If you are heading to the OBX in the near future, you picked the right time. Fishing in the surf, the sounds and offshore is on fire.
How about the huge bluefish above caught in the surf? It’s like old times.
The red drum bite at the Point in Buxton has been phenomenal, with many anglers scoring big fish and earning citations at local tackle shops. You can also find plenty of puppy drum, jumbo bluefish, sharks, blow toads, sea mullet and some nice flounder in the surf and sound.
The offshore fishing out of Oregon Inlet and Hatteras has been equally amazing, with lots of yellowfin tuna. Mahi, wahoo, and black fin tuna.
OBX? What are you waiting for?
Virginia Saltwater
Virginia’s spring fishing season is picking up as the Bay water temperature hit the magic 60-degree mark.
Tautog fishing remains excellent. Blue crabs or fiddler crabs are the best bait, but some are caught using clam or whelk.
Black Drum are showing up along the shallow channel ledge running from Fisherman’s Island to north of Cape Charles. Good spots are Kiptopeake, the Cabbage Patch, the Concrete Ships, as well as the High Rise and 2nd & 3rd Islands of CBBT. Running tides, late afternoons and evenings and full moons are considered the best time to fish for them. Whole clam, peeler crab, whelk or a combination is the best bait.
Red drum running from 25 to 50 lbs. are showing up on the shoals at the mouth of the bay. Latimer Shoal and the shallow water near the northern section of the CBBT are good spots. Their numbers will continue increasing into May and action will peak in early June.
Flounder catches are on the rise in seaside inlets. Some nice fish are coming from Wachapreague and Chincoteague on the Eastern Shore. Try using live spot or small mullet for big fish in deep water around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
A few speckled trout, gray trout and puppy drum have been reported in Rudee, Lynnhaven and Little Creek Inlets. Numbers will increase as the water warms.