Coastal Fishing Reports

Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, January 14 Update:

In the “bad news” department, thanks to the weather and a severe lack of angling effort, this week’s fishing report will be just as lame as you were afraid it might be. In the “worse news” department, there’s scuttlebutt that Virginia’s February special sea bass season won’t be happening this year. There’s been no official announcement from the regulators that we can find as of yet, but it’s alleged that overages in the recreational harvest are forcing the season’s elimination. As soon as they issue an official press release or make a public announcement, we’ll be sure to pass on the news.

In the “good news” department, even as the current fishing options dwindle to our one regional winter mainstay of hunting tog on the wrecks and reefs, those wrecks and reefs continue to expand thanks to reef building efforts. On Thursday the OC Reef Foundation sunk a 120-foot barge to initiate construction of Big Dad’s Reef at the Jackspot.

Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, January 7 Update:

Welcome to 2022 anglers! As the new year dawns we have plenty of fishing opportunities despite the chill in the air, and for coastal anglers the first bite of note comes in the form of oceanic winter stripers. Lots of them, and big ones, too. We received multiple reader reports over the holiday and into the first week of the year of 40-inch-plus oceanic stripers, including many on the shoals off Ocean City within the three-mile limit. But all reports were pre-storm and since the unsettled weather we heard from a reader who couldn't locate the fish.

Boats hitting the wrecks, meanwhile, are shifting gears with sea bass now closed and mostly targeting tog. Capt. Monty on the Morning Star reports that blues from two to five pounds are also on the wrecks from Maryland down through Virginia, and we heard one (unconfirmed) crazy catch type of report this week: a mako was accidentally hooked by a wreck-fishing angler when it attacked a fish on the line.