The water temps in the Bay are now in the 50’s and that means one thing: rockfish are moving in from the ocean. Anglers are starting to hook up with some big fish off Cape Charles. Live eels are the ticket for the larger fish. Swim shads and bucktails are also working along with umbrella and tandem rigs.
Fishing for speckled trout and puppy drum continues to be good in the shallows and inlets. Smaller stripers are in the same areas. The islands on the CBBT are holding keeper size fish. Night fishing has been best.
There’s a good sea bass bite going on when weather conditions allow boats to fish the ocean wrecks. Tautog are hanging around the ocean wrecks and inside the bay. The bridge tunnel is a good place to target the tautogs.
OBX
Surf fishing is picking up on the OBX. Puppy drum and bluefish are leading the way, but there are also reports of sea mullet, specks, black drum, skates and sharks. Anglers at the Bonner Bridge Pier have been landing sheepshead, pups and black drum.
The sound side is still producing some quality stripers around the bridges. Along with stripers, anglers are still finding trout and puppy drum deeper in the sound. There have been some really nice trout being caught from near Long Shoal as well as further to the west near the mouth of the Pungo River.
Freshwater Fishing
The best options for freshwater fishing now are the tidal rivers where bass and crappie are biting in earnest. The Chickahominy River has been giving up some sizable crappie and yellow perch along with bass. Big bass are now active at Lake Anna where 24 pounds won a recent tournament.
Striper action is also improving at Anna as the water cools. Crappie are being caught along the rocks, bridges, and deeper brush piles at Buggs Island.