Chesapeake Bay fishing in your own backyard is great, but sometimes you feel like experiencing a change of pace, new challenges, and different surroundings. Besides, successful days of fishing in new and different places bring a real feeling of accomplishment. If you decide it’s time to hitch up the trailer or fill the fuel tanks and cruise for new territory—without having to hop on an airplane—then you’ll want to know about these five hot fishing spots which are within a few hours of Chesapeake Country, yet offer their own unique opportunities. Ready… Set… Go Fishing!
The Empire Gem
You want to catch great fighting, great eating fish that aren’t normally caught in our home waters? Then it’s time for another haul, this time to Cape Hatteras . Run out to the Empire Gem wreck at 35’01.783 x 75’28.502 and look on your fishfinder for the remains of this 463’ long tanker, which was torpedoed by a U-boat in World War II. Lying in 125’ to 140’ of water, it attracts the usual bottom dwellers like sea bass but also provides an opportunity to catch gag grouper. Drop top-and-bottom rigs with 8/0 or 10/0 circle hooks baited with mackerel chunks, squid, or live baits, and hold on tight—these wreck lovers pack a serious punch.
Montauk, NY
Okay, this one’s a haul. Prepare for five to seven hours of road time depending on your departure point (without hitting major traffic problems) or a very l-o-n-g run up the coast. Once there, however, there’s some really nifty stuff to try out. It’s about 30 nautical miles from Montauk Point to Cox’s Ledge, where numerous drop-offs and wrecks in this area attract plenty of cod, a very cool species that’s quite rare around here. Clam baits will bring in the fish but they’ll also bring in the dogfish; if this becomes a problem, switch over to diamond jigs.
If you’re heading here in the fall, another neat option is to catch the run of flounder—fluke, as they’re called up north—when true doormats migrate south. Mega-monster flatfish can often be intercepted between Montauk Point and Shinnecock Inlet, where boats drift along the drop-off just off the beach with live baits. Plan on putting the big bait/big fish theory into action here: locals like to use snapper blues for bait, to tempt flounder in the 10-pound range into striking.
Cape May Rips
This is an area you’ll want to head for in the middle of fall. If, that is, you like catching 40-inch-plus striped bass on light tackle. The rips are one of the major feeding grounds jumbo stripers pass through as they migrate south for the season, usually coming into the area sometime between late September and mid October. Check local reports, however, because some years the migration will speed up or slow down thanks to the weather. Last fall, for example, when it was unusually warm, the run didn’t kick into high gear until November.
How do you know when you’re at the rips? Simple—head for Cape May and when it feels like you’re boat has entered a washing machine, you’ve arrived. The water here is rarely calm, which can be tough on novices but adds a great man-versus-nature dimension to fishing. Drifting live eels through the rips is considered by most to be the number one tactic, but chunking with menhaden, drifting large menhaden chunks, and trolling with umbrellas rigged with spoon teasers are all effective.
Wilmington Canyon
Most anglers who ply the offshore waters out of Indian River, Ocean City, or Virginian ports head for Baltimore, Poor Man’s, or Washington Canyons. And it’s no wonder why: they’re significantly shorter runs. But sit down and take a close look at the charts one day.
At 38’25.658 x 73’34.641 you’ll discover colliding currents and quite often, tunas and/or billfish in the vicinity. Just a hair deeper at 38’21.427 x 73’35.207, you’ll see a notch in the canyon which also creates confused currents. Quite often weedlines, flotsam, and fish gather in these areas. All of the usual bluewater trolling tactics will work well here, but if you want to specifically target the longfin tunas that show up here more often than they do in southerly canyons, pull Green Machines rigged on 100-pound test leaders. The light leader will give the lure a lot more action than the more commonly used thicker stuff.
Great Machipongo Inlet
This inlet is way down the Eastern Shore in Virginia, about halfway between Wachapreague and the CBBT. It’s within FishTalk’s area of coverage, yet despite its close proximity few people fish it. That’s a shame, because during spring black drum can often be found rooting around in and near the inlet. Pick a calm, clear afternoon, and head your boat beyond the red #4 marker where the channel transitions to the shoals and edges. Try dropping clam chunks and halved peeler crabs on fishfinder rigs and allow the fish several seconds to eat a bait after feeling the take—remember, drum have sensitive mouths and will dump the bait if they feel resistance on the line.
Note: There are some extremely shallow shoals both north and south of this inlet, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on the depthfinder while watching for breakers. And save this place for calm conditions; the area can be quite tough, especially if there’s a northeast wind.
So, how many of these bucket list destinations have you already hit? Many anglers in these parts will have been to one, two, or maybe even three of ‘em, but it’s a fair bet that you haven’t yet visited all five. Spring is right around the corner, anglers, so start making your travel plans asap.