Most all the fish have returned to the Chesapeake Bay – spot, croakers, whiting, blues, Spanish Macs, flounder, spadefish and especially sheepshead. Monster sheepshead are now patrolling the pilings of the Bridge Tunnel and are fond of sand fleas and chunks of blue crab. Citation fish over 11 pounds were weighed this week.
Water temperatures are now sitting in the high 60s to low 70s throughout the inlets at Virginia Beach. A few smaller reds are still being caught at Sandbridge and off the piers, although the bite has been a little slower lately. Bluefish are absolutely tearing it up from Sandbridge all the way up toward the Lesner and Rudee Inlet areas. Striped Bass are hanging around docks, especially on the late-night bite
A few black drum are biting in and around structure and deeper channels. The black sea bass opening day was red hot with charter boats loading up almost immediately on quality fish.
OBX
Beautiful weather triggered the fish bite this week. There were reports of bluefish on Wednesday – some large, some medium, and some small. The blues are in the surf along with some large black drum, red drum, and a few stripers. The shark fishermen are doing well and landing some big sand tigers to the tune of 300- and 400-hundred pounds. The piers report mullet and bluefish. Nearshore boats are finding Spanish mackerel, bluefish, seabass, and some false albacore. The offshore fleet has yellowfin, blackfin, mahi, tilefish, king mackerel, and some blue marlin on the hit list. Not too bad of a week so far.
