Coastal Fishing Report, June 25 Update:
Get ready to hit the docks and head offshore, anglers: the bite has picked up in a serious way. Offshore, boats that managed to head out when the weather permitted got into some real hefty yellowfin bites. Hotspots have been the Baltimore, Poorman’s, and the Rockpile. Heatwave let us know that they killed it heading out of Wachapreague, returning to the docks with nine yellowfin. Contributor Kevin Thomas reported nine yellowfin and a mako on a trip out this week, and we had readers report trips that resulted in seven and 12 fish hitting the decks. Mixed in with the yellowfin, we’re hearing about some bigeye. Most boats are pulling both ballyhoo and plastics, with no particular offering standing out above all others. A few white marlin have also been hanging out in the blue water. Multiple readers this week let us know that they brought up between one and three white marlins, however a few noted that trips offshore are producing surprisingly low numbers of mahi-mahi.
On the inshore scene, Alltackle in Ocean City has been getting plenty of reports from boats heading out for sea bass. The bite is somehow still red hot, and multiple anglers have been maxing out limits. Similar reports from the Morning Star are of anglers often limiting out. On top of that, the Alltackle staff was also excited to report that doormat flounder are coming off the reefs right now for anglers dedicated to putting in the time for them. While they aren’t flying out of the water, they’re hanging around for sure. Reports from Old Inlet are that Delaware anglers are having similarly strong bass and flounder action at the more northern reef sites and Captain Cook of First Light Charters checked in to confirm that flounder fishing off Delaware as been fantastic, especially when the wind and current run in the same direction. He also mentioned that the night-bite for stripers and blues has held up well, too.
Inshore anglers fishing out of Virginia are enjoying a stellar (if somewhat crowded) run of very large spadefish at the Light Tower. Inshore trollers are getting good numbers of Spanish mackerel plus a snapper blue here and there, and ribbonfish are back into the mix as of this week, too.
The Indian River and Ocean City inlets are a similar flounder story. They’re there, but most reports included some mention of how slow some days have been. Rough weather and muddied waters earlier this week could have contributed to the lack of bite on some days. On days with clear water, drifting squid chunks or minnows and tossing out traditional pink and white soft plastics has been the recipe for success. Indian River has also continued to see some night-time striper action (as Captain Cook mentioned) and both inlets have snapper blues prowling through. The Virginia inlets have a similar bite, though we also had a couple of reader reports of puppy drum on soft plastics in Rudee.
The surf is also holding some great action, up and down the coast. Coastal Correspondent John Unkart let us know that after the wind calmed down this week, the kingfish bite at Assateague was in rare form. He slammed them one evening using squid and FishBites combo baits. The Fishing Center also mentioned that a few blues are leaving the surf, and they had heard of a couple of little puffer fish, too.
Coastal Fishing Report, June 19 Update:
Offshore, there was a good spurt of action before the windy conditions hit and yellowfin tuna were common at the Baltimore and Poor Man’s canyons, and a few bigeye also turned up. Josh Lowery on Talkin’ Trash said they got into them and had four on at once at one point, out beyond the edge of the Continental Shelf. We also had a reader let us know that a trip in the vicinity of Poorman’s banged up nine yellowfin. Angler-in-Chief Lenny Rudow also headed out late last week, and hit the Norfolk. That turned out to be both north of and south of the tuna, though (VA Beach boats have been getting into them, too), and the trip resulted in one mako on the troll followed by plenty of blueline tilefish up to eight or 10 pounds at 320 feet, on squid baits.
While gusty conditions made most of this past week a bust on the beach, anglers who hit the surf the (very few) days they could caught the usual summer smattering of species. Kingfish, small blues, a few croakers, and sharks were all caught. Contributor Eric Packard fished for sharks on Assateague over the weekend and caught five sandbar sharks after paddling out bait on a kayak. We also had a reader send in pics including a mix of sandbar and sand tiger sharks.
The inlets have also been productive—flounder are available when the wind cooperates and water conditions are good. They’re hitting jigged pink soft plastics and drifted squid. A few small blues are hanging around, as well. Inshore, Captain Monty Hawkins on the Morning Star reported that when he managed to fight through the wind this week, his trips often resulted in sea bass limits on the wrecks. The sea bass bite is unusually hot for mid to late June and says: “we’re hoping it keeps up after this weekend’s wind!”
Coastal Fishing Report, June 11 Update:
Offshore anglers had mixed results this week – a story of heroes and zeroes, mostly depending on when and where one decided to run. And unfortunately, no one area seems to be the ticket. We heard from some readers who had as many as six yellowfin and we heard from some—who we know for a fact to be seriously good anglers—that the tuna simply did not cooperate. We heard that Baltimore Canyon was hot, and then it was not. We heard the Washington was a blank, and then that it produced four tuna (but all in a single cover-up). The OC Fishing Center said they’ve been seeing some yellowfin come in from offshore, but couldn’t confirm a specific canyon as best. Dolphin have been hanging around offshore as well, further out than in.
Good news this week has been the kingfish bite in the surf. The Ocean City Fishing Center let us know that anglers coming in are reporting stellar surf catches for them at dawn and dusk. While they’ve been reeling them in, they reported that the occasional small bluefish or croaker will show up. Coastal Correspondent John Unkart corroborated this report: he went to Assateague and slammed kingfish in the surf, then let us know there were some nice plump ones around. Reports from Virginia Beach are similar, although they’re definitely seeing more bluefish in the mix to the south, as well as more diversity as spot, a few small flounder, and even a few trout are in the mix.
Anglers headed to the wrecks are still enjoying the black sea bass bite throughout the Mid-Atlantic zone, which hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. Boats headed out have often been returning early, fishboxes full. Capt. Monty on the Morning Star has been watching many of his clients limit out, on a regular basis this week. There are also a few flounder on the wrecks, although the OC Fishing Center reported that they haven’t heard of any doormats.
Coastal Fishing Report, June 5 Update:
The sea bass fishery remains alive and well, with the Ocean City Fishing Center, Captain Cook on First Light Charters out of Indian River, and Capt. Monty on the Morning Star all reporting hefty catches on the inshore wrecks during days when the weather was fair enough to get out (which were rare this past week). Anglers hitting the docks have often been returning early in the day with catch limits, bringing home extra crab and squid baits. Captain Cook also let us know that there are some big blues off the coast, as well as rockfish being caught in Indian River at night. Further offshore, we had a few more reports of early season yellowfin at the canyons this week on the days boats were able to get out from any of the region's ports, plus a couple of bigeye out of VA. Catches of a half-dozen to a dozen tuna were not uncommon and the biggest impediment has been finding a suitable weather window. Mahi are in the area as well. Even white marlin are appearing offshore in surprisingly large numbers for this early in the year.
The surf came alive this week, and our Coastal Correspondent John Unkart reported that the surf fishing bite on Assateague has been good with solid kingfish catches for anglers using clam and bloodworms. Unkart also let us know that he caught a spiny box puffer fish this week, the first he’s ever pulled through the Mid-Atlantic surf. A mix of small blues and some stripers were reported to show up as well, for those casting cut bait.
With clearer water in the inlet and back-bays, the coastal flounder bite has gotten a bit better this week. Drifting squid chunks and bouncing soft plastics off bottom is doing the trick for them. Bluefish and stripers have also been caught in the OC area (the OC Fishing Center reporting bucktails primarily bringing them in) plus some early Spanish mackerel and the first of the cobia, in VA waters.