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121 Pound Big Eye Tuna on the HIGH HOPES

There are plenty of options for Virginia saltwater anglers now!

Captain Jake Beck from Knot Wish’n charters says …. “Summer is here, water temps are cool in the morning and warm to 75 in the afternoon. The spanish bite is In full effect and lots cobia and red drum are migrating north.”

Both cobia and drum are available throughout the lower bay. The cobia action is outstanding. They are being caught from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to Windmill Point. Catches are also coming from the oceanfront just offshore. Anglers are chumming and sight casting, sight casting seems to be how most fish are encountered. Anglers fishing the bottom with cut bait are picking up the trophy red drum. The area around the Bridge Tunnel Islands and the Eastern Shore shoals are hot spots.

Matthew Kuehn at the tower

The spadefish and sheepshead are on structure now. Most of the big spades are coming from the Chesapeake Light Tower. The sheepshead are hanging around bridge pilings. Look for both these fish to thicken up at the Bay Bridge Tunnel and The Cell. 8 pounds is the minimum size for a state trophy recognition citation spade fish.

Flounder action is picking up inside the bay. Large flounder are showing up near the bridge tunnel. There have been some catches coming from inside Rudee and Lynnhaven Inlets as well.

The Virginia Beach Fishing Pier reports spots, nice roundheads, a few blues , a few Spanish and skates.

Captain Nolan Agner from Aquaman Charters says his crews are targeting spanish mackerel and spadefish inshore and tuna, tilefish and seabass offshore. Offshore bottom fishing remains good. Some of the VBSF charter sponsors run these trips on request. The Rudee Angler runs regular deep dropping trips all summer. You need to book early!

Aquaman Charters Action Shot!

Virginia’s offshore tuna season is picking up. Yellowfin and bigeye tuna catches are showing up on local docks. Captain David Wright and crew on the High Hopes landed a really nice 121 big eye tuna Saturday. To the south in Carolina, boats have found schools of yellow fin and big eye tuna mixed, busting the surface. There have also been some good tuna catches reported to our north by boats fishing from Ocean City, MD. So now Virginia captains will have to decide which way to run each morning. Look for dolphin catches to pick up anytime.

OBX/Hatteras

The surf is providing pompano, bluefish, and sea mullet. There have been some large sharks landed in the Nags Head and Hatteras surf. There are still some big drum around Hatteras.

Offshore boats have been limiting early on tuna with a lots of big eye tuna in the mix.

Inshore boats are catching blues and large spanish mackerel to 6 pounds trolling. Sheepshead and puppy drum are available in the sound and near bridges.

The piers reported sea mullets, blues, few Spanish, and lots of skates.

A big congratulations to Pelagic Hunter II on being the second outboard boat to ever win the 62nd annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. Their 495.2-pound marlin topped the leaderboard.

RUDEE TOURS VIDEO

https://www.facebook.com/rudeetours/videos/290279772112260/

Jayson Downs 57 pounds!

Virginia Beach’s inshore fishing action is starting to peak. Cobia, spanish mackerel, red and black drum, sheepshead and spadefish are all available now.

In the bay look for red drum near breakers along the northern portion of the CBBT and close to Fisherman’s Island. Black drum should be available around the islands of the CBBT.

Sheepshead are feeding on the CBBT pilings. Look for schools of spadefish around structure, buoys, towers and the CBBT.

Flounder are starting to bite along the CBBT and inside all three southside inlets.

Speckled trout action has slowed. The best locations to try are on the Poquoson Flats, in Eastern Shore bayside inlets, in all three southside inlets and along the beach.

Virginia Beach Pier anglers are catching spanish mackerel, bluefish, spot, roundhead, trout, skates and rays. The water temperature under the pier is 69°.

Offshore, Virginia bluewater trollers can expect increasing numbers of yellowfin tuna. Dolphin, wahoo and billfish will follow closely. Amberjack have started showing up around the offshore towers.

Deep-droppers can expect tilefish, grouper, red-bellied rosefish and other species. The headboats at Rudee Tours have been catching a variety of bottom dwellers on their deep drop trips.

Last week Captain Nolan at Aquaman Charters says his inshore crews caught spanish mackerel, a few cobia and spadefish. And his offshore deep drop trips produced nice catches of tilefish and sea bass.

Captain Todd and Jake Beck at Knot Wish’n Charters caught quality spanish mackerel and expect numbers to increase with rising water temperatures. They picked up bull red drum while trolling and by sight casting. They encountered cobia moving north along the oceanfront.

Captain David Wright on the High Hopes has been picking up nice spanish mackerel on his inshore charters. He will be running offshore charters very soon.

Dr Ken Neill has been targeting cobia mostly. On his last trip he caught six chumming.

OBX, NC

Offshore, tuna fishing has been red hot. This week a bunch of big eye tuna showed up. Dolphin numbers are good and billfish have been hooked and released. A lot of OBX boats are fishing in the Big Rock Marlin Tournament this coming week.

