Article by Julie Ball
The red and black drum scene continues to draw anglers to the Eastern Shore side of the Chesapeake Bay. The full moon last week, paired with some reasonable weather created great conditions for drum hunters.
The black drum action picked up in the Lower Bay last week. Although there seems to be an over abundance of smaller blacks this year, the larger fish are also providing some excellent catches. Most luck is coming from near Buoys 13 and 16 off Cape Charles, while the Buoys 8 and 10 areas off Fisherman’s Island are also producing some nice hauls. Some boats are reporting up to 12 to 15 blacks in an outing while using both chowder clams and sea clams.
Red drum are still available within the inlet off Fisherman’s Island, but lately the fish are also dispersing to other areas of the lower Bay. Big reds are also mixed in with the black drum in the same locations. Adding an offering of crabs, peelers, or bunker to your spread will give you an excellent chance at both drum varieties. A few 4-foot long dog sharks will also help themselves to your bait, with crabs and bunker being favorites. Nice trophy striped bass are patrolling the lower Bay shoals, often well within shallower drum territory. Bill Knapp of Virginia Beach scored with a trio of trophy releases during a single day fish-a-thon with a 45-inch striped bass, a 51-inch black drum, and a 47-inch red drum to his credit.
Folks are still finding good striped bass action along the CBBT, where a variety of topwater lures cast along the spines of all four islands is getting the job done. Nice stripers were also taking live bait presented over the tubes last week. Some of these fish were pushing to over 44-inches. There were rumors of decent fish hitting around the Lesner Bridge last week as well.
The Bay flounder bite is still not on fire, but the action continues to improve. Nice sized flatfish are taking live bait and jigs presented around the structure of the Bay Bridge Tunnel. Keeper sized flounder are also available within Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlets, as well as the seaside inlets and backwaters of the Eastern Shore last week. Speckled trout anglers are also smug about decent catches of keeper fish within several of these same backwater locations. The Virginia Beach Fishing Center reported that tailor bluefish were still making a good showing along the oceanfront and within the inlet last week.
Nice croaker, smallish spot, and big sea mullet are making local fishing piers very popular lately. The folks at the Ocean View Fishing Pier report that anglers were faring well with most species, along with a few keeper sized flounder in the mix last week.
Deep dropping is still a good bet, with blueline tilefish, golden tilefish, black bellied rosefish, wreck fish, and a variety of grouper still on the menu for those willing to make the run. With black sea bass season reopening on the 22nd of May, anticipate an increase in deep dropping interest.
The Carolina bluewater bite is still going on with yellowfin tuna, bull dolphin, and good numbers of nice wahoo dominating the scene. A few billfish are also still a possibility.
Dr. Julie Ball is the I.G.F.A representative for Virginia Beach, VA. For more information, go to www.drjball.com.
