Virginia’s rockfish season opened October 4th and will remain open until December 31. Anglers are catching them around bridge pilings, piers and under lights at night. Regulations allow one fish per angler per day with a 20-inch minimum and a 36-inch maximum length. Ocean charters are still successfully targeting Spanish mackerel and king mackerel. Some nice smoker kings were recently weighed at Rudee.
Speckled Trout are available in the local inlets and rivers. Live shrimp are deadly if you can get your hands on some. They are abundant in Bay tributaries right now. Topwater baits or popping corks with fresh soft crab or other fresh cut baits will also do the trick. Captain Todd Beck, Knot Wish’n Charters, confirmed that trout and redfish are both feeding inside Rudee Inlet. The same is true for Lynnhaven and Little Creek. The best flounder bite is in the lower Chesapeake Bay and out in the ocean. Spot are still around and make great flounder bait. Sheepshead catches continue in the CBBT area. Anglers have been finding plenty of drum. They are on the move and there’s been a good run in the surf along Sandbridge. Crews fishing the Triangle Wreck area are catching lots of sea bass and trigger fish.
The deep-water anglers are doing well on tilefish and seabass. The Rudee Tours Head Boats are running full day, 12-hour sea bass and 17-hour deep dropping trips.
OBX
The pier jockeys had a good day Wednesday with catches of black drum, sea mullet, blues, and trout.
Surf fishermen beached sea mullet, puppy drum, specks, spot, and flounder. In the sound, boats continued to haul in the specks and puppies. The little bridge at Manteo produced lots of nice trout. Boats patrolling the coast scored with Spanish, blues, and false albacore. The blue water fleet returned with yellow fin, wahoo and Mahi with lots of flags flying for blue and white marlin releases.
Out of Hatteras Harbor, offshore boats had catches of Wahoo, Blackfin Tuna, King Mackerel, big Spanish Mackerel. Bottom fish catches included Triggerfish, B-liners, and Sea Bass. Inshore anglers had catches of Bluefish, Drum and Speckled Trout
Good Catches at the South River
Tommy Lawhorn at South River Fly Shop reports that the South is low and clear, but there are lots of good Rainbows and Browns which have been stocked recently along with some pretty holdovers. Smaller nymphs have been working well. Midges, Caddis Larva, and BWO nymphs are best. A few fish being caught on Squirmy worms and eggs but most on the more natural stuff.
Rivers and Lakes
The Rappahannock River continues to produce lots of Bass, Crappie, and Snakeheads. The upper James River is in good shape and is providing great smallmouth opportunities. Leaves are a problem now on all our rivers.
The area lakes are starting to bounce back and tournament weights are starting to increase. The Chick Lake has been excellent and bass, crappie and striper action at Lake Anna has been good.
