Coastal Fishing Reports

Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, February 6 Update:

Most of our region is locked up with ice, and the coast has not been spared from the freeze. Most of the back bays and creeks are frozen or have significant ice flows moving through them with the tide swings. Most boat ramps and marinas are also dealing with a lot of ice, which not only makes it difficult for boats to get out, but the conditions are just downright dangerous right now. Water access is better the further south you drive, and making the drive may be worth it now that the special February black sea bass season is open in Virginia. Scott Lenox from Fish In OC reports that he recently went out to target sea bass aboard the Ocean Princess out of Chincoteague. After a three-and-a-half-hour ride out, their crew dropped their jigs down in over 200 feet of water. Scott says he would have to call the fishing good. He personally caught 11 keeper-sized fish averaging 15″ with his biggest measuring at around 19″.  Almost everyone on board caught double-digit keepers and the largest fish of the day was a four and a half pound knothead. If you head offshore for sea bass, you can also expect to run into some dogfish, especially when fishing with bait. Using artificial jigs will likely lead to less harassment from these toothy critters. Sea bass fishing will be one of the top opportunities for offshore fishing this month. Tautog are another species that anglers can target at the offshore grounds, but we don’t have any recent information to report on. It seems like this intense cold and winter weather is keeping most of us bundled up inside.