Saltwater Reports
Here is our 30DEC11 update on the saltwater scene.
Fishing Reports
Reports from Jet-Ski Brian Lockwood: Dec. 26 - Today the forecast was for winds at 25-30 knots so this morning I fished in the Elizabeth River for some Speckled Trout. It was slow for me with only a couple small fish but there were a couple of nice fish caught close to me. Everyone was using live minnows on bobbers. Around noon I was getting restless so I put my ski back in the trailer and headed to Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach for some Striper action, I was not let down. The birds were diving and the bait was thick, I caught eight or nine real nice Striped Bass up to 40 inches in little over an hour. There were about a dozen boats 2 miles offshore and everyone was catching. I was trolling a Stretch Magnum and a Mojo with a Tomic trailing behind. I had to go to one rod because I kept getting doubles. The wind was still blowing 15-20 with 3-4 foot seas but it did not matter.
December 28th, 2011 - I towed my jet ski to Virginia Beach early this morning and departed Rudee Inlet at the first hint of light. I had my first fish by 0700 hrs and had caught at least nine by 0800. All fish were caught on the troll with Stretch and Mojos. They ranged in size from 36-42 inches. It was calm and glassy first thing and a steady 15-20 by the time I headed in at 0900 hrs. The fish and bait were thick from Rudee to Cape Henry, every boat I saw had a fish on. A great day! Here are some pictures.
Virginia Beach Fishing Center: 12/28/11 - Another week has passed and the fishing keeps getting better! The weather has been cooperating so nicely with calm winds and tolerable temperatures, which makes for the ultimate fishing experience. The Striper have been showing up in the 25 to 30 pound range with a few almost making the citation size of 40 pounds. We’ve been getting reports of boats fishing in both the Chesapeake Bay, which closes December 31, 2011, and in the Ocean, which closes March 31, 2012. The captains are predicting a smooth sailing season since it has been graciously warm compared to previous years. With boats starting to come back with limits of Striper our charter fleet is ready to go with custom tackle, indoor heated cabins, and plenty of room for the whole party to witness the action of one of the most fun fighting fish around. There is still plenty of action to be had from the shore in the inlet as well, where anglers are still catching Speckled Trout, Taylor Blues, and Puppy Drum. We are also starting to get more reports of small Stripers in Rudee Inlet as well. We have not heard of any keepers in the inlet as of yet, but they have seen several in the 20”-24” range. Let’s not forget about our deep droppers. Offshore winds made it hard to get out near the holiday, but they have some trips scheduled for later this week. These trips are selling out almost as quickly as they are scheduled. They are continuing into January, and if the fishing is as good and there is still a demand, they may even schedule them into February. These trips are still producing great catches of Tile Fish, Grouper, and Black Sea Bass. They are also still catching a few Black Bellied Rose Fish, Wreckfish, and Barrelfish. As we get closer to the New Year, don’t forget to be on the lookout for any regulation changes in your favorite species. New regulation cards should be out by the middle of the month, but you can always check out the VMRC website for any changes, as the information on there is always up to date.
Dr. Julie Ball - Extreme Sportfishing: 30 December 2011 - There’s a lot happening on the fishing scene, especially for this time of year. Although the weather is a constant annoyance, it looks like anglers will ring in the New Year while partaking in great fishing opportunities well within reach of shore.
The trolling scene is drawing the most attention right now. This is an effective method for targeting striped bass, and gets the job done without dealing with live eels. Schools of nice fish ranging from 38 to 49-inches are filling limits for boats working ocean waters, often in short order lately. Boats are finding nice fish from the Eastern Shore down to Rudee Inlet, with the best concentration off of Cape Henry recently. Big pods of bait and temperate weather will encourage the fish to stick around. Now, whether this is good or bad, boats are also encountering schools of bluefin tuna in these same areas. A few tuna ranging between 200 and 300-pounds are surprising anglers with screaming reels while trolling for rockfish along the ocean front. Several tuna were hooked on rockfish gear this week near the green can off Cape Henry. Most anglers are caught off guard and stare wide-eyed at instantly spooled reels. But for a few, two hour battles are bringing some of these big tuna boat side. Make sure you have a highly migratory species permit, and check the regulations before you set out to tangle with these brutes. Scattered catches of chopper bluefish are also still adding variety to the action along the shore lines.
Boats dropping eels at night along the High Rise span of the CBBT are finding great action this week. Many of these rockfish are averaging to over 40-pounds, with some pushing to around 50-pounds right now. The folks at Chris’ Bait and Tackle report that the action is best on the out going tide this week, but any moving tide will work. Some boats are also catching fish during the day using this method. Remember that the Bay striped bass season ends on the 31st of December.
