Black Sea Bass Season Closed, Tautog Season Continues

Captain Jake “Fishing was slow but any trout in February ain’t bad. A couple of degrees in water temperature can make a big difference”.

Virginia anglers wrapped up another short February black sea bass season. When weather permitted access to the reefs and wrecks, bottom fishing for sea bass and tautog was good. Unfortunately our sea bass season is over …… but the tautog season continues.

There’s been reports of speckled trout. Louis Glaser and Douglas Wilburn posted about a good bite on the Elizabeth River. They caught 10 specks Sunday using MR 27 Mirror Lures and Z man baits on 1\4 oz heads.

It’s time to keep an eye on the water temps as they start rising. Usually when you see 60 degree water at the point in Buxton NC, red drum are a possibly. Bay temperatures in the low 50’s usually supports a good tautog bite at the CBBT.

Water Temps
Cape Henry VA Surf: 45.0 F
Cape Charles VA: 45.0 F
CBBT: 45.7 F
Rudee Inlet: 46.0 F
Lynnhaven Inlet 47.0 F
Duck NC Research Pier: 42.6 F
Duck NC Wave Buoy: 46.6 F
Oregon Inlet NC, Soundside: 44.4 F
Buxton NC, The Point: 60.0 F
Hatteras Inlet Soundside: 47.3 F
Diamond Shoals Light: 73.0 F

Nice tuna, Wanchese NC

North Carolina tuna fishing has been excellent. Bluefin tunas have generated most of the excitement. Boats fishing from Oregon Inlet are finding bluefin tuna in the 400 to 900-pound range. The recreational season is over …. the commercial guys enjoyed a few extra days …. but now that our quote has been reach its all catch and release. Many captains say “just” the strike alone on a hookless bait is worth the price of admission.

During the recreational season, Captain Jake Hiles and Jeff Landis fishing onboard the Toro made a long run from Rudee Inlet to the Tuna Hole in federal water off North Carolina and fished with the Carolina boats. They picked up a fish measuring 109 inches and weighing 708 lbs. By departing from and returning to Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach it qualified their catch as the new Virginia State record. Congratulation to the crew on the Toro. Quite an effort.

Yellowfin, blackfin, school size bluefin and big eye tuna are also available off the OBX. Most of the blackfun are being caught off Hatteras Inlet, jigging.

Some great news on our Menhaden fishery, New legislation has been approved by Virginia House And Senate

The Virginia House and Senate have passed bipartisan legislation to transfer management of Virginia’s menhaden fisheries from the General Assembly to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC). This comes after many years of work by the conservation and angling communities to move management of Virginia’s largest fishery to VMRC, where all other marine species in the Commonwealth are managed.

https://www.cbf.org/news-media/newsroom/2020/virginia/menhaden-legislation-approved-by-virginia-house-and-senate.html