Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, November 7 Update:
There has been a lot of wind lately, so it’s been tough to get offshore, but we had been hearing a few daytime swordfish were caught prior to the latest cranking up of the wind machine. Fresh mahi belly strip baits were proving effective. We also heard from an angler who went offshore last weekend and was able to pull in a fair number of mahi near buoys, though they didn’t say which area they were in. A reader checked in to let us know that there are still good numbers of kingfish in the surf at Assateague, though finding days when the wind allows surf fishing has been difficult. At the Ocean City inlet, anglers are still catching plenty of tautog, though most of them are undersized. Route 50 Bridge is still holding striped bass. As the migratory fish push down the coast, we should see some bigger fish show up at the inlet and nearshore along the beaches.
The nearshore wreck and reef fishing leading up to this week was very good, especially out of Virginia Beach. Boats running out for sea bass had been enjoying an excellent bite, with several boat limits reported. There has also been a lot of great bycatch, including big triggerfish, bluefish, and plenty of blueline tilefish for those who want to catch them. The sea bass out of Virginia Beach has been a better class of fish than those to the north in the vicinity of Ocean City. The larger sea bass were around five pounds, and the triggerfish had been upwards of six pounds. Though the sea bass have been smaller out of Ocean City, there are still some in the four-pound range being caught. The OC Angler was out fishing last weekend and reported that their clients landed sea bass up to four pounds and flounder up to seven pounds. The flounder bite has been good at the wrecks recently; if you enjoy flounder fishing, now is the time to get on the flatties before they move deep for the winter.