The flounder bite has been good. Ask Ty Martz. He drifted along the CBBT and picked up a 10-5 flatfish. That’s a lot of flounder filets. The CBBT is also good place for red drum. Drum of all sizes are showing up in the surf along the Oceanfront to Sandbidge.
Large spot are now on the move, netters are catching plenty inside the first island. Speckled trout are attacking baits inside Lynnhaven Inlet. In fact, they’ve moved into all the local inlets now. Puppy Drum are in the same areas.
Sheepshead continue to be caught around structures inside the bay. Those targeting sea bass on the wrecks were rewarded with some nice fish.
Captain David Wright and crew onboard the High Hopes had an awesome day offshore. They landed a limit of blueline tilefish, one a citation. They added two citation bigeye tunas, one at 170 pounds and the other at 129 pounds. The crew topped the trip off with an 80-pound swordfish.
As October arrives, increased shallow fishing takes place. This is especially true for Speckled Trout, and Puppy Drum. Speck anglers are experiencing a good bite in the many inlets, and rivers of the bay. They are being caught from the Rappahannock River to Rudee Inlet. Some big Black Drum have even been caught in the Virginia Beach surf. A few reports of spot have been coming from the Hampton area. Various scents of Fishbites are what many are using, as bloodworms are difficult to obtain. Rockfish season has opened inside the bay. The limit is one fish per day between 20-36 inches. Boats have been finding up them inside the rivers and inlets. Some are having luck at the islands of the CBBT, and along the light lines of the bridge.
OBX
When the ocean calmed down, the speckled trout responded. In TW’s Coastal Tournament Series, William Wright from Currituck caught a 4.35lb speckled trout near Hatteras to take the lead.
In the surf, anglers report good trout fishing, mostly smaller fish, but there have been some big ones mixed in. Jennifer Lawson weighed in a 4.25lb trout she caught in the surf. Along with the trout, surf casters are beaching big drum, puppy drum, sea mullet, bluefish, flounder, and spot.
Anglers fishing the piers have had good luck with big drum. There were nearly 30 citation size drum being caught on a couple of the piers on Sunday.
There are also plenty of bluefish, sea mullet, spot, and small speckled trout.
Fishing in the sound remains steady with drum of all sizes and plenty of nice size trout.
Freshwater
Greentop reported that high winds over the weekend impacted much of the freshwater fishing. When the weather calmed down, bass fishing returned to normal for October. Topwater lures are working, sometimes, all day. Crappie on Kerr Lake are moving to brush piles in 10-15′ of water. The Stripers have been tough to pattern, typical for this time of year. Topwater baits are good for covering water quickly, then circling back for the less active fish with live bait. The upper James is a good option now, as water levels have risen slightly. Topwater baits are top choices.
Trout stocking will soon be underway as streams are in ideal condition.
