Justin Wilson and crew out of Virginia Beach with a catch of wahoos, 2 yellowfins, gaffer dolphin and a white marlin.
Virginia Saltwater
Dr. Julie Ball
As the fall saltwater fishery escalates, anglers are still relying on breaks in the weather to access the action. Speckled trout usually begin their rise into the limelight about this time, but this year the trend is still behind the curve. Although some lower Bay creeks and inlets are producing better than others, anglers are finding a smattering of fish ranging from dinks to 23-inches, with very few fish larger fish showing up. The Elizabeth River, usually the leader in this fishery, is beginning to show marginal trout activity with small fish to 16-inches. Although speck experts feel the situation is grim, the true influence of the 2015 early season’s hard freeze is yet to be determined. Puppy drum continue to hit in lower Bay inlets and surf lines, with some pups over 30-inches.
Although the best of this run is over, surf anglers are still targeting big red drum from the surf along the Eastern Shore down to the Wildlife Refuge. A few nice bulls are still responding to cut bait around the islands of the CBBT, but these fish are beginning to filter southward, where the North Carolina fall red drum fishing trend is going strong.
Spot are still providing sporadic action off Ocean View, the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel, and the Lynnhaven River, especially after a Northerly blow, but more predictable catches are coming off the Virginia Beach oceanfront and Rudee Inlet, with bloodworms the bait of choice.
Muddy water conditions continue to hamper Bay flounder trips, but anglers fishing within the protected confines of the Lynnhaven River and Rudee Inlet are finding some keepers. Wreck flounder are also available on deeper structures when boats can reach them. Big triggerfish are hitting on some of these same structures, and with the reopening of sea bass season this week, folks are now keeping some nice sized fish from these same structures, with some jumbo sea bass over 5-pounds caught this week
Tautog action is building in lower Bay waters and on coastal structures and wrecks. Within the Bay, keeper togs are coming from the CBBT proper, especially near the bases of the pilings and the tubes of the artificial islands. Fiddler crabs and clams are working best, but some folks are also finding success with crabs lately. This bite will continue to accelerate as the waters continue to cool, but soon the challenge will be acquiring adequate bait to get the job done. Late season sheepshead ranging from 5 to 8-pounds are also hitting over the tubes of the CBBT, along with some triggerfish.
As water temperatures continue to drop, the striped bass activity continues to rise. Although the bigger rockfish are still on their way, anglers are content with a mostly smaller class of fish for now, but some fish pushing up to 40-inches were also caught this week. Striper anglers are scoring with school-sized fish while casting top water lures around all of the lower Bay crossings, and into schools of feeding fish working on the surface. Wind Cheaters are effective right now, especially at first light along the spines of the tubes, where bigger fish ranging from 30 to 40-inches are active. Surf anglers targeting rockfish under the Lesner Bridge are also finding a few keepers.
Deep dropping is a good option when the weather allows. A few boats have reported catches of nice grouper, golden tilefish, blueline tilefish, and blackbellied rosefish from the Canyon walls recently.
Nags Head
TW’s Bait and Tackle reports on 10-27.
Surf Fishing: It is a nice day on the Outer Banks. The temperature will be in the 70’s. The water is rough this morning, with big swells. Some Puppy Drum were caught along our beaches yesterday. The winds are SW at 9 and the water temp is 66 degrees.
Sound Fishing: Anglers on the Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported catching Puppies, Stripers and Trout. A few keepers of all three. There was a report of some Sheepshead caught from the Oregon Inlet Bridge catwalk.
Pier Fishing:
Avalon: Sea Mullet, small Trout.
Nags Head: Small Trout.
Jennette’s: One Red Drum early, Bluefish, Spot, Trout, small Black Drum and throwback Puppies.
Outer Banks: Small Puppy Drum, Black Drum and Trout.
Oregon Inlet
Boats were confined to the docks from Tuesday through Thursday due to high seas. On 10-25, the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center had this report: Holy citations! Anglers on multiple boats collected slip after slip for some very nice wahoo and black-fin tuna. Big shout-outs to the youngsters today – 12-year-old Macy W for her first sailfish release and Lillian P for her first blue marlin release! Awesome work girls! Anglers brought in mahi mahi, king mackerels, good numbers of black-fin, and a few yellow-fin.
Nearshore boats enjoyed nice catches of albacore, and another good day of bluefish action.
Hatteras Surf
Red Drum & Tackle reported that The Point had Yearling Puppy Drum and Drum over 40 inches on 10-27. This evening they had some Puppy Drum, Yearlings and a few big drum. All the guys are still out there fishing so tomorrow morning hopefully we will have a good report on the point. Ramp 32 had Puppy Drum, Sea Mullet and Bluefish.
Hatteras Offshore
Capt. Dave Wilson on the Godspeed Charters has seen running some trips out of Ocracoke to avoid any further damage due to our shallow access to Hatteras Inlet. They fished last Friday, no trolling action, but good bottom fishing. Saturday was choppy but they caught yellowfin and blackfin tuna. Sunday was excellent for dolphin and wahoo fishing.