It’s been a while coming, but the flounder bite is on and catches are on the increase. Some of the larger fish are being caught by anglers jigging bucktails tagged with strip baits or Gulps near the CBBT. Captain Craig Paige, Paige II Charters has been putting his clients on the flounder as shown above.
This is really the peek fishing season in Virginia. There’s a nice class of Spanish mackerel available along the oceanfront, near the CBBT and as far north as the York Spit area. Charter boats are trolling small Drone or Clark spoons behind small planers. Ocean Pearls Charters has been loading up on their morning and afternoon trips. Kaiden Hall weighed in a 4 lb. 6 oz. Spanish mackerel at Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle.
Mr. Mark Taylor set this trip up on the High Hopes with Captain Wright for their father’s 85th birthday.
Dr Ken Neill said that the ribbonfish are plentiful and Spanish mackerel are jumping all over the place. Taylor blues are mixed in with them. Captain Todd Beck, Knot Wish’n Guide Service, said they’ve had encounters with some big king mackerel, but none have come tight.
Many are returning with spadefish limits. Look for spades around structures like the Chesapeake Light Tower, ocean and bay buoys and the pilings of the CBBT. Spades fall to fresh clam. Slack tide is best when fishing the CBBT. Float a small piece on a small hook in front of them. Once sighted many anglers like chumming the fish up behind the boat. Some nice sheepshead are being caught along with the spades at the CBBT.
The Cobia bite in the bay remains strong. Most are being caught in chum slicks on live eels. Sighted on the surface, cobia will hit just about anything you put in front of them. Live eels, spot, menhaden, mullet, large spoons, white buck tails, plastic eels, swimming plugs or cut bait. Keep a lookout for them around buoys and other structure, like the islands and pilings of the CBBT.
Several anglers found large schools of red drum this week. Anglers are having success sight casting and bottom fishing. Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle has recorded a slew of release citations the past 2 weeks.
Virginia Beach Pier and surf anglers are pulling in puppy drum, bluefish, Spanish, flounder, croaker, sea mullet and small spot.
Nice sea bass are being caught on offshore ocean wrecks and reefs. Tilefish are available in the same areas. There are plenty of amberjacks around the towers and on offshore structure. The Rudee Tours head boat has several 12- and 17-hour trips planned for July and August.
Offshore, blue water anglers are catching plenty of dolphin and tuna. Add to that a few big eye tuna, \Wahoo and swordfish. Our marlin bite is on the increase. Offshore fishing is good right now!
OBX
Surf fishermen on the OBX are beaching spot, sea mullet and croakers. The piers are producing spot, sea mullet, specks, and bluefish. The inshore boats are still finding lots of drum, specks, and blues.
Nearshore boats loaded up on Spanish, False Albies, blues and ribbonfish. The blue water fleet had a great day on Wednesday with lots of Mahi, big-eye tuna, yellowfins, tilefish, and amberjack. There were also several blue and white marlin releases.
Freshwater
It’s the summer pattern in full swing on all the major lakes in Virginia. Bass are deep but make a few early morning forays on shallow points. Crappie are down 20 feet and more and hanging near bridges. Stripers are biting at Anna near the Rt. 208 bridge hitting live bait in the early hours. Most lakes are covered up with Skee Doo’s by 10 in the morning, so it’s either fish early or wait till dark. Rivers are very low, and algae is becoming a problem.
Fly fishermen in the valley are scoring with some big browns and rainbows on the spring creeks. Mountain streams are too low to fish.
At Lake Orange, Darrell Kennedy of Angler’s Landing (540.672.3997) said the water is stained with temperatures in the mid- to upper eighties. The bass are in their summer patterns feeding on soft plastics. Walleye are still biting night crawlers and harness rigs fished on rocky points. The crappie fishing has picked up a bit in the last couple of days on small minnows fished over brush piles in 8 to 10 feet. of water. Catfishing remains strong throughout the lake with chicken liver being the bait of choice.