Way South Chesapeake Fishing Report, December 26, 2019 Update:
Happy Holidays and Merry Fishmas anglers - we hope your holidays are full of lake trips, bucktails, and winter water wonderland fishing success stories. This week, the below report is going to be a little light due to the hectic nature of the festive season and much-deserved breaks of tackle shop employees, but we still encourage you to get out and finish out 2019 with your last fish(es) of the decade. Next week when everyone’s back from vacation and we can get in touch with all our usual sources again we’ll be back with the first FishTalk fishing report of 2020!
Large stripers are smiling for the cameras, albeit infrequently. Trollers are doing best right now, sticking to channel edges and hitting deep waters with inline weights. Pulling Mojos and tandems, on the bay-side along the channel edges from The Cell to the CBBT has been the ticket to landing and then releasing chunky stripers. Others are soaking live eels, with limited success. Around the pilings and islands, small tog are still coming up when offed crab and sand flea baits.
Way South Chesapeake Fishing Report, December 19, 2019 Update:
Anglers looking for the catch – and release – of a lifetime are pulling Mojos and tandems or soaking eels for monster rock, on the bay-side along the channel edges from The Cell to the CBBT, and on the sea-side, and some of the fish being encountered have been running over 45-inches. The numbers aren’t great and they have to go back over the side, but this bite should improve over the next few weeks since Delaware waters now have good numbers of big stripers swimming through them and the potential is very real if you want to snap off a pic with a true trophy. Those more interested in putting fish in the box have been tossing jigs and spoons close to the CBBT structure and catching some 20-somethings with one reader reporting that the second island produced a few box-fish last week.
Crab chunks and sand fleas (which are becoming tougher to come by these days) are still tempting tog around the pilings and islands. Many are throw-backs but there are plenty of keeper fish, too. Water temp is in the upper 40s so now’s the time to act – once it drops down into the lower 40s it’ll become much tougher to buy a bite. And this week we have a Tog Alert: If you want to target tautog anytime soon be sure to check out a copy of the January edition of FishTalk (hitting the streets in days) asap. In it, we have a feature by local sharpie Beth Synowiec, detailing the best rigs to use for tog in various situations.
Way South Chesapeake Fishing Report, December 12, 2019 Update:
Fishing reports were hard to come by after the bad weather set in this week, but the presence of some large stripers has had a few folks excited. Only a few, since those big fish do have to be released. Most are being caught while trolling heavy umbrellas and Mojos but eelers are also taking their share. The Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout did go off last week (Knot a Care II won with 31.6 pounds) in Cape Charles, with anglers hunting for and finding some slot fish. Despite a reduced field there was still a payout over 22K and some bigger fish were caught and released as well.
Some schoolie fish in the slot have also been caught around the CBBT and in the mouth of the Elizabeth, but those most interested in putting meat in the cooler remain more focused on the tog bite. Dropping sand fleas and green crabs at the Islands and up close against structure is producing the best, and although the throwback ratio is high, there are keepers to be had. Last weeks’ reports of a few redfish also being caught in the area were not repeated in recent days, though this may be a reflection of the weather and a lack of effort as opposed to an absence of fish; live gudgeon and mullet were best and would likely still be the move.
Way South Chesapeake Fishing Report, December 5, 2019 Update:
Cold weather seems to have driven most speckled trout out of the area, with few reports of them coming in this week. Well, bummer... but it was great while it lasted. On the other hand, Ocean’s East is still getting numerous reports of tog and puppy drum in the Bay, and their numbers are beginning to pick up. Tog continue to take green crab, while puppy drum are gravitating towards mullet and live gudgeon. The islands of the CBBT remain a hotspot for anglers looking to get in on the bite. We’re still waiting for the bulk of the stripers migrating south to come through, although reports are slowly trickling in of a few larger fish being landed - and released - on the ocean side.
Naturally no one’s going fishing at the Buckroe pier any time soon, but the city of Hampton released the following statement so we thought we should pass it along: “The James T. Wilson Fishing Pier – and the pier ramp – remain closed to the public after a loose barge crashed into the 709-foot pier earlier this month, causing heavy damage to the structure. Yellow and red caution/danger tape has been posted – along with no trespassing signs on the pier and ramp, and police will be called for trespassers. Engineers continue to assess the extent of damage to the popular pier, which opened in 2009.”
Though they didn’t say so in this statement, the city has already said they’re committed to getting the pier back up and running as soon as it’s possible. Hopefully, that means in time for spring!