There is lots of fresh, cold water in the South River in Waynesboro and the fish are biting.
Says Kevin Little at the South River Fly Shop: “The South continues to fish well and the population is thriving thanks to the new year-round Catch and Release regulations. Flows are steady in the mid-30cfs range but upcoming rains should bolster that a bit. Rainy days with a solid overcast are just the thing to bring the big browns and rainbows out to feed all day. Blue Winged Olives have started to hatch, along with midges, and on some days, there is a mid-morning caddis hatch. Hot patterns include PBRs, Ice Cream Cone midges, Crystal BWO, Split Back BWO, Electric Caddis, Hotwire Caddis, and Psycho Princes in Dirty Pink.
Potomac River
Capt. Steve Chaconas says, “Shad Beware!”
With cooler water and shorter days, bass are feeding on schools of Shad that are staying shallow for warmer water.
Look for birds feeding, bait disturbing the surface, and feeding bass! Find grass remnants or other cover on flats near deeper water. Baitfish lures are best. Downsize the profile in very clear water and slightly upsize with clouds or stained water. Cast Lucky Craft LV 100 in shad patterns on 12-pound test Gamma Edge Fluorocarbon line, varying speeds to trigger strikes. Also try Pointer 78 jerk baits when water is clear.
Cast Mann’s Classic 1/4-ounce spinnerbaits with white skirts closer to cover. Bump cover, using 12-pound Edge. Parallel docks, laydowns and riprap.
Capt. Steve Chaconas is a guide on the Potomac River info@nationalbass.com
Chickahominy Lake
Fishing with Capt. Conway, Steve Thady caught 50 bluegills, 1 shellcracker, 2 yellow perch, 2 roach minnows and 2 bass. Tom Porter had 12 bluegills, 5 crappie and 1 blue cat.
Virginia Saltwater
The rockfish season is open and most fish now are being caught in our tidal rivers. Anglers are casting light tackle such as swim baits and bucktails. Night fishing around bridges is producing best. Some red drum are mixed in with the rockfish.
Anglers are finding speckled trout inside Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlets. The trout season should be peaking soon.
Tautog catches at the CBBT has been excellent. The bay water temperature is now in the low 60’s. Tog action should continue as the water drops into the upper 50’s. Ocean wrecks often hold larger fish. Crabs are always your best bait. The ocean wrecks are also yielding sea bass, and flounder.
Those deep-dropping are catching sea bass, tilefish, and grouper. Last week anglers trolling offshore got into a great wahoo bite. Some fish topped the scales at 90 pounds. They also found some yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, mahi, and big eye tuna.
Dr. Ken Neill did some wreck fishing last week. They caught a bunch of triggerfish and had a good catch of sea bass, bluefish, a few jacks, and a couple of flounder. They also had some sandtiger shark encounters. On another trip, they fished the warm water just east of the Cigar. They caught a few frigate tuna and dolphin on little spoons. The big baits did better. They caught wahoo, dolphin and pulled the hook on a blue marlin.
Nags Head
Rough weather on Wednesday and Thursday produced poor conditions and few catches at Nags Head. Tuesday was better.
Surf Fishing: A few sea mullet, blues and croakers and a big drum caught by Scott Minerva in S. Nags Head.
Sound Fishing: The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported trout, red drum, black drum and croakers.
Pier Fishing: Avalon had black drum, bluefish and sharks.
Nags Head anglers landed trout and bluefish.
Jennette’s had black drum, pompano, bluefish and speckle trout.
The Outer Banks Pier produced speckled and grey trout, and bluefish.
Nearshore boats caught stripers. The Inlet boats had good catches of puppy drum and trout.
Offshore: The offshore fleet caught lots of wahoo blackfin, gaffer dolphin and big-eye tuna. There were multiple releases of white marlin, blue marlin and sailfish.
Hatteras Surf: On Wednesday, fishing was slow overall. Early that morning a few puppy drum were beached on the Point were. Ramp 49 anglers landed some pompano and sea mullet.
Hatteras Offshore: Wednesday and Thursday were rough, but boats sailing out of Hatteras Harbor scored well on Tuesday. The weather was gorgeous with blue skies for most of the day and a mirror calm sound with temps in the 70’s. Offshore boats fished for king mackerel and caught a few. Inshore boats caught red drum and speckled trout in good numbers.