Saltwater angling along the mid-Atlantic coast is peaking. Lots of cobias are being sighted along the oceanfront and in the lower bay. The Virginia cobia season opened June 1st with a minimum size limit of 40 inches, a 1 fish per person limit and a 3 fish per vessel maximum. Of the 3 fish, only 1 can be over 50 inches. Cobia will hit just about anything you throw in front of them: live eels, spot, menhaden, mullet, large spoons, white buck tails, plastic eels, swimming plugs or cut bait. They love hanging around buoys and other structure, such as the islands and pylons of the CBBT.
The red drum bite continues along the oceanfront and in the lower bay. A hot spot this time of year for 25- to 50-pound red drum is Latimer Shoal, at the mouth of the bay. Trolling spoons or bucktails over and around the shallows or by anchoring nearby and fishing fresh cut spot, menhaden or blue crabs are the best methods.
We have enjoyed an outstanding black drum season. Continue looking for them along the shallow channel ledge running from Fisherman’s Island to Cape Charles. Good spots are Kiptopeake, the Cabbage Patch and the Concrete Ships.
Spanish mackerel and taylor bluefish are feeding along the Virginia Beach oceanfront from Cape Henry to Sandbridge. Try trolling small spoons like the 0S Drone or Clark behind a small plainer.
Sheepshead numbers are increasing and fish will be available through September. The best baits are fiddler crabs, sand fleas or clams. The average size sheepshead is 3 to 8 pounds. Some larger ones were caught this week. Spadefish are here as well, and hungry.
The flounder and croaker bite is slow, hopefully it will pick up soon. In the case of flounder it may be time to revisit the commercial regulations. They seem to be over-fished.
This week Virginia Beach pier anglers were catching a few citation sized Spanish, some bluefish and roundhead.
To the south, offshore anglers are enjoying one of the best big eye tuna bites in recent memory. Along with big tuna, boats running south have been finding large gaffer dolphin, and billfish numbers are on the rise.
Sea Bass fisherman are reporting limits of jumbo fish in short order. Further offshore at the canyons, deep-droppers are finding plenty of tilefish and a few snowy grouper along with other bottom dwellers.
Outer Banks
Fishing was slow Thursday. The high winds were a big problem. Pompano and sea mullet were reported in Avon and some bluefish showed at Ramp 55.
However, it was a beautiful day on the beaches Wednesday and the fish were biting. The Hatteras beaches reported sea mullet, nice size pompano and Spanish and bluefish on lures. Frisco weighed in a huge pompano at 3.20 pounds. A few sea mullet and trout were caught north of the Inlet with drum beached at Ramp 4. Spot and sea mullet were reported in the surf near the Nags Head Pier that morning.
The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported small Trout.
Avalon Pier had blues and Spanish in the early morning. Nags Head Pier anglers decked spot and sea mullet, plus blues and Spanish at daylight.
Jennette’s reported Spanish, bluefish and pigfish. The Outer Banks Pier had sea mullet, spot, croaker, bluefish and small flounder.
Nearshore boats had a great day catching Spanish, king mackerel, amberjack and cobia. Inshore boats caught bluefish, trout, Spanish, and puffers.
Wednesday was an exceptional day for the offshore fleet. Citation Wahoo, citation yellowfin, bigeye, Mahi, tilefish and sea bass were reported. On Thursday, the blue water fleet had a good showing of Mahi plus yellowfin, wahoo and citation bigeyes.
At Hatteras, seven billfish were released on Wednesday by the offshore fleet. Anglers returned with limits of bailer dolphin and a few blackfin tuna. Inshore anglers got on a good Spanish mackerel bite in the morning, along with nice catches of bluefish. A few keeper red drum made it into the fish boxes. Lots of speckled trout were caught in the afternoon, along with sea mullet and gray trout.
Freshwater
Lake Orange
The water temperature is around 80 degrees with fish feeding up after the spawn. Bass are schooled up, chasing shad. Topwaters are working in lowlight periods and soft plastic are best during midday. There were several giant bass caught this week – over the 10-pound mark! Crappie are feeding on small minnows. The 8 to 10-foot range seems to be the ideal now. Some really nice walleye have been caught this on nightcrawlers on the upper end flats. Catfishing remains strong with the mid-lake areas producing best. Chicken livers and clam snouts are enticing baits.
Elsewhere
There have been some enormous bass caught from the Chickahominy waterway. Danny Garten pulled in an 11-pounder from Chick Lake, and Claude Norma from Beaver Dam weighed in a 9.22 bass, caught on the Chickahominy River. A bag weighing 24-lbs, won a small local tournament from the Chick. The tidal James is fishing well also, but no giants. The bass are in post spawn mode and are attacking topwater baits, swim baits, crankbaits, and a large variety of soft plastics. Both Texas rigs, and shakey heads are provoking strikes. The Appomattox river should not be ignored when fishing the lower James. It too, has the population of quality bass. The upper James is at 5.1 feet at the Westham gauge. The river is clear, and the smallmouth are hungry. Topwater action is great early, late, and on overcast days. During sunny days, sizing down will usually produce more strikes. 4-inch lizards, grubs, and plastic crawl are excellent. Flukes and Senkos are great choices also. Kerr lake elevation is 301′. Topwater action here is outstanding also. Long points, shoals, and humps are good places to try. The crankbait bite has developed here also. Cranks in the 10-15′ zone are the best producers. This bite is occurring at Anna and Gaston as well. The stripers are still responding better to live bait in the early morning hours at Anna. Some topwater action can be had, but it is short lived. Once a school of stripers has been found, some are able to catch them with a spoon. Crappie have moved to bridge areas, and the deeper brush piles. At Kerr, some of the better fishing for crappie is occurring at night, using lights to draw in the bait. Many these days are drifting for Catfish in lakes like Kerr. Fresh cut bait, weighted along the bottom, is drawings strikes from all sizes of cats. The areas smaller lakes with horsepower restrictions, can often be the better option for Bass, as they hold large Bass, and don’t have the boat traffic. Swift Creek Reservoir is an electric motor only reservoir, but there is much pontoon traffic to deal with. Lakes like Briery Creek and Sandy River can be better options, as they are strictly fishing lakes.