There is not a lot going on in saltwater, fishing-wise, but the black sea bass regs have been set for 2019. Opinions vary on the status of bass numbers, largely due to a lack of data. The new regs will bring in more data to help determine future seasons and creel limits.
Dr. Ken Neill, III, reports on these changes:
At this month’s VMRC meeting a February recreational sea bass season was established. It will run the entire month and will be very similar to the February season we had last year.
“It shall be unlawful for any person fishing recreationally to take, catch, or possess any black sea bass, from February 1 through February 28, without first having obtained a Recreational Black Sea Bass Permit from the Marine Resources Commission. It shall be unlawful for any black sea bass permittee to fail to contact the Marine Resources Commission Operation Station at (800) 541-4646 before returning to shore at the end of the fishing trip during the February black sea bass season. The permittee shall provide the Operations Station with his name, VMRC ID number, the point of landing, a description of the vessel, and an estimated return to shore time.
There are a couple of minor changes from last year. You still will need this free special permit but the wording will be changed so that just the captain of the vessel needs to have this permit (not one for each person on board) and the captain will be responsible for reporting. The other change is that you will need to call the 800 number prior to going fishing this year (not just when returning). The reason for this is there is just no data on this winter fishery. We had this fishery for years, but NOAA did not collect wave 1 data (January-February). When trying to get our wintertime fishery back, we had no data to point to and a major objection to reopening the fishery was this lack of data. The only information we have is what Virginia collected last
Outer Banks
It’s been slim pickings on the Outer Banks. Early in the week, dog sharks were biting in the surf. and The Point reported some puppy drum and a 32-inch red drum. A few boats out of Oregon Inlet ventured offshore, but only a single sailfish was reported.
At Hatteras, boats made it out to the Gulf Stream on Sunday and caught lots of blackfin tuna in the 20-pound class.
Freshwater
Rappahannock River
The yellow perch run is underway. Breeding fish should hit Fredericksburg any day. Some big blue cats are taking cut shad in the deeper holes.
Lake Anna
A few bass are hitting at Anna. Stripers aren’t doing much. Crappie are deep. Some yellow perch are taking minnows in deeper water.
Chickahominy River
The yellow perch bite is just beginning. Bass are sluggish. Catfish don’t mind the cold and are hitting cut bait.
Buggs Island
Bass fishing is decent. Spinnerbaits are taking a few fish. Crappie are getting ready to do their thing. The next couple weeks should see some big fish coming to the scales. A few stripers are hitting in Rudd’s Creek.
Smith Mountain
Striper action is just fair. The Blackwater arm of the lake has been the most productive. The bass and crappie bites are slow.
Trout Streams
Too cold! Most streams are in the thirties, temperature wise. The state is stocking fish, but the trout are sluggish