Drum fishing is at its seasonal peak so now is the time to
go and catch yourself a big drum! Big red drum are being caught in the surf on
the seaside of the Eastern Shore and on the shoals near the mouth of the bay.
Big black drum are being caught inside some of the seaside inlets and at the
typical drum spots near buoys 16, 13, and 10. Some have shown around the
islands of the CBBT.
The cobia bite has turned on out of Hatteras. Where water
temperatures are, there are likely some inside the Chesapeake Bay now with the
first catches likely to happen Memorial Day weekend.
Flounder are being caught inside the seaside inlets of the
Eastern Shore. Back River Reef, Back River, along Grandview, 36A, the HRBT and
the CBBT are all producing some flounder.
Speckled trout action is very good on the western side of
the bay. Big specks are being caught in Back River, on Poquoson Flats, in the
York River, and especially in the Mobjack Bay area. Multiple specks over 5
pounds have been caught with some fish pushing double digits.
Boats hitting the wrecks were rewarded with good catches of
sea bass with several weighing over 5 pounds. All of the ocean wrecks are
holding some sea bass with the Triangle Wrecks being very productive this past
week.
Both yellowfin tuna and dolphin action is very good out of
the Outer Banks right now.
May 19, Capt. Rick Wineman fished the buoy 10 area for a bit
before developing thunderstorms sent them home. The three of them were very
busy up to that point. They caught 17 big drum having as many as 4 hooked up at
a time. Their total included 12 red drum up to 52.5 inches long and 5 black
drum up to 46 inches long.
May 19, Hunter and Charles Southall fished inside of Back
River. They caught puppy drum and some flounder.
May 19, Brandon Honeycutt fished Back River. He had a nice
catch of gray trout, puppy drum, croaker, spot, and whiting. When he got back
to the dock, there was an angler there weighing a 10-pound speckled trout.
May 19, Michael Hudgins fished from the shore of the North
River. He caught speckled trout up to 6 pounds 2 ounces. It was their third
citation trout in two days of fishing.
May 15, Hunter Southall fished in Back River and caught 3
flounder.
May 12, Wes Blow and Keith Blackburn fished for black drum
near buoy 13. They caught 4 fish up to 45 inches long.
May 10, I ran over to the buoy 10 area with both clam and
crabs for bait. I put out all crabs except for one clam bait…so I would not
have to deal with too much by-catch. A clear-nosed skate and two big cow-nosed
rays later, the clam came out of the water and I was only red drum fishing. I
had one of those on but the hook pulled and the seas had picked up so I called
it a day. Hunter Southall got out there after me and anchored up near me.
During an even shorter trip than I had, they caught two black drum before the
wind made them head in.
May 9, Capt. Rick Wineman fished the breakers of Fisherman’s
Island. They caught a 50 inch red drum and a 34 inch black drum.
May 9, Wes Blow and I went out after work to fish for black
drum. We caught dog sharks, clear-nose skates, cow-nosed rays and a couple of
black drum. The largest was 48 inches long. When we got back to my dock, we
found it surrounded by millions of worms darting around: www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=538729496168602&l=2404023315748444398
May 9, Bill Pappas, Jr. fished inside of Rudee Inlet. He
found that big bluefish have arrived including a 36-inch fish that he managed
to land on 8-pound test line with no leader!
May 8, Wes Blow and JT Hale went out after drum. They did
not catch anything in the surf. They did catch a nice black drum near buoy 13.
May 3, Hunter Southall fished up in Back River to try and
stay out of the wind. They caught a half-dozen nice puppy drum and some
croaker. They were using peeler crab for bait.
April 28, Wes Blow fished the Triangle Wrecks for tautog.
They caught sea bass and a dozen tautog to 22 inches long.
April 28, we went back to Fisherman’s Island. We had a few
crabs crushed, a couple of pulled hooks, and we landed a pair of big red drum.
Hunter Southall’s fish was 48 inches long, Charles Southall’s was 47 inches.
April 28, Ric Burnley fished Fisherman’s Island Inlet. They
caught 4 big red drum.
April 27, Bill Pappas, Jr. fished the Triangle Wrecks. They
caught tautog and sea bass from sunrise to sunset. They kept a limit of tautog
with the largest weighing 14 pounds 5 ounces.
April 27, Ric Burnley and Matt Shepard caught 3 big red drum
in the Fisherman’s Island surf. They lost a couple of others.
April 23, Bill Pappas, Jr. fished the Elizabeth River. They
caught speckled trout to 22.5 inches long.
April 20, I fished with Charles and Hunter Southall in their
newly repowered Special Kate. We were at Fisherman's Island, in the surf. We
caught a 47-inch red drum, missing one other bite. The boat ran like new money.
Great start for our drum season!
April 18, Martin Freed and Dan Spotten fished out of Quinby.
They caught 5 keeper flounder up to 25 inches long.
April 17, Wes Blow and JT Hale fished Fisherman’s Island
after work. They hooked two big red drum. They lost one. The one they caught
was 47 inches long.
April 17, Martin Freed fished for flounder out of Quinby. He
caught 18 flounder, keeping a limit up to 23 inches long.
April 14, we went to the Triangle Wrecks for tautog. Sea
bass were fairly thick. We caught 18 tautog. They were a nice class of fish
with almost all being “keepers”. We tagged and released most of them. Of the
few we kept were fish that weighed in at 11 pounds 8 ounces and 10 pounds 10
ounces. Deven Simmerman caught the heavier fish. It was his first tautog of the
day. Prior to this fish, his lifetime largest tautog was 13 inches long. His
dad, Stan Simmerman, weighed in the other fish. Stan’s fish was about an inch
longer than Deven’s even though it weighed about a pound less. Now, there is a
father-son “discussion” as to who caught the largest fish of the day.
April 14, Martin Freed and Ruta Vaskys fished out of
Occohonock. They caught 27 tautog.
April 11, Steve Martin and Jerald Abraham fished inside Back
River. They caught a single, 17-inch flounder.
April 10, Mac McCormick, Gary Donaldson, and Eric Wynings
fished for flounder near Back River. They managed to catch 5 flounder.
April 10, Wes Blow fished some of the coastal wrecks for
tautog. They caught a bunch of tautog including fish weighing 12 pounds 12 ounces
and 11 pounds 4 ounces.
