By Dr. Ken Neill, III
Cobia fishing is nothing short of fantastic. Chumming is producing a lot of fish and when conditions allow, so is sight fishing. The big red drum are still around but most are now being caught by anglers targeting cobia. Some small to medium black drum showed in the James this week.
Spanish mackerel are being caught in good numbers and size with some citation-sized macs being caught. They are being caught along the oceanfront and throughout the lower bay, especially along the Baltimore Channel.
Big sheepshead, spadefish, and triggerfish are all being caught at the CBBT. The coastal wrecks are also holding spades, triggerfish, sea bass, and flounder. The spadefish are numerous and of decent size over some of the wrecks. No reports of citation-sized spades being caught yet though big ones are being seen.
Amberjack are at the southern towers. Offshore bottom fishing is producing some really nice blueline tilefish and sea bass. A few snowy grouper are also being caught out a bit deeper.
Tuna fishing has been very good in the Norfolk Canyon area. Good numbers of yellowfin tuna are being caught with some pushing the 70-pound mark though most are averaging around 40 pounds. Bigeye tuna are also around. This should make this weekend’s Virginia Beach Tuna Tournament interesting. Dolphin catches are good and marlin have become more common.
Nags Head
Surf Fishing Report: A few Sea Mullet and Croakers were caught up and down the beaches. Wind is a problem again today. There should be Blues caught and Skate.
The winds are S at 16 and the water temp is 63 degrees. We had early morning rain and expecting isolated thunderstorms today and tomorrow the same. The water is flat and clear.
Sound Fishing Report:
The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported Croakers, Black Drum and small Trout. Pier Fishing Report: Avalon: Spanish, Blues and Trout
Nags Head: Few Blues and Skate.
Jennette’s: Bluefish, Flounder and Triggers.
Outer Banks: Loads of Bluefish as I speak. 8:45. Inshore Boats/nearshore Report:
Nearshore and inshore caught some Bluefish, Spanish and Albacore. A couple of Puppy Drum, Trout and Stripers were caught in the sound.
Oregon Inlet
High winds kept most boats in port on Wednesday, but on Tuesday blue water captains had some success.
Seas churned up a little slow fishing today, but anglers were still pulling in some beautiful table fare from their adventures. Trips returning in with good yellow-fin tuna, some wahoo, good mahi-mahi, and some billfish flags were flying on a couple of charters!
Near-Shore anglers were enjoying some really good bluefish and Spanish mackerel action today and also pulled in some shark and albacore as well. You really need to book your trip out with these captains and snag your best catch!
In-Shore charters were enjoying some good bluefish and Spanish mackerel. One angler landed a very nice cobia. These captains are ready to give you a great experience and show you all of the waters the Outer Banks has to offer its anglers!
The Miss Oregon Inlet Headboat was busy on their trips today, pulling in good numbers of sea mullet, pigfish, pinfish, croaker, ribbonfish, sea robin, and sea bass. Tickets are still available for trips out this week and advance purchase is recommended. Come join the fun aboard the Miss Oregon Inlet!
Hatteras Surf
Tuesday Fishing Report
06-21-2016, 09:44 PM
We had a hard South west wind today, which slowed things down. Ramp 55 had Blue Fish early this morning. The sound side has had some Puppy Drum, Trout and small Stripers. Hopefully this wind will die down some. You can always fish the sound side if the wind is too much. There are plenty of Puppy Drum. Have a Great Day Fishing. Dede
Wednesday Fishing Report
Yesterday, 10:18 PM
Fishing picked up for some today. Ramp 43 had Sea Mullet. Ramp 55 had Flounder, Puppy Drum, and a few Spanish. Ramona Ritchie caught a 24 and a half-inch Puppy Drum. Tom Fernatt caught a 27-inch Puppy Drum. There was one or two Cobia caught today with the inshore Fleet. Have a Great Day Fishing. Dede
Hatteras Offshore
High winds on Tuesday and Wednesday slowed the offshore action, says Hatteras Harbor.
Several boats out fishing Monday with lots of billfish being caught and released. Dolphin were in fair supply with a mix of gaffers and bailers, a few Blackfin Tuna and Grouper were also caught. Inshore boats were catching large Red Drum, Spanish Mackerel and a couple of Cobia.
A Summer Float on the Shenandoah
Ed T from Front Royal Canoe reports:
The river is at a good level. It’s high enough to get through without many portage duties, but low enough to show some rocks. It was nice to see the rock ledges again because, more often than not, the best pattern for fishing the South Fork is fishing the areas right around them. That was where the majority of my fish came from yesterday.
It took me all of two casts to get my first fish, a nice size bluegill. By noon I had caught eight bluegills and thirteen smallmouth. I caught a couple of the smallmouth with a Super Fluke in green pumpkin magic. The rest of them, plus the bluegill, came on a #3 Mepps spinner with a copper blade.
