-pounds, responded to anglers all over the lower Bay last week. Boats using the chumming technique are having good results from the Buckroe area off Hampton, to the Inner Middle Grounds and the Nine-foot Shoals closer to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Sightcasters are having the best success, with many boats scoring with double-digit hook-ups while cruising the lower Bay and Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) areas. Local pier anglers are also landing a few small cobia lately.
The red drum bite is still good, as big reds continue to hit along the surf of the Eastern Shore barrier islands, and at Buoys 8 and 10 near Nautilus Shoal, and the Nine-Foot Shoal area. Blue crab is the best bait for bottom fishing for reds, while peeler crabs, bunker and mullet work well in the surf. Some anglers are also finding topwater action as schools of red drum continue to cruise off the oceanfront lately.
A few black drum are still taking clams near Buoy 13 and 16 off the Eastern Shore, but the majority of the schools have moved on to the islands of the CBBT, where scattered blacks are taking lures intended for rockfish around the islands of the Bridge Tunnel.
There is finally developing news on the flounder front. The bite is still improving, with more anglers reporting limits of bigger fish. Some flatfish pushing close to 9-pounds are taking drifted minnows and cut bait near the islands of the CBBT. Anglers jigging and working live bait along the pilings and over the tubes of the Bridge Tunnel are also scoring with fish, with the 1st and 2nd Islands most productive lately. Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlets are still giving up above average numbers of keepers, with many flatties averaging to around 20-inches this past week. Both the bayside and seaside areas of Oyster, the Cell and the Buoy 36 area are producing better flounder numbers for drifters recently, with a few doormats also in the mix.
Reports of speckled trout for the release anglers and plenty of healthy puppy drum continue to come from mostly within Lynnhaven Inlet and Mobjack Bay.
Nice bluefish and medium-sized croaker are available all over the lower Bay. Bigger snapper-sized bluefish, ranging to about 6-pounds, are still lurking inside Rudee Inlet recently.
The HRBT, Hampton Bar, the Monitor-Merrimac, the James River Bridge, Little Creek and the Southern Small Boat Channel of the CBBT are providing the best action on a range of sizes of hardheads.
Sea mullet are also hitting along the oceanfront, where pier anglers had a good run of small to medium-sized fish last week. Respectable spot are also hitting within lower Bay inlets.
Spadefish are appearing on the Chesapeake Light Tower, inshore wrecks, the CBBT and many other lower Bay structures, with a few fish already boated. Most fish are ranging around 3 to 5-pounds.
Sheepshead action is also heating up, with a few nice catches reported so far from the CBBT proper.
Although interest is waning with so many other species becoming available, striped bass are still biting around the 3rd and 4th Islands of the CBBT on topwater lures, especially in the evenings. Many of these rockfish are measuring up to around 38-inches.
The open sea bass season is drawing boats to deeper water off the coast, where anglers are working hard for their catches. Although there are plenty of undersized fish, folks are managing limits of nice knotheads averaging to about 3-pounds. Deep droppers are also finding sea bass during offshore trips, with the average size approaching 4-pounds. A good variety of blueline tilefish, golden tilefish, some big grouper and blackbellied rosefish are also filling coolers from the deep.
Offshore, warm water is becoming more approachable from Virginia, where decent catches of yellowfin tuna, some whopper big eye tuna and larger mahi are rewarding boats making the longer run to the south. Most of the yellowfin tuna are in the 40-pound range, with a few whoppers pushing to over 70-pounds also around.
Dr. Julie Ball is the I.G.F.A. representative for Virginia Beach, VA. For information, go to www.drjball.com.
