There’s a lot of gray going on at the Eastern Shore. Not gray skies – gray trout. Brent and Angelin Ham from Greensboro are enjoying some dynamite trout action while vacationing this week at Cherrystone Campground in Cheriton. Breaking in a new 17’9” center console, the Ham family is catching lots of gray trout up to 16-inches, plus whiting, croakers, puppy drum, spot and sea bass.
High tide produced the best trout action at the mouth of Cherrystone Creek. Cut squid was the bait of choice.
Virginia Saltwater
Dr. Ken Neill, III
Dolphin are the main catch offshore. They are being caught in good numbers and sizes, with some boats catching limits of “gaffers”. Most of the dolphin are being caught offshore but some are on the inshore hills. One boat had a good catch of dolphin at the Fish Hook. Yellowfin tuna continue to be caught, some days better than others, though the overall trend seems to be in decline. The Fingers has been as good an area as any for yellowfin. There have been some good bluefin tuna caught at the 26 Mile Hill. A few bigeye tuna have also been boated at the Canyons. Wahoo are at the SE Lumps and the Hot Dog. Billfish are being encountered in good numbers, mostly along the 100-fathom curve. Live baiting with tinker mackerel has been productive on both white and blue marlin near the Norfolk Canyon.
Amberjack are at the Southern Towers. The inshore wrecks are holding good numbers of triggerfish, flounder, and spadefish. The spadefish are larger than they have been in a number of years with some fish pushing 9-pounds. There are plenty of smaller, more aggressive spadefish around, making it difficult to get a bait to the larger fish.
Some king mackerel have been caught along the oceanfront. Spanish mackerel are in good numbers in this same area, as well as the lower bay.
Schools of big red drum are along the oceanfront from Sandbridge to Fisherman’s Island. Cobia are being seen in the same area and throughout the lower bay and up as far as Deltaville. Many of the fish are small, but many are over the 40-inch minimum. In sheer numbers, this has been one of the better cobia summers with boats catching as many as 20 cobia in a day’s fishing.
The flounder bite has improved at the CBBT where there are also big sheepshead along with some triggerfish. There continue to be some nice speckled trout being caught around the grass beds on the western side of the bay.
Nags Head
Surf Fishing: TW’s says there are a few Sea Mullet, Spot and Croaker being beached. A nice 4-½ pound Speckled Trout was caught at Oregon Inlet.
Sound Fishing: The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported small Trout, Stripers, Black Drum Croaker and Flounder.
Pier Fishing:
Avalon: A couple of Spanish and Bluefish early. The water is full of stingray’s, a real aggravation to the anglers on the pier losing their rigs.
Nags Head: Slow.
Jennette’s: Croaker. Spadefish, Bluefish, Spot, Triggers and Sea Mullet.
Outer Banks: Bluefish and Spadefish, small Spot and Trout. Ray’s are everywhere. Lots of baitfish in the water.
Inshore /Nearshore:
The nearshore boats had a stellar day as anglers filled their boxes with King Mackerel, Spanish, Albacore, Bluefish, Spadefish, Cobia, Shark, Amberjack and Triggers. Inshore boats also had a good day with King Macs, Spanish, Bluefish, Albacore, Cobia, and good catches of Flounder – one over 22-inches.
Oregon Inlet
Sailing out of Wanchese on Tuesday, the Carolina Girl, the Doghouse, the Wild Card and the Fin Galley caught a nice mix of dolphin, yellow fin, black fin, amberjack, wahoo & black sea bass.
Hatteras Surf
Tuesday was a pretty decent fishing day, according to Red Drum. There were Spanish and Bluefish caught behind the Motels. Ramp 44 had Spanish in the morning and afternoon. Bluefish caught on lures were beached at Ramp 38. Ramp 55 had some nice Flounder. Avon Pier had another Mahi-mahi.
It was another pretty day on Wednesday. Ramp 55 had all the Bluefish you wanted to catch on metals with a few Spanish mixed in. Ramp 44 had plenty of Sea Mullet up to 1-12 and some nice Pompano. North of Buxton, it was Spanish and Bluefish on metals.
Hatteras Offshore
Tuesday temperatures were smoking hot at Hatteras with blue skies and a light breeze. Offshore fishing, however, was less than hot with only a few Dolphin and Blackfin Tuna reported. There were several sailfish releases. Inshore fishing was strong with boats catching Red Drum. Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish.
It was a bit cloudy and overcast Wednesday, but with slick calm water. Inshore anglers experienced good Speckled Trout fishing. They also hammered the Gray Trout. Spanish Mackerel and Bluefish were biting near shore. Offshore fishing was slow again. A few Dolphin, Wahoo, and Blackfin Tuna were caught. Bottom fish included Triggerfish, Vermillion Snapper, Gray Tilefish, and Grouper up to 45 pounds.