For best results, toss the spinner at about a forty-five degree angle to the rock ledge, reel in at varying speeds and cross your fingers. The majority of the bass I caught before noon were eight to ten inches. Only a few were over twelve inches. The bite was about the same after noon, but they quit hitting the spinner. Fortunately, they were hitting the Fluke pretty well. I was still catching mostly eight to ten inch smallmouth, not much in the way of twelve or bigger. Then, shortly after two o’clock, I caught a nineteen-inch smallmouth on a Fluke. I caught it just past the big rock ledge midway between the houses and the twin islands. I tossed out the Fluke and, wham, he nailed it. I let out the drag, let it play a bit, and just reeled her in. Not near the fight I would have expected from a big fish, but I was happy just to get a nice fish after all those small ones. Shortly after, a storm front moved through. Although it spared me with just a couple of drops of rain, somehow or another it put the brakes on the fishing. They quit hitting the Flukes and I switched lures again, this time to 7-inch Berkley Power Worms in green pumpkin on a 1/8-oz. Carolina rig. I finished out the rest of the trip fishing plastic worm slowly on the bottom. The bite was steady, but hardly what one would call fast paced. I caught mostly eight to ten inch fish the rest of the trip. Summing up, I had a little over thirty smallmouth, plus nine bluegills. Out of over thirty bass, only five or six were twelve inches or better. However, one of the smallmouth was just an inch shy of a citation. So other than that one lunker, which was obviously the high point of the trip, it was a so-so day of fishing. Not a real big count, and mostly smaller bass. But after nearly two weeks since my last trip, and scoring that nice big one, it felt like a great trip.
The fish are now in summer mode. That usually means you catch a lot of smallmouth, but more often than not, you will get a smaller percentage of big ones. That’s just the way it works. The small ones way outnumber the big fish. They are hungry and less cautious than the older and smarter bass, so they beat them out to the lures most of the time. As the water gets warmer, the lunkers get less aggressive about feeding, so you catch the smaller ones instead.
Let’s cross our fingers on weather next week and get out on the South Fork of the Shenandoah. Good luck with your fishing.
Great Potomac Fishing.
Last week pros fishing the Potomac demonstrated just how good this fishery can be. Daily five fish limits of 18-20 pounds show there are some big fish in the river! Fish the tides and weather conditions.
Water temperatures are in the mid to upper 70s. A slight chance of rain this week. Lows in the upper 60s.
With morning high tides, try topwaters like Lucky Craft G-Splash poppers or walking Gunfish. The prop bait Kelly J works too. Use these with low light and clear water over cover. 12-pound test GAMMA Copoly or 20 pound test Torque braid. Vary the retrieve. Use these as tides fall, but consider going a bit deeper if fish don’t cooperate.
The next depth is well covered with Mann’s Baby 1-Minus. Use 12-pound test GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon line. An aggressive cranking rod for good hook sets helps horsing them from grass. Change out the hooks for the very strong Mustad KVD short shank triple grips.
Also try Chatterbaits in craw patterns with craw trailers. Use 14-pound test Edge. Trim skirts and craws to make a small bulky target. Run this through grass. Snap free and pause. Go a bit deeper crawling swim jigs, same color and trailer patterns. Beef up to 16-pound Edge.
When the sun is up, regardless of tide, consider jigs in the same colors, or black and blue combos. 16-pound test Edge is preferred. Make shorter pitches into the grass, looking for clumps or holes. Look for a pattern. Also Texas rig Mizmo tubes on 3/0 Mustad Mega Bite hooks.
Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River. info@nationalbass.com
Lake Orange
Contributed by Darrell Kennedy of Angler’s Landing (540.672.3997). The water is clear with temperatures in the low 80’s. Largemouth bass are schooling on small baitfish in the lower end of the lake. Bass are aggressively hitting top water, and live bait as well. Crappie are still holding strong to brush in 5-10 ft. of water. Crappie are also around the fishing pier and are taking small minnows. Walleye are being caught in the lower end of the lake, as well on live bait near the dam. Catfishing remains strong throughout the lake and are hitting chicken livers.
Chickahominy Lake
Capt. Art Conway out of Ed Allen’s Boats and Bait reported that Chickahominy Lake mid-day water temperatures were in the low 80’s in the lower main lake on Wednesday (6/22/2016).
Most blue cats and bullheads were on flats and channel edges in the main lake and scattered in creeks, hitting live minnows and cut bait. Some crappie were scattered in major creek channels, some were on cypress knees and along shorelines in the main lake, and most had accumulated on mid-depth wood cover and along drop-offs in the main lake. Active crappie were hitting live minnows, Wright Bait Co. and Southern Pro curlytail jigs, small tubes, Kalin crappie scrubs, and small swim baits. Small to medium yellow perch were scattered or in loose aggregates on some main lake flats and in channels and on flats in major creeks and were hitting live minnows, small swim baits, and small jigs. Bluegill and shellcracker were scattered or loosely aggregated along some shorelines in major creeks and in the main lake and were hitting flies, small jigs, Nikko nymphs, small swim baits, and live worms. A few clusters of larger bluegills were located in shoreline pockets in and near cypress groves and appeared to be remnants from spawning groups. Some bass, pickerel, and bowfin were along shorelines, on lily pad and hydrilla flats, and along drop-offs in the major creeks and the main lake. When active, bass and pickerel were hitting live minnows, spinnerbaits, swim baits, stick worms, crank baits, jerk baits, and jigs.