If you are heading to the Outer Banks this week, you have picked the right time. The fishing down there is on fire.
Offshore fishing has been amazing, with many boats landing limits of tuna before lunch. The blue water fleet is also catching lots of dolphins and wahoo in addition to the yellowfin and Big-eye tunas.
Soundside fishing has been hot as well with some good-sized Speckled Trout, plenty of Drum, Bluefish, and good Sheepshead fishing along the bridges and other structure. Live fiddler crabs are enticing the Sheepshead bite.
Jennette’s Pier is a popular spot for anglers who want to fish from the shore. The water temperature is 65° and the fish are biting. You can expect to catch Speckled Trout, Bluefish, Spot, Croaker and Sea Mullet.
The surf was rough last week, but some big Bluefish up to 10lbs., Drum, Sea Mullet, and Pompano were caught. The best surf fishing has been south of Buxton.
Virginia Saltwater
Cobia are showing along the coast and inside the Bay. Boats are sight fishing near buoys, channel markers, and bait pods, as well as chumming and anchoring near drop-offs and ledges. Live eels, bunker, croaker, and bluefish are the best baits for cobia.
Schools of large Red Drum are now found on the Bay shoals and around the CBBT. Spadefish are being caught at the Chesapeake Light Tower and around the CBBT.
Sheepshead are hanging around structure in the lower Bay.
Speckled trout are available in the inlets and tidal rivers.
Flounder continue to be caught seaside, especially on the Eastern Shore in the Wachapreague area. Lots of keeper flounder are now being caught near the CBBT
As the water temp hits 70 degrees Fahrenheit, look for the Spanish mackerel and taylor bluefish bite to really turn on.
Lots of stripers are hanging around the islands of the CBBT.
Black sea bass are plentiful on coastal wrecks.
Freshwater
Bluegills have largely finished their spawn and freshwater fishing has settled into an early summer pattern, with a shallow top-water bite for bass early in the mornings before the fish drift off to deeper water. Boat traffic is now a problem on major lakes, but The Splits at Lake Anna has been giving up some decent stripers before the pleasure boats are out and about.
Snakehead fishing has been very good on both the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers. Grass frogs are the top baits for these very aggressive and very delicious fish.
At Lake Orange, water temperatures have inched upward into the mid- to upper-70s. Bass and crappie settling into their summer patterns and feeding up on baitfish. Bass can be caught on topwaters and soft plastics. Crappie are taking small minnows. Catfishing has picked up a bit and a few walleye were caught using harness rigs tipped with nightcrawlers. A few sunfish were still spawning with this full moon.