Thanks for the Report Dr. Ken Neill,III Both big red and black drum were caught around Fisherman’s and Smith Islands this week. The best bite was in the surf between the two islands. Look for the buoy 16 and 13 areas to produce big black drum this week along with some of the seaside inlets like Quinby and the Great Machipongo. Black drum are already being caught as far north as Delaware. The buoys 8-10 area will be a good place to fish for both big blacks and big red drum. Puppy drum are available up in the shallows in most locations: Rudee and Lynnhaven Inlets, Back River, York River, Elizabeth River, Mobjack Bay and so on. I saw some off of my dock last night up in Chisman Creek off of the Poquoson River. Despite the winter kills of speckled trout and puppy drum, it is looking like another good red drum year. The verdict is still out on speckled trout. With that season closed, not many are fishing for them. There have been some nice catches (and releases) of specks in the Elizabeth River, in the Mobjack Bay estuaries, and around Goodwin Island at the mouth of the York River. Croaker are being caught off of all of the fishing piers and in the York, Poquoson and James Rivers. The flounder bite continues to slowly heat up. The best catches are coming from the seaside inlets of the Eastern Shore. Some flounder have been caught inside Back River and up on Poquoson Flats. Hampton Bar has produced some nice catches. There have been flounder caught off of the Buckroe Fishing Pier, inside Rudee and Lynnhaven Inlets, some at the CBBT, around Back River Reef and so on. There are flatfish being caught but anglers have to work for them. The trophy striped bass season is open where anglers may keep one striped bass at least 32 inches long. There are some fish to be caught at the CBBT islands and they are a possibility at the other area crossings. Some are being caught behind the barrier islands. The ocean wrecks are holding good populations of sea bass that should be available when that season opens May 19. Offshore, it is still mainly bottom fishing out of Virginia with good catches of tilefish being made around the Norfolk Canyon. There have been a few boats making the run down south to join the Oregon Inlet fleet where they are catching some yellowfin tuna and dolphin. The boats out of Hatteras are catching dolphin, blackfin tuna, wahoo and more billfish are joining the catches. Recreational bluefin tuna regulations changed as of May 8. We are now allowed to keep 2 bluefin tuna per boat per day with one between 27 and less than 47 inches and one between 47 and less than 73 inches. Charter boats are allowed 3 fish (2 in the smaller class, 1 in the larger). The trophy, 73 inches and greater, class is closed. May 4, Hunter Southall fished the Elizabeth River where he released a 27-inch speckled trout and a number of puppy drum. May 2, Wally Veal fished Fisherman’s Island for drum. They caught 2 big black drum and a big red drum. May 2, Charles Southall and I took his Albemarle out to try for red drum in the Eastern Shore surf after work. We had not been fishing more than 15 minutes when the first screaming bite occurred. Charles caught a really thick, 53-inch red drum. Not long after, I caught a 49-inch drum that looked rather small after the beast Charles caught. We missed two other bites before heading back in.
Posted on: Tue, 06 May 2014 17:17:24 +0000