Article by Julie Ball
No one can deny that the drum season took off over the past two weeks, especially centering around the full moon. Although the bite has slowed a bit, good catches of big red drum pushing to around 50-inches are still coming from off Fisherman’s Island. Although fishing the breakers within the inlet is a favorite method of targeting bulls, it is not necessary to sit in white water to get in on the action. Big reds are also dispersing to other areas, and mixing in with the numerous black drum in the lower Bay. The best luck is coming from near Buoys 13 and 16 off Cape Charles, around Buoys 8 and 10 off Fisherman’s Island, and along the 9-Foot Shoal area near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT). Offering a mixture of both clams and crabs in your spread will give you a good chance at both drum species. Although black drum are plentiful this year, many are on the smallish size, with a few bruisers around pushing to over 51-inches. Some nice striped bass are also patrolling these same areas, but review the regulations carefully.
Bay flounder action continues to slowly improve, but those targeting flatfish within the local inlets are experiencing better results. Action in the seaside backwaters of Oyster are also showing improvement. Anglers working Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlets are having good luck on the outgoing tide with some impressive, early season flatties, with several fish pushing to over 23-inches,.
Cobia are still making their entrance into the area, taking a few baits from sightcasters along the way, especially off the oceanfront. One fish was even enticed from the Seagull Fishing Pier last week. These fish are still on the smaller size but the bigger fish are not far behind. One of the first cobia caught in the area was caught last week by Shawn Charnock of Norfolk while sightfishing off Virginia Beach.
Some big bluefish pushing to over 30-inches are patrolling the lower Bay, especially within the local inlets. Anglers are still finding good numbers of nice puppy drum, along with some speckled trout for catch-and-release enthusiasts within Rudee, Lynnhaven and Little Creek Inlets with a variety of plastic baits and topwater lures working well. The Elizabeth River is also hosting some decent trout and nice puppy drum. Nice size grey trout are also still coming from the Rudee Inlet near the Marine Science Museum, but remember you can only keep one fish.
Decent croaker, small to medium spot and scattered sea mullet are making local fishing piers popular lately. Larger croaker are also active within the tributary rivers, with the York River the best location. Hard heads are also still available off Little Creek Inlet.
Schools of spadefish are filtering into the lower Chesapeake Bay and gathering around the Chesapeake Light Tower. Sheepshead are showing around the CBBT, but this bite has not taken off yet.
With the re-opening of black sea bass season last week, more boats will make the run to deeper water. The Triangle wreck area and the Chesapeake Light Tower Reef areas are good spots to try. Anglers can keep 15 fish per person at 12.5-inches long. Remember that tautog caught in many of these same locations cannot be kept since that season is now closed.
Deep drop trips will offer a good selection of bottom dwellers such as nice blueline and golden tilefish, big grouper, barrelfish, wreckfish, and rosefish. The head boats out of The Fishing Center had a good trip last week, reporting big golden tilefish weighing to over 50-pounds. A by-catch of jumbo sea bass is also a good possibility in these same areas.
The Carolina bluewater bite is still going on with yellowfin tuna, bull dolphin, some nice wahoo and even a few billfish dominating the scene. This action will move northward off Virginia soon.
Dr. Julie Ball is the I.G.F.A. representative for Virginia Beach, VA. For information, go to www.drjball.com.
