Flounder catches are on the rise in the Chesapeake Bay. They are biting along the CBBT, around inshore wrecks and artificial reefs throughout the lower bay and along the coast.Capt. Craig Paige on the Paige II put his crew in the meat this week with the above catch. Pier and surf anglers are finding flounder, bluefish, Spanish, croaker, sea mullet and small spot.
Virginia boat the Mercenaria, Captain Neil Sykes and angler Matthew Brown captured the overall title at the 64th annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament held out of Morehead City. The 6-day event featured 266 teams and a total prize payout of $5.9 million. The Mercenaria a 72-foot Viking is home ported in Cape Charles and fishes out of Rudee Inlet. Their 572.6-pound marlin caught on day 1 held the top spot on the leader board all week. The winning fish earned more money than any single Marlin in history, $3,489,813.00.
Good Spanish mackerel fishing continues along the oceanfront and in the lower bay. Most fish are being caught with either Clark or Drone spoons tied directly to a 20/30-foot mono leader run behind a planer or in-line trolling sinker.
Cobia season is open. Most anglers are fishing live bait in chum slicks. But always have a rod ready to sight cast.
Spadefish are around buoys, pylons of the CBBT and the Chesapeake Light Tower.
Sheepsheads are hanging around structure. Look for them around the Cell, CBBT, Plantation Light, York Spit Light, the buoys at the mouth of the bay, the Chesapeake Light Tower, Tower Reef, or any wreck.
Big red drum are still plentiful throughout the lower Bay. Latimer Shoal and the shallow water near the northern section of the CBBT are where most of the fish are caught.
Big amberjacks are at the south tower and the Chesapeake light tower. Coastal wrecks are holding bluefish, amberjacks and triggerfish.
Offshore boats are catching dolphin, yellowfin tuna and an occasional big eye tuna.
Deep droppers are catching plenty of tilefish and sea bass.
OBX
There has been some good drum action this week in addition to mullet, croaker, and blues. A local fishing sound-side from his boat said he was killing the big drum. There are some big fish out there now if you can get to them. The piers on Thursday morning have mullet, croakers, bluefish, and puffers. The charter fleet has been doing very well as of late. Wednesday, a ½-day trip produced lots of Mahi. Further offshore, the yellowfin continue to bite hard and there are also some big wahoo coming in as well, mahi and billfish are on the lines too. Tilefish are biting for deep droppers.
