By Dr. Ken Neill, III
The Eastern Shore drum bite has really taken off. Big red drum and medium black drum are being caught along the seaside surf. Flounder fishing has also picked up on the shore with limits of flatfish being caught. Some flounder are being caught on the western side of the bay, up in the rivers and on the flats, but the best early bite has been out of places like Wachapreague.
Tautog fishing remains excellent on structures inside of the bay. More croaker are being caught and there is a good showing of sea mullet. Speckled trout and puppy drum catches have been very good inside of Rudee and Lynnhaven inlets and more are showing up on the flats and in the rivers on the western shore.
Offshore Virginia, it is mostly bottom fishing for tilefish while we wait for some good tuna water to move in. There will be more interest in tilefish after the sea bass season opens back up on May 15.
Nags Head
TW’s Fishing Report:
A few Sea Mullet and small trout on the northern beaches. There are big trout and bluefish biting in Kill Devil Hills. A couple of citations were weighed Thursday morning.
The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo Causeway continues to produce, with nice catches reported for trout and bluefish.
Pier Fishing
Avalon: Sea Mullet.
Nags Head: Small Trout.
Jennette’s: Sea Mullet.
Outer Banks: A good run of Sea Mullet.
Inshore
Inshore boats had a good day catching bluefish and Spanish. Nearshore boats also caught Spanish and blues along with some cobia.
Offshore
The offshore fleet caught Yellowfin, King Mackerel and nice Dolphin. A 61-lb. citation Wahoo was decked. The talk of the day was cobia. Many cobia were in the water and there were good catches. There was a trophy weighed in at 67 lbs.
The E wind is at 15 and the water temp is 60 degrees. Sunny, small choppy swell, muddy near shore, clearing, windy.
Hatteras Surf
Red Drum reports:
On Tuesday, the wind started to die down. Yesterday One angler had three citation Sea Mullet at Ramp 44. Late that afternoon, there were some big Bluefish and two Drum over 40-inches. Earlier, there were some Puppy Drum and a couple of Yearlings and Bluefish caught on the Point. Outside of Buxton on the sound side, there have been Trout, Puppy Drum and Bluefish.
Fishing was pretty good on Wednesday. The Point had Blues, Sea Mullet, small Flounder, Puppy Drum and a Yearling. Ramp 55 had a few yearlings and Puppy Drum. Ramp 44 had Bluefish. One 18-inch flounder was reported from the old Frisco Pier.
Hatteras Offshore
Wednesday, inshore anglers returned with big red drum releases and good catches of puppies. Deepwater boats landed blackfin tuna and dolphin. A blue marlin and a sailfish were released.
