Article by Capt. Matt Abell
The month of June continues to be jamming for the ESVA. The fishing action mirrors our warm, maybe even hot weather. Summer time species are showing up with summertime excitement to follow.
The seaside of the ESVA has stolen the spotlight with some really good flounder fishing. These fish are moving in to a warm weather pattern with most activity in shallow water at the end of the flood tide. White, chartreuse, pink and orange teasers coupled with Gulp and tipped with minnows or silversides are the “go to” for most barrier island anglers.
The drum bite has slowed, however, we did get a report from our good friend Josh Barfield who beached a couple of June blacks earlier this week. The beach is still yielding some kingfish along with a few reds from the suds. The shoals off of the lower barrier islands have been painted red as well. The biggest seaside surprise was a few early cobia showing up off the coast of Assateague The Fisher brothers boated a couple of nice “men in brown suits” during a sea bass trip this past week.
Along with the coastal cobia, there have been even more fish landed in the Chesapeake. These fish are taking cut baits (bunker) , eels and jigs in the waters of the bayside from Pungoteague Creek south. Currently it’s a strict catch and release fishery, however, the season will start on June 15th. This year’s cobia regulations include a 40 inch minimum size and 1 fish per angler and maximum of 2 fish per boat creek limit. Don’t forget you also need a no cost VA cobia permit along with all other applicable licenses.
Red drum have also been very prevalent in the shallows of Tangier and Pocomoke sounds. Anglers are using chunks of crab to lure these trophies across the gunwale. The shallow water casting scene has been a little lack luster this past week. While we had bent rods the specs and rock could have cooperated a little better. We did have a shallow water surprise, while the Seahawk Sports Center Jones was on the prowl, we added a 4 pound spanish mackerel to the cooler! Not what you would expect while speckled trout fishing, but we’ll take it!
My buddy Chad from “Earning Stripes” reported that the black drum bite had slowed off the CBBT. However, some spanish mackerel and spadefish activity has filled that void. The spanish have been targeted with small Clarke spoons trolled behind #1and#2 planers The Kiptopeke pier was the scene of a mixed bag of kingfish, trout and even a few wild looking ribbonfish to keep anglers on their toes.
We’ve got a lot of exciting opportunities swimming our way. Offshore waters will soon have some tasty offerings to be had and inshore reefs will start to have flounder fillets for the frying pan. While the temperature outside may change and alter our techniques and targeted species, there’s always something fun to do, and tasty to fish for in this awesome place we call home!§
