Coastal Fishing Reports
Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, October 16 Update:
Fall fishing is in full swing along the coast, with flounder and sea bass providing strong action around wrecks, reefs, and offshore structure, while swordfish continue to bite in the canyons. Surf anglers are seeing red drum mixed with plenty of sand tigers, and the striped bass migration is beginning to pick up as more slot and over slot fish move into the coastal bays.
Wreck and reef fishing off the coast is in prime fall form and flounder, including some very nice fish, are hitting strong right now at sites all up and down the coast in our area of coverage. Captain Cook of First Light Charters checked in from Delaware and said the bite was great from inshore structure out to about 15 miles out. Sea bass are in the mix, and he said the larger, higher quality bass were being found at the sites farther out. Out of OC Captain Monty on the Morning Star was targeting sea bass before the blow and finding the bite on and off, but some anglers were hitting double-digits and some were real pretty fish up to a 22-incher that came over the rails. A reader fishing off the VA coast reported a great bite at the windmills last week fishing with three-ounce bucktails tipped with four- and five-inch GULP! twister tails. There was lots of action on flounder, including some very nice keepers, plus sea bass and triggerfish.
Reports of swordfish action continue to roll in from the canyons, with one reader going three for four with all the fish legal size but no huge ones in the mix; some other boats have brought in some monster billfish hitting several hundred pounds in the past week. Rigged eels and squid baits both produced, and he noted that the swords were holding at 1150’ in an area where squid were very thick. Reports have come in from all up and down the line as opposed to a single canyon or area as the swordfish move through on their fall migration. The forecast is calling for another system off the coast which could bring strong winds and rough surf to the beaches again, so make sure to keep an eye on the forecast over the coming days.
Dave Moore from Shark Whisperers Guided Trips checked in and said that beach access has been limited with the OSV being closed a lot recently, but the fishing in the surf is good if you have patience. The smaller fish such as whiting, spot, and croaker are becoming harder to find, but the red drum are around in spurts. Dave said the sand tigers have been thick, so you have to work through plenty of them in order to find a red, but he has landed several bull drum recently. If you target the reds, make sure to bring plenty of backup rigs and fresh cut bait to get through the waves of sharks.
Anglers fishing in the back bays of OC are finding some schoolie rockfish, but most are under the slot. Those fishing from the Route 50 Bridge have landed some slot and even a few over slot stripers recently. Large presentations are producing the bigger fish and fishing at night has produced a much better bite than during the day, so being strategic will help your success rate. We should see some more slot and over slot stripers show up over the next few weeks as the fall migration gets underway along the coast.
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.
