All summer, boats venturing out in deeper water have returned to the docks with nice Blue Line Tilefish. These colorful bottom dwellers hang out in deep water, really deep water, like 250 feet and more. They hang in the same kind of habitat with groupers and snappers and prefer sandy bottoms. James Friend Dickerson and buddies chartered The Doghouse out of Manteo last week and caught … [Read more...]

  Eighty-one teams fished the Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament last week. Cash awards totaling $785,250 were handed out. That’s a lot of dollar bills for the big bills – the blue and white marlin. It’s the peak season for them right now. As a rule, the billfish action gets hot and heavy from now until the first big Atlantic hurricane passes by.  Then it slows down considerably, but for … [Read more...]

(From Paige II Charters) Saltwater fishing right now is as good as it gets. Almost every species is biting – particularly spadefish and Spanish mackerel – both delicious in the eating department. Spadefish and sheepshead are on Chesapeake Bay structure. Kayakers have been catching lots of large sheepshead around the pilings of the CBBT. The Spanish are well up into the Bay as well as roaming … [Read more...]

Sailfish, blue marlin, white marlin! Yep, they are off the coasts of Virginia and Carolina now and they’re biting. It’s perfect timing as the local tournament season is underway. Boats have been having multiple hook-ups with blue and white marlin. Mahi catches in Virginia are coming from inshore seamounts such as the “Hot Dog”. Wahoo are in the same area as well as tuna. Swordfish, too. Carolina … [Read more...]

Jacks are wild, amberjacks that is. They go wild at the end of a fishing rod. No fish alive - pound for pound - fights harder, and they are fighting fishermen right now from the wrecks off Nags Head to the towers along the Virginia Coast. The Brewer Family, Jimmie, James and Virginia (my son, grandson and granddaughter), tried their luck with amberjacks while fishing with Ace Captain Reese … [Read more...]

The rivers are low and clear, which makes things a little tougher for a smallmouth angler, but a lot easier for a carp fisherman. Yes, carp are gaining in popularity as worthy opponents and especially on a fly rod. Carp primarily feed by smell, but they will also pick up a bait if it looks good, then spit it out if it isn’t. A fly fisherman has a brief opportunity to set the hook when that … [Read more...]

  It’s been a while coming, but the flounder bite is on and catches are on the increase. Some of the larger fish are being caught by anglers jigging bucktails tagged with strip baits or Gulps near the CBBT. Captain Craig Paige, Paige II Charters has been putting his clients on the flounder as shown above. This is really the peek fishing season in Virginia. There’s a nice class of Spanish … [Read more...]

  Capt. David of the High Hopes Charters took a father and two sons on a trip and caught some nice Spanish mackerel. They also caught some ribbonfish – lots of ribbonfish, about 30 in all. After making occasional appearances, ribbonfish showed up in force last summer in Virginia waters. The ribbons are hitting spoons intended for Spanish mackerel. The ribbonfish schools hang near the … [Read more...]

They say - whoever “they” is – that if you have black snakes around, you won’t have copperheads. They are natural enemies. Better to have a harmless black snake or two than a nest of poisonous copperheads. Recently, I heard just the opposite, that copperheads and black snakes co-exist. This source said that the black snake/copperhead myth was just that – an old wives’ tale. So which is it? My … [Read more...]