Lynnhaven Pier – Good action on spot, along with a few puppy drum each day. The best action has been on the early morning tide.
Virginia Beach Pier -Good catches of spot and puppy drum. Best catches are made in the early morning hours. A few small Spanish mackerel and keeper-sized striped bass are being caught from the end of the pier by casters.
Sandbridge Pier – Spot are the mainstay, but puppy drum, sea mullet and croaker are mixed in the catches.
Saltwater Peninsula Report
By Dr. Ken Neill, III
Offshore anglers are targeting billfish with major tournaments each week. Mostly white marlin are being caught, but good numbers of blue marlin and some sailfish are reported. Non-tournament anglers slow-trolling live bait have had the best catches of white marlin so far. Dolphin can be encountered and some decent catches are being made on the inshore hills. There are some yellowfin tuna around and the occasional bigeye tuna is being caught. Wahoo are also available but right now, it is mostly billfish. More anglers are experimenting with daytime dropping for swordfish. They are having success and some impressive swords are being brought back to the docks. Offshore bottom fishing is producing good catches of golden and blue-line tilefish.
The coastal wrecks are holding flounder, sea bass, triggerfish and some big Sandtiger sharks. Spadefish can be found over most of the wrecks. Triggerfish, spadefish and flounder catches are also good at the CBBT where big sheepshead are also being caught. It has been an excellent summer for Spanish mackerel. They are being caught along the oceanfront and throughout the lower bay.
Cobia catches remain excellent. Both chumming and sight-fishing are productive. Anglers in the lower bay and along the oceanfront are mostly sight-fishing. Those trying to chum are dealing with what seems to be a record number of sharks. The mid-bay chummers are not having the shark problem. Anglers looking for cobia are also running into big red drum occasionally.
Puppy drum and speckled trout are available in all of the normal grassy area. Good numbers of spot have been around this summer, which means we should have a good September for catching spot.
Nags Head
TW’s reports:
On Tuesday, some nice size Sea Mullet, small Bluefish and Croaker were caught in the surf.
Sand Fleas make fantastic bait for Sea Mullet and they are plentiful right now. Just dig in the surf, put them in bucket sand and all. Sand fleas are also a great bait for Pompano and the crystal clear water makes for perfect conditions.
Sound Fishing: Capt. Reese Stecher continues to have great success putting his clients on keeper specks and nice puppy drum as well. The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported lots of throwback Trout with some keepers, Croaker and Spot.
Pier Fishing: Avalon: Spanish, Bluefish, and Pigfish.
Jennette’s: Bluefish, Bar Jacks, Sand Perch and Croaker.
Outer Banks: Bluefish.
Nearshore anglers continue to have good catches of Spanish and Bluefish. Inside the inlet, open boats are catching Flounder, Sea Mullet, Croakers and Bluefish. Trout are plentiful in the sound.
The offshore boats caught Yellowfin, Dolphin and some Wahoo. There were also Sailfish and White Marlin releases.
Hatteras Surf
Tuesday morning started off good with 2 to 5 pound trout caught in the sound along with some keeper flounder. Avon had Sea Mullet and Croakers. The swell from the storm out to sea made things a little rough.
It was a pretty on Wednesday, but hot. South of the Frisco Pier lots of Spot and Sea Mullet were beached. Ramp 49 had some Pompano. Avon had Sea Mullet and Croakers.
Hatteras Offshore
Wednesday was an absolutely beautiful day. Inshore groups enjoyed a great day catching over-the-slot Red Drum and keeper Puppy Drum. Speckled Trout fishing was good. Near shore anglers had a wonderful time with Spanish Mackerel and bluefish. Offshore anglers enjoyed good fishing conditions and returned with gaffer Dolphin, fair to good catches of Wahoo, and a few Blackfin Tuna. A pair of Sailfish and one White Marlin were released.