The water temperature in the Bay has dipped into the mid-50s. It’s Rockfish time.
The Big Rocks have now drifted out of the rivers into the main bay and some ocean-run fish from the Atlantic have also squeezed in, all looking for a wad of menhaden to attack.
Boats found the big stripers this week, many on the Eastern Shore side. The Plantation Lights and Cape Charles areas were early hotspots. Mann’s Stretch 25’s and Tandem Rigs were bringing the fish aboard, as were live eels. School-sized rockfish are being caught by anglers casting along the bridge pilings and the artificial islands of the CBBT. Most fish are medium in size. Lots of fish are still up the rivers, the Elizabeth, James, Rappahannock, and Potomac. Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle reported some keeper size fish inside Lynnhaven inlet, the best fishing is at night under lights.
The speckled trout bite slowed, but fish are still being caught. Lower Chesapeake Bay inlets like Lynnhaven and Little Creek are good. Rudee Inlet is also productive as are the James and Elizabeth Rivers and the Hampton/Poquoson area. Mirr-O-Lures and swim baits are working.
Tautog are biting along the CBBT and on Bay structures. As the Bay water temps drop, ocean wrecks will produce best. Fiddler crabs and quartered blue crabs are the preferred baits.
Jumbo sea bass are available on many ocean wrecks. The sea bass season closes after Dec. 31. Flounder can also be found around offshore structures. Fresh strip baits are best flounder baits.
When boats make it out to deep-drop, they are finding good numbers of tilefish and sea bass. On the run out, it’s time to lookout for bluefin tunas.
OBX
The piers produced early in the week before the wind and rain moved in. On Monday, there were reports of blues, specks, blow toads and sheepshead. By mid-week, the ocean temps dropped to around 54 and the fishing slowed. A few dogfish, skates and bluefish were caught.
Boats fishing back in Mann’s Harbor are doing well with some nice sized stripers. Offshore, the winds created havoc throughout the week, but the boats that sailed on Monday loaded up on Mahi, yellowfin and blackfin.
At Hatteras, one deep water boat made it out on Wednesday and returned with a limit of king mackerel and 1 blackfin tuna.