Closer to the beach, cobia, red drum, spanish mackerel and bluefish have been plentiful.

Speckled trout catches along the beach and in the sounds have been excellent. Puppy drum and striped bass have also been available.

Surfcasters are catching sea mullet, croaker, bluefish, blow toads, pompano and short flounder.

Send your reports and pictures to [email protected]

Aquaman Chartres

Oceanfront fishing is improving each day as the water continues to warm and weather patterns become more consistent. The water temperature along the Virginia Beach oceanfront has topped 70 degrees now, along with the warm water comes our spanish mackerel and spadefish seasons.

Knot Wish’n Charters

Captain Todd Beck, Knot Wisn’n Charters reported the first spanish mackerel of the year being caught and seeing several schools of large red drum and cobia along the oceanfront. Captain Nolan Agner from Aquaman Charters said his crew had a good week, they picked up spanish, bluefish, two cobia and two red drum on their inshore trips.

The first spadefish were caught last week. Look for them around buoys and at the Light Tower.

Top water action around the Islands of the Bay Bridge Tunnel is good for small bluefish and stripers.

Red and black drum are available on and around the shoals near fisherman’s island. They should be feeding there most of the summer.

Rudee Inlet is holding both speckled and gray trout, puppy drum, flounder and decent size bluefish, but catching has been inconsistent.

Connie at Long Bay Pointe Bait and Tackle said anglers are starting to see more flounder in Lynnhaven Inlet and that puppy drum are still biting inside the Inlet. He said crews departing from Long Creek have found spanish mackerel off Cape Henry.

Dr Ken Neill on the Healthy Grin has been enjoying some preseason catch and release cobia fishing. On one trip he caught and released six cobia, missed others, and pulled the hook on one. On another trip he caught two, missed two. Ken says the guys going today (opening day) should do very well. Don’t forget there is a required (free) cobia permit again this year along with mandatory reporting.

For details:  https://mrc.virginia.gov/

Further offshore, last week VBSF sponsor the Rudee Angler enjoyed a good seabass trip. They offer inshore trips daily and their offshore trips are scheduled on Thursday’s and Saturday’s. Captain Nolan, Aquaman Charters ran an offshore deep drop trip last week, they caught sea bass and blueline tilefish and several golden tilefish up to 35 pounds.

OBX, NC

Trout fishing soundside has been excellent, with lots of large fish being caught.

Cobia are plentiful along the oceanfront and there are plenty of spanish around for inshore boats.

Sheepshead fishing around the Oregon Inlet bridge is good.

Surf fishing has been fair with sea mullet, blues, black drum, puppy drum on the northern beaches and some big drum and pompano in the Hatteras surf.

When weather permits tuna fishing is great, limits of yellowfin and scattered bigeyes, some topping 200 pounds.

The end of May …. Our spring saltwater fishery is slowly transitioning to the summer season. The fishing will continue to improve almost everywhere.

Red and black drum are plentiful on bay shoals near the eastern shore. The Nautilus shoal area is the hot spot right now.

Cobia have entered our waters and made their way up the Bay to the Poquoson flats. Our capture season is closed for a few more days, it opens June 1st. There are impressive numbers to our south off of Nags Head, headed our way!

Captain Todd Beck, Knot Wish’n charters enjoyed some outstanding puppy drum fishing in Rudee Inlet this weekend, he said it was as good as it gets. His charters also picked up a nice class of bluefish. With the large bluefish cruising inside the inlet, the speckled trout were shy. There has also been some nice size bluefish caught inside Lynnhaven inlet. Some puppy drum and flounder are showing inside Lynnhaven inlet as well. The flounder should be available around coastal wrecks and along the CBBT anytime.

This year the water temperature has been a little slow to rise compared to last year. While spanish mackerel have entered the bay already, when the water hits the magical number of 70 it will really pick up.

Striped bass and bluefish remain around the CBBT islands. Look for some small stripers to be caught inside local inlets.

Sheepshead should be hanging around the CBBT pilings and other structure in the lower bay.

Spadefish should be available at the Chesapeake Light Tower.

Sea bass season reopens June 22 and catches will be good on the ocean wrecks. VBSF sponsor the Rudee headboat fleet has a 17 hour trip scheduled for them May 29 and an all-day trip May 30.

Tuna fishing has been good to our south. A few Virginia boats have made the run down. Dolphin fishing has picked up off the OBX, NC. A little closer to home tilefish and grouper are being caught by deep-droppers.

OBX, NC

There is good inshore cobia fishing up and down the beach.

Sheepshead are being caught around bridge pylons.

Trout are plentiful soundside, actions is best early morning. Anglers fishing near the little bridge on the Nags Head – Manteo causeway have been doing well, catching fish up to 22 inches.

Ocean surf anglers are catching sea mullet, blues, puppy drum and some toadfish.

Anglers are still catching large red drum at the point in Buxton.

Offshore guys have had good catches of yellowfin tuna and dolphin. The dolphin fishing is set to really take off.