It’s shaping up to be another terrific year for Spanish mackerel. One of the tastiest of all saltwater fish, there was a time when the “Macs” stayed strictly in ocean waters, mostly in the Carolinas, but they began slowly inching up into the Bay. Now, they are plentiful along the western shore of the bay and up into Maryland waters. Spanish mackerel fishing is just plain good.
Drone or Clark spoons pulled behind a planer or an in-line sinker will do the trick. Watch for breaking fish under birds and work tidelines and shoal edges.
Cobia action is still very good and should continue through the summer. Live eels and live spot are the best baits now. Try chumming in areas where fish are known to hang out. Look for them near ocean and bay buoys and along the CBBT.
Schools of red drum are popping up near the third and fourth islands. If you can’t find fish to sight-cast to, try anchoring and chumming near shoals.
Spadefish are around structure and go for pieces of clam. Once they are spotted, chumming can draw them off the structure and keep them near the boat.
Sheepshead fishing is outstanding right with big fish in the 10- to 15-pound class available. Anglers are attaching a marsh crab to a medium size bottom sweeper jig head and fishing it tight against structure like the pilons of the CBBT.
Good reports of flounder are coming from the CBBT area, the Cell and all the artificial reefs.
The Virginia Beach Fishing Pier is reporting Spanish, blues, flounder, and small roundheads.
Boats deep-dropping on shallow ocean wrecks are catching flounder and sea bass. Deeper wrecks are holding sea bass and tilefish.
Offshore, blue water anglers are catching yellowfin tuna, big eye tuna, dolphin, wahoo and swordfish.
OBX
TW’s reports lots of puppy drum and nice size trout being caught in the sound. They have weighed multiple speckled trout from 4- to 6-lbs in the last few days.
The local piers are reporting bluefish, sand perch, croakers, small spadefish, and a few flounder. With the NE winds in the forecast, there should be some Spanish mackerel showing up at the piers. Anglers fishing the surf have reported sea mullet, puppy drum, spot, and bluefish. Sharks and stingrays are biting very good at night from both the surf and the piers!
Offshore, boats are still fighting the sharks for their tunas on the kite. We did hear reports of a few boats finding some bigeye tuna recently, with a few nice ones being brought to the dock. Along with the tuna, there are reports of dolphin, wahoo, grouper, and tilefish.
Freshwater
Angler’s Lane in Lynchburg notes that the Jackson has been fishing extremely well this year for trout with good numbers and a healthy mix of size classes. Most fish recently have been caught nymphing and earlier on streamers when flows allow.
Also, the James River has been steadily producing big smallmouth all year long and it has not slowed down. They have caught many fish in faster, deeper/ledgy water with bottom bouncing flies as well as on streamers in well oxygenated runs. The topwater bug bite has been great early in the morning and late in the evening.
Greentop reports that the Buggs Island Lake elevation is 299.95′, which has risen since last week. Many of the better bass are being caught out deeper on brush, and rock structure. However, early morning topwater action can often yield the biggest fish of the day. Shoal areas close to deep water are good places to try. Crappie are being caught from deeper brush, 15’-25′ in most cases.
The mid to upper sections of Anna have been better for bass. The water is cooler, and more fertile in these sections. Anna becomes quite crowded, so early mornings, evenings, and weekdays are much easier for those fishing. All bridges but the 208 bridge, are no wake, so they are good options on crowded days. Especially for Crappie.
