Big rockfish continued to hit the scales all the way through the season ending on Dec. 31. One big female topped 65 pounds. Most of the action was coming from the eastside of the Bay, between Cape Charles and the ocean. The majority of the big fish were caught with live eels.
The Virginia coastal season opened January 1st and runs through March 31st. The ocean season minimum size limit is 28 inches with a possession limit of 1 per person. North Carolina’s ocean season is also in.
Virginia’s offshore wrecks are holding sea bass and a few flounder. The triangle wrecks are loaded with hungry sea bass, some in the 6-pound class. The Rudee Head Boat will be running 12-hour, Saturday sea bass trips starting February 2nd. The open recreational sea bass fishing season closes December 31, 2018 and reopens February 1, 2019 through February 28th.
This time of year, there are usually bluefish around the wrecks and where there are bluefish, there could be a bluefin tuna or two.
On North Carolina’s Outer Banks, surf anglers are finding small puppy drum, small trout, dogfish and black drum at the Jetties in Buxton. Several nice puppy drum were caught near Ramp 55.
Freshwater
Action is slowing at the Chickahominy Lake, but a few fish are still biting. Capt. Art Conway reported that the lake’s mid-day water temperatures were in the high 40’s to low 50’s in the main lake on Wednesday. Shallow areas were a little warmer.
Fishing with Capt. Conway, Pierre LaFrance had 4 crappie, 1 white perch, and a blue cat.
Elsewhere, Green Top reports that the James is still high, (9′ @ Westham) so there haven’t been reports from the upper James in a while, especially this week. Not much action in the lower James, either. The Chickahominy River is producing bass, stripers, and crappie on Silver Buddies and 3″ grubs. Look for the tidal river yellow perch bite to start soon. Kerr Lake elevation is currently at 307′ and no positive reports have filtered in. Lake Anna weights were down again this week. Just 13 lbs. won a New Year’s Day tournament, with 21 boats, while15 lbs. won the most recent Winter Series event.