Fishing Picking Up, Cobia Arriving Virginia

The Hatteras Village Offshore Open is underway!

The black sea bass season reopened May 15th and runs through 31st. The bite has been very good; with several boats catching limits of jumbos. The Triangle Reef is a popular spot. Sea bass will bite squid, crab, fresh cut fish, clam strips, shrimp or diamond jigs.

The spring black drum bite has been excellent. The best action is coming from Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where fish are being caught seaside and bayside. Some have topped 70 pounds, but the 20 to 25 ponders are best for the table. Whole clam, peeler crab, whelk, peeler crab/clam sandwich, buck tails and lead head jigs are all good baits.

Red drum are in their usual spots and now cobia have joined them. This week a couple of boats caught both. Cobia will hit just about anything you put in front of them. Live eels, spot, menhaden, mullet, large spoons, white buck tails, plastic eels, swimming plugs or cut bait. Look for them around buoys and other structure, like the islands and pylons of the CBBT.

Sheepshead are feeding on crustacean clinging to the CBBT pylons. They can be caught by fishing fiddler crabs, mole crabs or clam tight against the structure. Some large fish in the 12-pound range have been caught.

Flounder fishing inside Rudee and Lynnhaven Inlets is picking up, some nice keepers have been caught. After a good start to the Eastern Shore flounder season things have slowed a bit. Most fish are in the 15 to 18 inch range; larger fish are rear. The best flounder baits are buck tails dressed with a Gulp or a minnow/squid sandwiches fished on a Sea Striker Fluke Killer.

Spanish mackerel and bluefish are being caught along the oceanfront. They will hit very small spoons like the 0S Drone or Clark pulled behind a small plainer.

Virginia Beach Pier anglers are catching nice spanish, blues, roundhead and keeper trout.

OBX, NC

Surf anglers are catching, bluefish, spanish mackerel, roundhead. Down in Avon and Hatteras some pompano. A couple of citation drum were beached near ramp 45.

Those fishing from the little bridge on the Nags Head/Manteo causeway are catching lots of small trout, but few keepers.

The OBX pier rundown sounds like this. Avalon: blues, spanish, mullet and speckled trout. Nags Head: spanish, trout, blues and flounder. Jennette’s: bluefish and triggers.  Outer Banks: bluefish and spanish.

Inshore Boats are catching trout and sheepshead inside Oregon Inlet and spanish and bluefish near shore.

The offshore fleet is catching lots of mahi, some wahoo, blackfin tuna and a few blue marlin. The Hatteras Village Offshore Open is underway and several large blue marlins have been weighed. Pirates Cove has weighed some blues as well.