Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, April 3 Update:
The black drum have arrived right on schedule as we heard the first few reports of fish being caught in the surf this week. Surf fishing expert Dave Moore checked in with us after catching his first drum of the season on the Maryland side of Assateague Island on Wednesday. The 39-inch fish was caught using sand fleas. There were also black drum reports from Sea Hawk Sports Center and Captain Steve’s Bait and Tackle of fish being caught along the beaches in both Virginia and Maryland. Sand fleas are usually the most effective bait, but the other top performer is chunks of blue crab. The drum bite should steadily get better over the coming weeks. The wacky spring weather can make for unpredictable surf conditions, so make sure you have a variety of surf weights to be able to handle a variety of conditions. Other species to be caught in the surf include clearnose skate and dogfish, but striped bass will also start to show up on their way back north after their spawn in the Chesapeake Bay.
As water temperatures are heating up, so is the flounder bite. Early in the season, the better action is usually south along the Eastern Shore of Virginia with hotspots including Oyster, Wachapreague, and Chincoteague. A boat fishing out of Chincoteague this week managed to box nine keepers during one of the warmer days. Ocean water temperatures are still cold, so you should try to plan your trips around the tide cycle to hit the outgoing tide. The incoming tide will bring in cold ocean water that usually shuts down or slows the flounder bite. That water then gets heated up on the shallow flats and water temperatures warm considerably on the outgoing tide. This triggers the flounder into a more active feeding patter and is the prime time for the early spring flounder fishing bite window. You can still catch fish throughout the tide cycle, but the outgoing is usually best in early spring. The first flounder was also caught in Ocean City and was reported by Fish In OC. Jamie Metz was fishing with her husband Rob behind Assateague Island around the airport when she caught the first keeper flounder of the OC season on a tandem rig baited with an orange Gulp.