Virginia’s sea bass fishery is open. It’s a special one-month fishery, highly regulated and designed for data collection. A special, no-cost permit is required, reporting is mandatory, and you must tell VMRC when you are fishing so they have the opportunity to have a biologist meet you when you return. All this is due to efforts to collect data on this wintertime fishery that we … [Read more...]

By Capt. Steve Chaconas   If you don’t own any Silver Buddy lures, get some! They allow you to fish any depth with a lot of vibration for little movement. I use ½ ounce and ¾ ounce sizes. Silver is best for days with some sun and moderately clear water. Gold otherwise. Use 10-pound test Gamma Edge fluorocarbon on a Quantum Vapor casting reel. The rod is a medium action 7’ graphite rod, … [Read more...]

  It’s been an exceptional fall for catching stripers at Nags Head. Capt. Reese Stecher of Beach Bum Fishing has been hammering them back in the sound – nice size fish, too, Says Reese: “We have been catching limits of stripers every trip in November. A body of them has moved up into the sound. We have had caught them up to 28 inches there this month. We’re still catching stripers at … [Read more...]

  Urbanna is strategically located on Urbanna Creek, about a quarter mile from the Rappahannock River. Because the Rappahannock is relatively narrow, water flows are stronger and the river flushes easily. Of all the Virginia tidal rivers, the Rapp is the cleanest and purest and offers some of the best fishing in the state. Striped bass, in particular. Many stripers never leave the river. … [Read more...]

By Capt. Reese Stecher   It was a bloodbath last Thursday. We started with the trout and the trout lost. I gave up on netting. They were coming over the side faster than I could keep up with. It was the best day size-wise all week as we ended up with a dozen keepers. We then moved onto the rockfish. Some days they bite like crazy. Some days you can't get a bite. And some days you … [Read more...]

  Speckled trout action is picking up inside Lynnhaven Inlet, Rudee Inlet and in the Eastern Shore creeks. Anglers are catching a lot of undersize fish, but there are keepers mixed in. Leadheads with a twister tail, or Gulps are the most popular baits, but topwaters seem to be catching the larger fish. Puppy drum, some in the 20 to 28 inch class, are in the same areas as the specks. … [Read more...]

Surf fishermen reported plenty of bluefish from the north beaches down through Buxton. Some nice puppy drum were also beached. There were also reports of puppy drum at Pea Island. North of Oregon Inlet, trout are plentiful up and down the beaches. Black drum, bluefish and pompano were caught in the surf. At Coquina Beach, puppy drum and one large drum were caught. The ocean was rough on … [Read more...]

The best thing to do on the Outer Banks, particularly at Nags Head, is to pull up a lawn chair beside the sound, pour a glass of white wine and watch the sunset. Each one is spectacular. The next best thing is to open the curtains on your ocean side room and watch the sunrise. Those two events make the 5-hour drive from Central Virginia worthwhile, but there are lots of other things to do and one … [Read more...]

Capt. Reese Stecher of Beach Bum Fishing has been putting his clients on a wide variety of fish – and lots of them. The action at Nags Head is red hot. Cobia, apparently, are making their way out of the Chesapeake Bay and have found things to their liking off the Carolina Coast. On Sunday, Reese and party landed keeper cobia, some big stripers, moonfish, Spanish mackerel and bunches of … [Read more...]