Since Mother Nature is providing us with intermittent blustery weather, many anglers are making the most of inshore opportunities. Protected areas are providing decent catches, with flounder at the top of the list. Captain Steve Wray at Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle reports that anglers working the Lynnhaven River are finding good numbers of keeper flatfish on the moving tides. When folks can get out, they are still finding good numbers of keepers at the bend at the third island of the CBBT and along the Baltimore channel. Nice fish are also coming from the buoys along the bayside of Cape Charles, near the HRBT, and from inside Oyster. The top bait is flounder belly paired with a gudgeon. A few citation doormats are also mixed in with the masses.

Puppy drum are still a mainstay in the shallows and inlets, with Rudee Inlet and Lynnhaven Inlet the best locations to try your luck. A few speckled trout are still available in Rudee Inlet, as well as the Elizabeth River where interest is beginning to give way to newly arriving species. The folks at the Virginia Beach Fishing Center report that Taylor bluefish are also showing inside Rudee Inlet, as well as along the ocean front.

Croaker are hitting in the usual haunts within the lower Bay and along the ocean front. Anglers working the areas around the carrier piers are finding plenty of hardheads, leaving with filled coolers. Good croaker catches are still occurring in the rivers, where snapper bluefish, grey trout to seven pounds, and even a few flounder are providing a mixed bag. Jim at the Ocean View Fishing Pier boasts that the croaker are nice-sized this week, with hard heads to ¾-pound taking squid and shrimp, especially at night. Pier anglers are also a few finding keeper flounder. There is a new game in town. The first catches of sea mullet occurred this week, with decent 1-pounders inhaling bloodworms.

Lower bay structures are still giving up good numbers of keeper tautog up to around 13-pounds on fiddlers and crab. Deep wrecks are also a good bet for big tog, but anglers are finding few windows in the weather to access them. Remember that these popular wreck dwellers become off limits beginning on the 1st of May.

Yet another species has joined in the spring procession. The docile black drum has graced our waters, with the first reports of hook and line catches occurring within the Eastern Shore seaside surf, and the inlets near Quinby and Machipongo. Mark at Chris’ Bait and Tackle reports that most fish have been on the smallish size, but the bigger fish will begin biting soon. Large blacks to 95-pounds are already coming from commercial fishing efforts. Look for the bull reds along the Eastern Shore’s barrier islands next.

Blueline tilefish are still available off the coast in water over 50 fathoms, along with a variety of grouper, and some nice seabass. Although dog fish are still a nuisance, warmer temperatures will help push them out soon.

Offshore opportunities are pushing this way. Several local boats found yellowfin tuna as well as several nice bluefins just south of the triple 0’s this week. Captain Mike Standing and his crew aboard the Waterman out of the Fishing Center released a bluefin tuna, and weighed in a nice 112-pound bluefin. The crew aboard the Still Thinkin out of Virginia Beach also scored with a good bluefin run, with one release and one kept, tipping the scales at 117-pounds. Other boats to getting in on the yellowfin and bluefin action included the Just Right skippered by Justin Wilson out of Lynnhaven and the Canyon Express skippered by Greg Span out of Rudee Inlet.

Until next week, good luck fishing!

Julie

Trackback URI | Comments RSS