Coastal Fishing Reports
Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, October 9 Update:
The fall bite is settling into a nice mix of offshore and surf opportunities, with sea bass, flounder, and a few swordfish providing options for anglers heading offshore. Along the beaches, kingfish, tautog, and sheepshead are still hanging around, while the fall red drum run is producing some true giants. Surf anglers are also finding flounder in the right troughs, so there are plenty of ways to bend a rod along the coast right now.
Out in the deep, some big fall swordfish have popped up for those deep-dropping strip baits or squid in 1200-plus feet of water (one over 300 pounds was brought into OC last week). Early reports of success have been fairly thin for some anglers, with boats reporting just a bite or two. Later in the week, a few more swordfish hit the docks in Ocean City as the weather stabilized, so there are definitely some around. The offshore bottom fishing has been good as well, with plenty of sea bass and some flounder hanging around the wrecks and reefs out of Ocean City. Down off Virginia Beach, the class of sea bass has been better, and there are more flounder coming over the rails too. The windmills have been very productive lately with squid producing steady bites. Anglers can expect more of this action throughout the rest of the month.
Dave Moore from Shark Whisperers Guided Trips sent a report late last week after hiking in his gear about a mile on the Maryland side of Assateague while the OSV was still closed. He caught kingfish up to 15” and said they were plentiful. On his bigger rods, he kept getting bombarded with sandtiger sharks and large stingrays. He managed to land two of the sandtigers, one that was five feet and one that was nine and a half feet that must have weighed over 300 pounds. Dave also hit the inlet early this week and caught several tautog up to 15” and sea bass up to 9”. He also lost a nice sheepshead at the rocks. We also had a report that there are still some sheepshead hanging around the Indian River Inlet rock jetties, so the storm and cooler weather hasn't pushed them out of the area yet.
A reader sent in a report from Assateague after getting out to the surf a few times this week. They caught one unimpressive flounder one on their first trip, but had better luck the next day when they found a “honey trough”. The hole produced seven flounder within a half hour and the biggest was 18”. All were caught on a tandem rigged chartreuse four-inch Gulp! mullet and a ball jig with a four-inch paddletail. Other anglers hitting the coastal beaches are taking advantage of a pretty good fall red drum run right now. Several trophy fish were landed on both the Maryland and Virginia side of Assateague this week. Fresh chunks of bunker, spot, or croaker are working well in the nearshore troughs. Some skates and sharks are also around, willing to hit cut bait, so weeding through them can take some time before a bull red finds your bait.
Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, October 2 Update:
The Nor’easter put a serious damper on coastal fishing for a few days, but things are already getting back on track as the ocean settles down. The fall drum run is still going strong, offshore bottom fishing has bounced back, and several nearshore fisheries are showing signs of seasonal change. There are also a few opportunities that won't stick around much longer, so the next couple of weeks could be important for anglers looking to take advantage of the last of the warm-water action.
The storm shut down fishing last weekend and the beginning of this week as the coast was pounded with strong winds and coastal flooding. As you can guess, we do not have many coastal reports this week because most people did not try to brave the storm for a bite. Before the storm blew in, Dave Moore from Shark Whisperers guided trips checked in and said that he was able to catch three red drum between 47” and 52”. Since the storm has passed, anglers fishing from the beach at Assateague are pulling in some bull red drum using cut mullet or bunker. The fall drum run should last a few more weeks, so now is your last chance to catch a trophy bull before they leave for the colder months. The surf is also offering up some kingfish, small bluefish, croaker, and a few other bottom feeders for anglers using sand fleas or Fishbites on bottom rigs.
The seas calmed during the back half of the week and the offshore fleet started venturing out again. The artificial reef and wreck sites provided steady action for sea bass and some flounder for boats bottom fishing. Captain Monty Hawkins of the Morning Star checked in and said that his crew found sea bass eager to bite clam and squid this week. The boat had good catches of keeper fish and even a few limits, with double headers coming over the rail. Other boats fishing these sites also picked up some flounder and triggerfish this week. The bottom fishing out of Virginia Beach is going very strong after the storm. A few of the charter boats have caught boat limits of sea bass along with some big triggerfish and flounder up to five pounds. The flounder bite should get better this month as fish start to move offshore as water temperatures cool off.
At the Ocean City inlet, there are some under-sized and keeper tautog along with some late-season sheepshead willing to hit crab baits or sand fleas. The south jetty has been good, but can get crowded at times. Docks and rock jetties just inside the inlet can be holding these fish as well. At the Route 50 Bridge and back bays, striped bass are seeking out areas with current to feed on bait as they start to school up and head out of the tidal tributaries. Jigging around bridge pilings, docks, and casting to creek mouths or shoreline points will be good strategies for the next month as stripers will be looking to feed heavily before the colder months set in. Flounder are migrating out of the back bays, but can still be found in the deeper channels heading towards inlets. The next few weeks will be the last chance to catch them before they head offshore.
