Live shrimp are plentiful now along the Virginia Coast. Every fish that swims will eat a shrimp, but speckled trout love them. Fishermen call the live shrimp “Trout Candy.” As water temps cool, trout and puppy drum are moving well into the creeks and marshes – looking for shrimp. After the high winds and storms passed early this week, fishing picked right up. Some impressive flounder are … [Read more...]

    For the past 4 or 5 years, ribbonfish have been finding their way into more and more coolers. Once considered a trash fish (except for use as bait for king mackerel), anglers have discovered their value as a food fish. They are pretty fish as well - if you disregard their mouths full of sharp dentures. Their tiny scales are bright silver, almost reflective. They have … [Read more...]

As the season changes, so do the fishing patterns in the lower Chesapeake Bay. The arrival of fall brings cooler temperatures and winds that stir the bay’s waters, leading to a phenomenon known as “Fall Turnover.” This mixing of water layers distributes nutrients and oxygen more evenly, affecting where fish can be found. This transition presents opportunities for catching a variety of species as … [Read more...]

  Black sea bass enthusiasts have found the ocean wrecks to be fruitful grounds, with lots of nice fish available for those heading offshore. Flounder fishing has been particularly rewarding, with the lower bay areas such as the HTRB and the CBBT yielding impressive catches. These locations, along with the ocean wrecks, have become hotspots for those targeting flatfish. Cobia fishing hit … [Read more...]

I used to do fishing classes for beginners and one thing I always emphasized was to buy good equipment and stay away from those cheap Zebco Combos – like the kids’ Mickey Mouse Rods. I might have been wrong. On July 21, West Virginia’s Tyler Rutherford took his family fishing at a local farm pond. He put a worm on the hook of his three-year old daughter’s pink Zebco equipped with 6-pound … [Read more...]

  You troll and troll and nothing happens. You sit back and relax, maybe light a cigar or pop open a beer. Then, suddenly, “It’s fish on!” Not one, not two, not three, but four rods go down. It’s bluefish and some nice ones. Veteran angler, Dr. Ken Neill, had that experience this week while trolling in the lower Bay. Blues were all over the water. This has been an unusually good year for … [Read more...]

    This week, a pair of anglers caught two big sand tiger sharks in the surf at Nags Head. The sharks were 96” and 92” respectively. Note, however, that they were sand tiger sharks, sometimes called gray nurse sharks, and not tiger sharks. Tiger sharks are aggressive, sand tiger sharks are not. There has never been a report of a sand tiger attacking a human. Sand tiger sharks … [Read more...]

Sheepshead aren’t the easiest fish to catch. Their take is swift and soft. Some fishermen say that in order to catch a sheepshead, you have to set the hook before they bite. And they fight like John Deere Tractors once hooked. The 19.3-pounder above must have put up a mighty battle before coming to net. The sheepshead action is good, with many nice-sized catches reported. Fiddler crabs, … [Read more...]

  Spaniards. Spanish Mackerel. They’re well up into Bay waters and if they see a Clarke Spoon, they’ll eat it. I can remember about 30 years ago when Spanish first began to poke their snouts up into the Chesapeake Bay. Before that, they stayed in the ocean – mostly to our south. Today, the mackerel make an early appearance in the Bay and head well past Deltaville and Sting Ray … [Read more...]

As the summer heart intensifies, so does the saltwater fishing in Virginia. Flounder fishing is starting to take off with more fish and bigger fish taking baits. The increased catches are coming from along bridges, inshore wrecks, and artificial reefs throughout the lower bay and along the coast. Flounder are ambush predators, favoring hard structures, drop-offs, and creek entrances—ideal spots … [Read more...]