Article by VMRC - Saltwater Review
Chincoteague
Donna at Captain Bob’s reports croaker still command the back bay waters, although there is not much size to them. Average croaker sizes are about 10–12 inches. The Chincoteague Channel, Queen Sound, the Chincoteague Bay, and even Four Mouths are all saturated with small croaker. The only water that seems to have minimal croaker is the Assateague Channel where few keeper flounder have been landed.
Drifting between Memorial Park and Tom’s Cove Campground will bring up flounder—shorties and keepers; it all depends upon your patience and fishing “know-how”! Several keepers were brought in from Four Mouths as well, near Buoys 3 and 4.
Kingfish are still running from Buoy 14 all the way out of the Inlet, where you will definitely pick up a larger size around Buoy 10, on the outside of the Inlet. Same with spot and miniature trout, and I do mean miniature. As a matter of fact, one charter boat captain claimed his minnow was larger than the trout! Seems as if the bull sharks are finally moving out—boy, was that a run. Never have I seen any in our inland waters in my 17 years of running the marina. But, many anglers were having tons of fun catching them. Aggressive fish and all those teeth.
Offshore, bluefin are scarce and the few being brought in were caught between the Parking Lot and the Lumpy Bottom. It’s a mix-up right now, some anglers are trolling and others are chumming. Many albacore tunas were brought in this past weekend as well as a few cobia. Go figure—tuna love hot water and cobia love cold water. Gives you some idea what the water temps are running deep, huh? The wrecks are still producing nice spadefish, tautog, and really nice flounder. However, there has been minimal triggerfish brought in.
All the smaller bait snatchers of the Bay are also being caught in the surf— croaker, kingfish/whiting, spot, sea robin, rays, skate, and dogfish/sand shark. These fish are small as well.
Wachapreague
Anglers fishing out of the Wachapreague Marina caught a couple of wahoo and bluefin tuna last weekend. Croaker were appearing in the Wachapreague Inlet for those inshore fishermen as well.
Staff at Captain Zed’s reported that anglers caught numerous flounder with a few keepers, along with croaker, spot, and kingfish in the Inlet.
Offshore action has mostly been in the Washington and Norfolk canyons where tuna were scarce but anglers were catching dolphin, wahoo, white marlin, and blue marlin.
Cape Charles
According to staff at Chris’ Bait and Tackle, anglers were catching croaker out of Oyster, at Buoy 262 near Wise Point, and around Morley’s Wharf. A few small spot were biting around the Concrete Ships.
The flounder bite has been fantastic around the High Rise where anglers caught their limits of keepers last weekend (several citations were recorded). Two 60-pound cobia were caught near Cape Charles on flounder rigs as well.
Cherrystone Bait and Tackle reports good numbers of small-to medium-sized croakers being caught, although the extreme heat of late has made fishing more difficult.
Lower Bay/Bridge Tunnel
Dr. Julie Ball, IGFA International Representative for Virginia Beach, contributed the following:
As summer presses on, many favorite species are available within the mid-Atlantic waters. The biggest news is the escalation of the already hot flounder bite. Anglers are filling coolers with plenty of keeper-sized flounder and heading to the scales with dozens of trophy-sized fish. Most fish are ranging from 3 to 5 pounds, but several fish pushing from 8 to 11 pounds are thrilling flounder fishermen. Most any method is working right now, but the bigger flatfish are coming from the four islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel using both live bait as well as jigs donned with plastics or stripped bait. Drifters are finding good luck along lower Bay channels, deep water drop-offs, near the Cell, and off the Concrete Ships.
The rest of the inshore scene is mostly overshadowed by cobia, which are generating a lot of excitement. Cobia are making a strong showing for top water casters, with a few fish pushing over 70 pounds hitting the docks this week. Boats are reporting hooking over a dozen fish in one outing as the cobia are beginning their late summer trend of grouping into large schools near the mouth of the Bay and cruising along the surface. More fish are also making a better showing on the oceanfront.
Big red drum continue to patrol the lower Bay and the oceanfront in large schools. Husband and wife team, Captain Danny Davis and Melissa Davis of Portsmouth, both released red drum pushing over 54 inches on a cast bucktail jig. The folks at Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle report that puppy drum are still a sure thing within Lynnhaven Inlet, with many pups pushing to well over 27 inches. Cut mullet is working well as bait, along with artificial plastics.
Sheepshead action is still good along the CBBT this week. Several fish pushing to over 13 pounds are taking fiddlers, blue crab, and clams along most any part of the span of the Bay Bridge Tunnel complex. Triggerfish and spadefish are mixed in with the sheepshead in many of the same areas along the CBBT. Most spadefish are still small, but the larger spades are located near the High Rise section. Many triggers are pushing to 2 pounds.
Trollers are finding some accommodating Spanish mackerel along the oceanfront and near the Chesapeake Light Tower and reef area. Small gold and silver spoons are the best lure for these fish. Die hard king mackerel anglers are still waiting for the king bite to materialize, with only a few kings to show so far. A good presentation of sharks along Virginia’s coastal waters is attracting attention. Be sure to review the regulations before targeting these gluttonous hunters.
Deep dropping action is good. Reports indicate several big blueline tilefish, along with some hefty golden tiles; nice blackbelly rosefish, and sea bass are keeping droppers content. Amberjack are still available on several wrecks and navigational towers. Plan an early morning trip to avoid the heat.
Blue-water anglers are still experiencing good billfish action, which should continue to improve over the next few weeks. The marlin bite is spread out, but many fish are coming from near the 300 to 400 line, in around 40 to 150 fathoms. Scattered 70-pound class yellowfin tuna, nice gaffer dolphin to over 30 pounds, and a few wahoo are mixed in.
Outer Banks, NC
Offshore fishing out of Nags Head has declined some from last week. Anglers making the run to blue water had moderate success rates on yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, bigeye tuna, skipjack tuna, dolphin, wahoo, king mackerel, and amberjack.
Billfishing was the same or a little better with blue and white marlin leading the way. Deep-bottom droppers saw blueline tilefish, red snapper, vermillion snapper, gags, snowy grouper, yellowedge grouper, and sea bass. King mackerel also made a good showing in the eight-to ten-mile range.
Nearshore boaters had their best luck with Spanish mackerel and bluefish. Pier and shore fishermen saw consistent catches of sea mullet, spot, croaker, pigfish, and spadefish.
Pompano, flounder, sheepshead, and red drum were caught in smaller amounts. In the inlet, flounder were caught with good numbers of keepers. The speckled trout bite was good around the bridges of Roanoke Sound as well.
South of Oregon Inlet, the fishing has been good. Small bluefish were being caught on the south side of the point along with a few Spanish mackerel. Sea mullet were found along the south beaches as well as Ramp 43. People fishing bottom rigs were catching croaker, spot, and sea mullet.
Offshore fishing out of Hatteras Inlet had good action on dolphin and wahoo with blackfin tuna and king mackerel in the mix as well. Billfishing saw good numbers of sailfish. Inshore fishing was dominated by Spanish mackerel with some blue and speckled trout in the shallows.