The biggest rockfish are coming from off the Eastern Shore area. Drifting with eels along the channel edges off of Plantation Light, Kiptopeke State Park, and Fisherman’s Island is producing some fish between 50 and 60-pounds this week. Historically this method provides slower action than other techniques, but often produces the largest fish of the year. Captain Rudee Lavasseur of Portsmouth boated a 65-pound monster on a recent trip while drifting with eels in this area.
If light tackle is your speed, many school-sized rockfish are available just off the bridges under working birds and all over the lower Bay. Top water plugs or jigs are perfect for casting into these schools. Jigging with most any 4-inch shad style lure along the pilings of the lower Bay crossings is an effective method for enticing fish up to around 27-inches.
Tautog are available on lower Bay structures and the Bay Bridge Tunnel proper, but bait is still scarce. Many are trying their luck with clams and frozen crabs. Good numbers of tog are also concentrated on inshore and offshore wrecks, when boats can venture out to reach them. Plenty of nice seabass averaging around three pounds are available on offshore wrecks, but the season is closed at the end of 2011 year. Flounder are also biting on some of these same structures.
According to the folks at Ocean’s East 2, the speckled trout action in the Elizabeth River is still going strong. Anglers are whaling on dozens of respectable fish, with some pushing to over 10-pounds this week. The trout are responding to lures, live bait, and cut bait, with the popular Hot Ditch and the Cove areas producing fish. Trolling and Mirrolures are also working well in the main River. Rudee lnlet is still a possibility for a few big specks if you work for them, while Lynnhaven is still at a stand-still. Shawn Stack of Suffolk blazed a new trail this week using cut bait, releasing seven specks between 25 and 29-inches while fishing in the Elizabeth River.
Once anglers find a break in the weather, boats will head for the edge of the Norfolk Canyon in search of deep water species such as tilefish and grouper. There is also still a possibility of some yellowfin tuna. Swordfishing is also an option, but calm weather is a must for this predominately overnight activity. For more information, go to www.drjball.com.
Fishing Reports (Cont'd)
Submitted by Ric Burnley of Fishcrazy.info
December 27, 2011 - Captain Jorj Head reported rockfish up to 57 pounds on eels at Plantation Light this morning. Phillip Neal blasted big rockfish overnight at MP12 by drifting eels to the lights. Captain Mike Beane found rockfish stacked up at the Green Can just off Cape Henry. He also hooked and lost a big bluefin in the same area. Other skippers including Rick Caton and Steve Richardson reported big bluefin, too. At the end of the day, Mike Beane ran into trophy rockfish right outside Lynnhaven. All this in 20 knot winds and driving rain. Why can’t they bite when the weather is nice?!?By Fishcrazy.info | December 27, 2011 at 09:22 PM EST | Captain Jorj Head reported rockfish up to 57 pounds on eels at Plantation Light this morning. Phillip Neal blasted big rockfish overnight at MP12 by drifting eels to the lights. Captain Mike Beane found rockfish stacked up at the Green Can just off Cape Henry. He also hooked and lost a big bluefin in the same area. Other skippers including Rick Caton and Steve Richardson reported big bluefin, too. At the end of the day, Mike Beane ran into trophy rockfish right outside Lynnhaven. All this in 20 knot winds and driving rain. Why can’t they bite when the weather is nice?!?
Reports From Dr. Ken Neill, III : Dec 26 - 16-Year-old Hunter Southall has been having tremendous action with speckled trout. Last week, he weighed in one just shy of 10 pounds. His last trip resulted in ten specks between 24 and 29 inches plus about 40 lesser fish. Rockfish is off the hook right now but Hunter's dad, Charles, and I decided to leave them alone for a day and join Hunter for this epic speckled trout bite. To sum it up, Hunter kept saying that we should have come last week (Charles and I were both at work last week). It was slow for us. We caught 5 speckled trout between 17 and 21 inches long. It was not slow for others. We did get to see some nice specks. Brandon Bartlett and Zach Hoffman fished the morning near us. They tagged and released speckled trout up to 27 inches long. Capt. Craig Paige, www.paige2charters.com , came in the afternoon and his charter started catching right away. They caught specks up to 28 inches long. We kept getting messages from fishing buddies telling us that we should have left the specks alone and gone back fishing for striped bass. Capt. Jorj Head, (757) 262-9004, has been having great success eeling large rockfish in the Plantation area. This morning his charter eeled 6 big rockfish at Plantation today including 57 and 45 pounders. Matt Rinck got a 41 pounder there and Scott Elford got a couple just under 40 this morning. Yesterday the fleet got them real good off of the Ramada. Gannets going crazy this morning at the mouth of the bay. Last night at the CBBT, about the 12 mile mark, my cousin Phillip fished the ocean side, incoming tide, anchored up, drifting eels, absolute mayhem. Has no idea how many big stripers they caught. Most over 44 inches. Some they could not stop. Birds were working the lightline hard there. Brandon Bartlett said his friend caught a 65 pounder last night. Phillip sent a photo of a couple 50 pound rockfish caught at the HRBT last night. Chris Boyce fished Cape Henry this morning and limited out like everyone else. Chris also hooked up with a bluefin tuna. He fought it for an hour and a half before breaking it off. He got to look at it and estimated it in the 200-300 pound range. He said there were several other boats in the area that also hooked up with big tuna.
