On the saltwater scene, lots of anglers have “The Blues”, as in bluefish. Blues are surfacing on the lower Chesapeake, along the Virginia Beach Shore and at Nags Head on the OBX. Jenette’s Pier reported some nice catches of bluefish.
Spanish were also taking Gotcha Plugs from the pier jockeys. Inshore boats were picking up blues, Spanish, a few Kings and some cobia. The cobia action should heat up in the next two weeks. Surf fishermen beached a few sea mullet and puppy drum along with some throwback specks. The water temp in the Nags Head surf was 66 on Wednesday, so it’s getting there.
Bottom fishermen were loading up on sea bass and tilefish.
In the Gulf Stream, the Bite Me boat got into a nice school of Mahi on Wednesday and also battled a big blue marlin and released the estimated 550 pounder after aa long fight.
Freshwater.
Darrell Kennedy with Angler’s Landing at Lake Orange ((540-672-3997) says that water temperatures are in the upper 60s. Crappie have returned back to schooling after the spawn and are aggressively feeding on small minnows. Bass are in the post spawn and are hitting top water lures in low light periods and soft plastics around shoreline cover during the day. Walleye fishing has been good all month for anglers using live bait fished near or at the bottom in hard bottom areas. The bream have begun to spawn with some nice fish being caught on red wigglers and nightcrawlers. Catfishing has picked up for those using chicken livers and nightcrawlers, with the upper end of the lake producing best.
The smallmouth rivers are in excellent shape, but the trout streams are getting low. We need rain. Bass in lakes throughout the state have finished their spawn and the feed bag is on. Crappie at Anna and Smith Mountain are hiding beneath boat docks. The Rappahannock River has been giving up some huge blue cats.
