Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, April 24 Update:
With travel restrictions still limiting fishing opportunities in many areas, we note that if you’re headed out to fish all the regular regs for the season are still in place and social distancing orders are a go, even if you’re on the water, whether you live in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. Don’t forget that our Social Distancing While Fishing page has links to all the different state authority webpages with the latest info and updates on when, where, and how fishing is allowed. With many businesses still closed, we’d also like to give a big thanks to all you readers who sent in reports and pictures. Please keep them coming to [email protected].
Bluefish have begun working their way northward, with the very first reports coming from Delaware and a handful of reports from Virginia. In better form is the flounder bite in the inlets, which has begun to pick up all around the dial. They’ve now been found in Indian River, can be pecked at in Ocean City, and seriously laid into, in the coastal Virginia back-bays. Everything from throwbacks to dinnerplate-sized flounder are hitting pink or pearl soft plastics bounced off bottom, or drifted squid chunks on Fluke Killers. Wachapreague is a natural pick but all the coastal bays along the VA seaside are now a very solid bet.
The Ronay Boys reported that a togging trip in the Ocean City inlet this week produced some quality tog ranging between 15 and 21 inches on shrimp baits. We also had reader reports from the rocks at Indian River of a handful of tautog. Alltackle reported that the scene at the wrecks has been similar: while the tog are large, it’s been difficult to get out there and difficult to pull in lots of them. Most anglers are catching on cut green and peeler crab, or frozen shrimp. There are also stripers hitting soft plastics and swimbaits at the OC bridges, but not keeper-sized.
In Virginia Beach Oceans East is reporting a nice mix of tog on crab near structure from the CBBT, drum on the shoals, and specks in the inlets, plus the early-bird bluefish now showing up. But as for offshore, we’ve got nothing – if anyone has made it to the deep lately, they’ve been keeping mum.
Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, April 17 Update:
With travel restrictions still limiting fishing opportunities in many areas, we remind you that if you’re headed out to fish all the regular regs for the season are still in place and social distancing orders are a go, even if you’re on the water, whether you live in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. Don’t forget that our Social Distancing While Fishing page has links to all the different state authority webpages with the latest info and updates on when, where, and how fishing is allowed. With many businesses still closed, we’d also like to give a big thanks to all you readers who sent in reports and pictures. Please keep them coming to [email protected].
Flounder have shown up in increasing numbers inshore, in the bays, and in the inlets, from Maryland south (still no solid intel of a DE flattie just yet). This week, scattered reports turned into anglers reporting fairly consistent catches and high-grade flounder in OC from the inlet and Thoroughfare all the way up to the Rt. 90 bridge, and of limit catches (multiples reports!) in Wachapreague and in Chincoteague. They’ve been hitting four- and six-inch chartreuse, pearl, and pink soft plastics and Gulp! lures bounced off the bottom, as well as drifted squid chunks.
The oceanic wrecks undoubtedly still hold tog, but due to the weather and the “situation” we didn’t manage to find anyone who could confirm that this week. We did, however, hear from a reader who caught some in OC along the rocks, as well as a smattering of stripers and a speck at the Rt. 50 bridge.
Another catch of note came this week from Virginia Beach, where the first bluefish we’ve heard of in 2020 was caught. More important to most anglers in this area, however, is the recent influx of spring red drum and black drum. Reports came in for both blacks and big reds off Cape Charles and in the shoals, and slot fish caught on jigs this week in the Norfolk area. Oceans East is reporting more keeper flounder coming from the area, too.
Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, April 10 Update:
Hey, anglers! With fishing in many parts of our turf limited to sustenance only, we remind you that if you’re headed out to fish all the regular regs for the season are still in place and social distancing orders are a go, even if you’re on the water, whether you live in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. Don’t forget that our Social Distancing While Fishing page has links to all the different state authority webpages with the latest info and updates on when, where, and how fishing is allowed. That said, in light of the current circumstances many of our local, well-loved tackle shops have closed their doors for the time being. Every week since FishTalk’s founding they’ve contributed much of the information for this report, which we’re immensely thankful for. As many of them are shuttered for now, we’d like to thank you readers for the reports you sent in via email this week. You’re all helping us keep the reports going during these unprecedented times, and we hope that they help everyone – especially those who have a real need for harvesting their own dinners – hone in on their fishing plans for the weekend. Again, a big thanks to everyone who’s chimed in, and please send future pictures, reports, and updates to [email protected].
Undersized stripers and (mostly undersized) tautog have provided most of the action close to home along the coast this week in Delaware (at Indian River) and Maryland waters, while the appearance of a handful of flounder has changed the game a bit from Ocean City south. This week the Ronay Boys reported that they got into the tog with over 30 in the boat (a half-dozen keepers) for an afternoon of fishing in Ocean City. The largest tog they caught topped out at 18 inches. Crab baits are the ticket. As for the flounder, the numbers still aren’t impressive and anglers jigging this week who got into ‘em found that most were undersized. The reports got better the farther south you went, with Virginia anglers hitting the inlets of Virginia Beach doing the best on the flatties. That far south, they also have a nice speckled trout bite going for anglers casting glittery soft plastics, MirrOLures, and spoons. A handful of specks have also been reported from the bay behind OC, but most of the bite for anglers slinging jigs has consisted of small rockfish.
In the surf a couple more black drum have popped up on the Eastern Shore of VA. That bite should continue to improve for anglers chucking clam and sand fleas into the suds. Some dink rockfish have also been pulled in on bloodworms, but no reports of kingfish in the region as of yet. Several of the beaches in our region have closed and others have new restrictions in place, so be sure to do your due diligence before hopping in the car or truck and driving anywhere.
Offshore, we heard zippo this week. From those we asked, it seems that many of the oceanic anglers are taking the opportunity to get in some maintenance work.
Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, April 3 Update:
Fellow FishTalkers: We know you’re all rearing to get out of the house and on the water like we are. We live and breathe fishing, and are quite bummed about the limits placed upon being on the water right now. With limits regarding who can be out and about right now, as well as reduced hours and customer contact in most tackle shops, we’d like to forewarn you that the reports are going to be a bit thin this week and probably will remain so until this blows over. We also know there’s been a lot of confusion over exactly what the current regulations are regarding who can and cannot fish. We can’t tell you the regs in this report because they differ by the area and are changing by the day, but visit our Social Distancing While Fishing page, and in the fourth paragraph you’ll find links to the different state and federal agency websites and announcements regarding the legalities.
Inshore, solid reports are still coming from anglers fishing for tog around the reefs and wrecks. Dropping green crab to them has been a great way to bring home dinner. Flounder are also starting to show up in the inlets and coastal bays from Ocean City south, and are primarily taking six-inch chartreuse, pearl, and pink soft plastics bounced off the bottom. We didn’t manage to find anyone who could give us solid intel on offshore, nor on the surf bite this week. That said, with the first of the drum having showed up last week we’re thinking that the surf should be a solid option for early season anglers willing to wait a while between bites for the prospect of picking up a fish or two.