Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, June 24 Update:
The Tangier and Pocomoke are providing some of the best light-tackle fishing on the Bay right now, with plenty of action from specks and stripers. Speckled trout have been seemingly unfazed by the weather this week, and continue to bite with vigor just as long as you can find a decent spot sheltered from the wind with good water clarity. Meanwhile, stripers within the bounds of the Sounds have also been more active than most other areas. Both species have been hanging around grassy beds and edges, and are happy to take soft plastics. Four-inch white and pink paddle tails, MirrOlures, and crab baits have all been working, although bait fishing can be dicey due to skates picking up your lines. Hot Chicken, Stinky Pink, and Salt and Pepper have been hands-down color favorites. One big (see: expensive) issue that anglers are encountering while attempting to locate fish right now is losing tails to bluefish. We did have reports of baby blues and very limited numbers of keepers — as of right now, they’re primarily of nuisance size. Regardless, Sea Hawk let us know that the specks are hitting best at the last of the flood and beginning of the ebb tide. You’ll still need to search for them, but they’re there. If you’re targeting stripers, this weekend produced very occasional reports of catches under birds, although landing a keeper took a lot of sorting through the little guys. Sea Hawk also had a few anglers let them know that the topwater bite is good in the early morning and evening. When water conditions were good this week, the flounder bite was on as well and sending out squid or jigging pink soft plastics has been doing the trick for them.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, June 18 Update:
We had some reader reports of a pretty good bull redfish bite on peeler and soft crab baits fished in the vicinity of the Target Ship, with one angler catching three fish around 40 inches each. Rays are a problem, however, so if you want to target these fish plan on bringing plenty of bait. If you’re headed out for the start of cobia season, the same is true. Sea Hawk had the first reports of cobia caught as the season opened this week. Anglers fishing with bait were hooking up, although we didn’t hear anything about the sight fishing bite. This could just be a gap in the info we gathered this week and isn’t indicative of sight fishing not being a tactic worth trying. Sea Hawk reported that one boat headed out this week hooked up and landed two large keeper cobia, while a few other boats reported a single catch.
Specks continue biting for those who can find clean water around the shallows of the salt islands and in the Honga. Three to five inch plastics on quarter-ounce or smaller heads are doing the trick, with white paddletails leading the charge. Many of the fish are reported to be nice, chunky specimens, averaging 18 to 20 inches. Where specks aren't present, (mostly small) rockfish fill in the gap. We also got word of speck catches off Pungoteague, Nassawaddox, and Wise Point.
Somehow, our flounder report is even more exciting than the cobia one! Sea Hawk heard from multiple anglers that good sized flounder are still in the Sounds and drop-offs of the ESVA and happily biting. One crew reported catching six flounder in the 20-inch plus range, photo confirmed. They hit minnow and silversides, as well as Gulp! baits bounced along bottom. We’ve been hearing that white, pink, chartreuse, and soft plastics with a little sparkle in them are getting the flounder’s attention.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, June 10 Update:
Several readers who headed to the Tangier this week reported that the winds had thoroughly riled up the waters, making fishing in the shallows tough at times and finding clean water a critical component to success. At least one savvy angler headed up the Honga and found a few specks, and we also heard from two readers who tied into monster reds in the Sound this week. Sea Hawk echoed this, emphasizing that clear water was key this week. Specks weren’t caught in incredible numbers, possibly due to the poor conditions and hot weather we’ve had causing a lull in fish activity. Anglers who did manage to get into them were catching big ones though, and once a school was located the action was nonstop. The regular four-to-five-inch paddle and twister tails were best, and Sea Hawk reported that they found Saltwater Assassins paired with quarter-ounce Old School jig heads was working best. Albino Ghost and Butt Naked (pink with a chartreuse tail) were hot colors.
We didn’t have any reports of flounder this week, though we’re hoping to see that bite pick up a bit over the next few weeks. If you’re headed out for flounder (or any other species, really) feel free to shoot us an email at [email protected] with your pics and report! We’d love to hear from you.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, June 4 Update:
The speckled trout reports continue flowing in with good catches being made on fish up into the low-20-inch range on soft plastics in the shallows. Sea Hawk reported the shallows in the Tangier and Pocomoke have both been productive and the trout are FAT. We’re seeing tons of big ole’ trout leaving the water right now and Sea Hawk mentioned that landing specks over 20 inches hasn’t been uncommon at all. Pink, chartreuse, white, and pearl were all great colors this week. The specks appreciate a fast-action retrieve. Anglers fishing for them are encountering striped bass as well. Most of them have been undersized, although most boats are able to get away with a keeper in the box. In general, stripers in the Sounds have been on the lower end of the size limit. With all the wind we’ve had, however — and this is a big however — locating clean water has been a critical component to success. We had two reader reports of single-fish days this week when they were in areas that had been riled up and where they were unable to see bottom in a few feet of water.
Throughout the Sound tribs, white perch are abundant. Guys fishing from shore and on boats near structure are absolutely racking them up with bloodworms, FishBites, and grass shrimp. Beetle spins are also working well. Some flounder were also caught this week, and a few scattered reports of big redfish (mostly caught by anglers casting jigs for trout) have come in from the Honga to Saxis. Targeting them has become very difficult, though, because any attempt to use soft or peeler crab baits generally produces cownose rays in short order.