The big fellas are back. Giants bluefins from 150 to 200 pounds are close to shore – at the Windmills area, Chesapeake Light and Triangle Wrecks. Sometimes they are as close as Caper Henry.
Rockfish are now leaving the tributaries, heading out into the Bay where ocean fish from the north will join the schools. The Eastern side of the Bay is a hotspot, where anglers have success drifting or slow trolling eels near Plantation Light and along Cape Charles. Smaller school-sized rocks are hanging near the pilings and artificial islands of the Bay Tunnel.
The Bay waters are now around 54 degrees and tautogs will become less active. The best action is on the offshore wrecks with fiddler and blue crabs as bait. Speckled trout action seems non-stop in the rivers and creeks.
Offshore anglers are catching jumbo sea bass, and some large bluefish. Other species, including flounder and triggerfish, are still present around offshore structures.
OBX
There are reports of puppy drum, black drum, bluefish, croakers, and sea mullet from the surf and the piers. Specks in the surf are running small. The southern beaches continue to see a good sea mullet bite and some bluefish as well.
The stripers have been showing up in the sound the last few days. There are still plenty of trout and puppy drum to be found there as well.
