Spanish Mackerel action along the Virginia coast is the best in memory. A large class of fish has shown up along the oceanfront and in tidal rips inside the bay. Captains are trolling small spoons like the 00 Drone or a 00 or 01 Clark behind a small planer. Taylor blues are swimming with the mackerel and together keep the anglers busy. Spanish mackerel average between 1- and 3-pounds, but the Virginia state record is 9 pounds, 13 ounces. If you can find some live menhaden, try trolling one on a Carolina king mackerel rig, near schools of Spanish and you might break a record.
Cobia are still entering the bay and some have made their way up as far as Bluefish Rock where they should stay for the rest of the summer. Always watch for fish on the surface, but chumming has becoming more effective recently. Create a chum slick and use live eels, live spot or croaker for bait.
There are plenty of spadefish around buoys, the pylons of the CBBT and at the Chesapeake Light Tower. The bait of choice is clam, though squid will work when the fish are aggressive. There are plenty of red drum available in the lower bay. Look for them on Eastern Shore shoals and around the islands on the CBBT. Sheepshead are all around the pilings of the CBBT.
Speckled trout are being caught in Lynnhaven, Little Creek, Rudee Inlets, Eastern Shore Inlets, in the Elizabeth River and the Poquoson Flats. The Virginia Beach Pier is catching a nice class of Spanish mackerel, some average sized croakers, spot and sea mullet.
Flounder fishing is slow. June is typically a great month for large flounder at the CBBT and The Cell, but catches have been on the decline for several years. Last week North Carolina’s Marine Fisheries Commission announced it would most likely completely shut down recreational and commercial flounder fishing in August, to end over fishing and rebuild the over fished southern flounder stock. The commission voted to accept recommendations from the Division of Marine Fisheries in its entirety. The division proposes a 62% reduction in southern flounder harvest compared to 2017 and a 72% reduction in harvest beginning in 2020, to be achieved through commercial and recreational season closures. The division also proposed yardage and time restrictions for gill nets and prohibiting the use of puncturing devices, such as gaffs, in the pound net fishery.
Offshore the Mahi bite has been outstanding. Big eye and yellow fin tuna have also made a good showing off Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. A few blue and white marlin have been caught. Deep droppers are finding good numbers of blueline and golden tilefish.
Outer Banks
Avon surf anglers are reporting sea mullet, pompano and spot. Spanish were beached at Ramps 44 and 45 on lures. A nice drum was caught at Ramp 4 along with some scattered sea mullet. The ocean is muddy and more thunder storms are expected.
The Little Bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway reported sea mullet, pompano and spot.
On the piers, Avalon, Nags Head and Outer Banks piers produced sea mullet and spot. Jennette’s caught those plus some nice sheepshead. Nearshore boats decked plenty of sea bass, albacore, Spanish, bluefish and ribbon fish. The inshore fleet caught bluefish, trout, stripers and red drum. Offshore boats out of Oregon Inlet landed nice size bigeyes, blackfin, yellowfin, Mahi and wahoo.
At Hatteras, inshore anglers enjoyed good Spanish mackerel fishing along with bluefish, speckled trout and gray trout. Some cobia were caught as well. Dolphin fishing was good offshore with lots of bailers and gaffers. A few Blackfin Tuna helped fill the fish boxes.
Freshwater
The Lakes
Bass are in summer patterns on all the major lakes, making moves close to shore at morning and evenings. Crappie are gradually moving to deep water, clinging to bridge pilings. The catfish bite is good across the state. Stripers have been active at Buggs and Anna.
Bluegills are going for crickets and crawlers, especially on the Chickahominy River,
The rivers were in excellent shape until mid-week downpours, but should be fishable by the weekend. Smallmouth are going for topwater offerings when the water is reasonably clear.
At Lake Orange, water temperatures are in the low to mid-80s. The lake is clear on the lower end and stained on the upper end. Bass are feeding on live bait and starting to school up chasing shad again. Bass are hitting topwaters early and late in the day with a soft plastics during the majority of the day. Crappie fishing seems to have picked up a little in the last week with some nice fish being caught in 8- to 10-feet of water. Small minnows are definitely the bait of choice. Walleye fishing has remains good with some nice fish being caught in the mid lake area. Catfishing is strong throughout the lake with chicken liver the best bait, but clam snouts, shrimp and minnows have caught a few as well.