Dec. 27 - In addition to Chris' bluefin/rockfish reports below: this morning Jorj Head eeled 6 big rockfish at Plantation today including 57 and 45 pounders. Matt got a 41 pounder there, Scott Elford got a couple under 40 plus the other report stuff I sent earlier: They got them really good yesterday off of the Ramada. Gannets are going crazy this morning at the mouth of the bay. Last night at the CBBT, about the 12 mile mark, my cousin Phillip fished the ocean side, incoming tide, anchored up, drifting eels, absolute mayhem. Has no idea how many big stripers they caught, most over 44 inches. Some they could not stop. Birds were working the lightline hard there. Brandon Bartlett said his friend caught a 65 pounder last night. There are reports of a couple 50 pound rockfish caught at the HRBT last night.
Dec. 28, 2011 - Rockfish action is just fantastic! Big fish are being caught throughout the lower bay and along the coast near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The best areas for large fish have been at the CBBT from the 4th island to Fisherman’s Island, in the area off of Plantation Light, and in the Cape Henry area. But fish are showing up everywhere and some trophy-sized rock continue to be caught up in the James and York Rivers. It is like the good old days are now. Water temperatures are high enough that these fish should hang around the bay for the long haul. The bay season closes at the end of the year. Catch and release action will remain available inside the bay into the New Year. To be able to keep some stripers, you will need to fish the narrow strip of water from the coast out to the 3 nm line. This becomes more confusing at the mouth of the bay. The 3 nm line does not change but you do not have the coast as the western border. If you have a chart plotter, it will have a demarcation line on it that separates the bay and ocean waters. This line runs from Cape Henry to Cape Charles lighthouses. This is the line that the 3nm line is measured from but it is not the line used by VMRC to separate the coastal and bay rockfish zones. That line is from Cape Henry Lighthouse to southern tip of Fisherman’s Island. This line is not on your chart plotter. Do the best that you can to know what zone you are fishing in. Anglers fishing for rockfish in the area of Cape Henry had great action this week. They also had some big surprises as a number of boats hooked into bluefin tuna with their rockfish gear. These fish are in the 100 to 300 pound range. That is quite a challenge on striped bass tackle. Most of these fish are too big to keep under current regulations. Right now, permitted recreational anglers are allowed to keep a single bluefin tuna per boat measuring between 27 and 59 inches, curved fork length. Keep an eye on these regulations as they are likely to change with the New Year and these tuna should be available off our coast into January this year. If you go outside the 3 nm line after these bluefin tuna and the big bluefish that are out there 20- 30 miles off of the coast, make sure that you do not have any rockfish on board and that you release any that you catch out there mixed in with the tuna and bluefish. You will also encounter whales in this wintertime feeding frenzy. Try to stay clear of them. Speckled trout action remains excellent in the Elizabeth River. Jumbo sea bass are loaded up on the offshore wrecks though that season will close with the New Year. You can pick through the spiny dogfish for some good tilefish action along the 50 fathom curve. Tautog are available on the coastal wrecks and they will continue to be active in the bay until the water temperature drops significantly. Boats running out of Oregon Inlet are finding good yellowfin tuna action. Jiggers are doing well with blackfin tuna out of Hatteras. Giant bluefin have finally arrived at Cape Lookout.
Be sure to check your various fishing licenses. Most do not follow the calendar year anymore though some still do (like Virginia’s tilefish/grouper permit and the HMS permit). Make sure that you are not fishing under an expired license.
Dec. 29 - Charles and Hunter Southall and David Brabrand (all Poquoson) started out at the high rise before light this morning. They caught a 45 inch striper and missed another. They went to the Plantation area where the bite was just crazy. They caught about 40 large rockfish and were kind enough to text me about it while I was at work. In some of the photos, I see my cooler of eels. I guess that means that I was sort of there. Just because I could not go fishing did not mean the eels needed to stay home. In addition to Charles' crew keeping me informed of what I was missing, my cousin, Phillip Neill, kept texting me the lengths of the citation rockfish he was catching: 44.5, 45, 48.5....I turned my phone off.