Way South and VA Fishing Report, 9/28/2018 Update:
Fishing inside the western shore tribs continues to be hampered by runoff and poor water quality in mid- and up-river areas, with many anglers hitting the rivers at the moment still focused on catfish. That will change very soon, however, as stripers come into season in Virginia's portion of the Bay next Thursday, October four. There have been good numbers of fish up into the 20s reported by anglers lucking into them in the Rapp, including around the Rt 3 bridge and nearby shallows around piers and pilings in the Corrotoman and adjacent creeks. A handful of specks and reds showed up this week at the same locations, so light tackle casting this area might be a great way to kick off your fall season. Topwater's effective at daybreak and after that, swimbaits and jigs take over.
Much of the area further south has been under a pretty decent mack attack, as the mackerel are making an appearance in many people's fishing days likely as they move south and on their way out of the Bay. Trolling spoons at six or more knots has been bringing these guys over the gunwales both in the Bay and farther south outside it, along the beach, with small bluefish mixed in throughout. Our Virginia correspondent Chuck Harrison reported tons of those small blues - plus a few of the mackerel - were feeding on big schools of bait in the vicinity of the HRBT. He also noted that there were lots of croaker and spot around, and speckled trout were just starting to make their presence known for the fall run. If you haven't yet seen Harrison's article Autumn Specks in the latest edition of FishTalk, be sure to grab a copy and check it out. (It's in the digital version, too, of course).
Other reports from the area tell of some spadefish and sheepshead around the islands of the CBBT (use clam bits for the spades and sand fleas up close to structure for the sheepshead), but more importantly, better numbers of decent redfish are showing up. Since they've disappeared from Maryland waters and definitely seem to be heading south, this bite should ramp up quickly and provide some excellent action in the coming days. Fishing peeler crab or large bunker chunks has been tempting them, and some have also been picked up by trollers and even sight-casters, who are also getting in their last licks on cobia right now; though they are still being caught, the fishery is certainly tougher than it was earlier in the season. Flounder fishing, meanwhile, has been sub-par. Anglers dropping Gulp! on fluke killers are taking a few, but not many - and most are throw-backs.
Bottom fishermen continue to enjoy a solid bite on bloodworm and peeler crab for spot, croaker, and a puppy drum here and there. Reports from Virginia Beach and Buckroe (which has opened back up) indicate a few black drum and pompano are in the mix, too. A catch of note from Buckroe: last week, someone caught an eight pound tripletail off the pier!
Way South and VA Fishing Report, 9/21/2018 Update:
Many areas are still rebounding from the difficult weather, and the Western shore tributaries are, in many areas, still a mess. Thanks to that and the recent weather we've been having, reports for the area are still a bit thin this week. That said, with the fall striper season coming up soon, fingers are crossed the waters clears out and we get some stable weather. Until then, most anglers on the Western side are heading out into the main-stem Bay. Working birds have been divulging the locations of mixed schools of fish in the Smith and Windmill Point areas, with stripers, Spanish mackerel, and snapper blues chasing bait. Trollers going six knots or faster using small silver and gold spoons, and also small hoses in blue or purple, have been swinging fish over the gunwales. Run-and-gun casting with spoons has also been effective, though less so than trolling.
Bigger news: the storm's effect hasn't necessarily been all bad, in that many of the species that had been dominating slightly farther north have begun heading back into our waters, as the change in weather seems to have triggered the beginning of the fall migrations. Most significantly, good numbers of big bull reds (as seen above) have been moving in. Spanish mackerel numbers are also ticking up in the lower sections of the Bay.
Bottom fishermen dropping bloodworms, crab, and shrimp baits have been getting into croaker and recently some large eating-sized spot, but flounder fishing at the CBBT and nearby areas remains lackluster. We did get reader reports of some spadefish still at the CBBT, biting on clam bits, and some sheepshead pecking at sand fleas and peeler crab baits fished right up against the structure.
Way South and VA Fishing Report, 9/14/2018 Update:
Editor’s Note: Due to Hurricane Florence, some areas of our region (particularly to the south) will be unfishable this weekend while others may be fishable but with challenges like unusual tides on top of breezy conditions. Please note that while we’ve done out best to gather quality intel, basically, as this storm causes radically changing conditions, all bets are off.
We've posted the above disclaimer in all of our Mid-Atlantic reports this weekend, but this area of the Bay in particular is unlikely to be fishable and one can reasonably guess that weather conditions will be down-right dangerous. NOAA is currently forecasting gusts to 44 mph today, 31 tomorrow, and 16 on Sunday with showers and thunderstorms likely. We'll return with a Way South and VA report next week and in the meantime, will leave you with this picture from last week as a reminder of good things to come.
Way South and VA Fishing Report, 9/7/2018:
A mixed bag is a welcome surprise with the weather heating up to these temperatures, so it’s great to see such a variety of pickings when setting off the docks the past few weeks! Ocean’s East Tackle Shop has reported cobia all over the mouth of the Bay, especially near the cape and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Reds have been on the scarce side, but with many being caught slightly to the north this should change as the weather cools a bit.
Our Virginia correspondent Chuck Harrison checked in to let us know that spades were around the second island of the CBBT being caught on clams, though most were on the small side. Check out Spadefish and Triggerfish at the CBBT, to zero in on appropriate tackle and tactics if you want to target these fish. Meanwhile, trollers working near the first island have been likely to hook up with one to two pound bluefish and maybe a mackerel or two, mostly on small spoons.
Up the Bay a bit, most of the anglers heading out of the Rappahannock and the James have been heading to the middle of the Bay between Stingray Point and Smith Point, and trolling small Clark spoons or Tony Acettas behind planers for Spanish mackerel and some (mostly very small) bluefish. Some very nice double-digit mack catches were reported this week. Fishing up inside the western shore tributary rivers, meanwhile, is still a bit off thanks to continued discoloration and heavy freshwater flows. Up-river areas are still producing some catfish but that's about it, while down-river areas with clearer water are holding some schools of stripers, plus spot and croaker for bottom fishermen dropping bloodworms and peeler crab baits.
- By Parker Martin