Coastal Fishing Reports

Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, March 10 Update:

Winter is coming to an end and the first signs of spring are popping up all around us. Ospreys have returned, daffodils are blooming, and tree frogs are peeping their heads off. This is an exciting time of year for many anglers since warmer weather brings more fishing. Along our coast, opportunities are still limited but the action should pick up soon. Water temperatures are in the mid 40s and should slowly climb throughout the month. A few tautog are being caught in and around the Ocean City Inlet and Route 50 Bridge area. Most of the tog are reported to be short of the 16-inch size minimum, but they are still fun to catch.

Anglers are also catching a few striped bass by casting soft plastic jigs and working them close to the bottom, but most of these bass are undersized. We received one report from a boat targeting rockfish at the Route 90 Bridge. They found their fish in the deepest part of the channel close to the bridge pilings and caught them on artificial jigs. Virginia Beach Sport Fishing reports that the tog fishing out of Virginia Beach is also good right now when the weather cooperates. They suggest trying areas like the CBBT, Back River Reef, the Cell, Tower Reef, the Concrete Ships, and the Triangle Wrecks. The offshore scene main event is still fishing for the tautog that are schooled up close to the offshore wrecks and reefs. Reports of double digit tautog have been coming in for several weeks now. There are also plenty of large sea bass in the mix but that is a catch and release fishery at the moment. Fresh crab baits work best but strips of clam or Fishbites E-Z Crab will get the fish biting too.

Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, March 3 Update:

Virginia’s February sea bass season drew to a close on Tuesday, and just before it went out Captain Drew on the Big Worm was still enjoying excellent action. Throughout the month, many boats targeting the sea bass were reporting limit catches with many quality fish hitting the deck. Fishing charter Wreckless Sport Fishing LLC got out over the weekend to target the sea bass one more time and reported catching a limit with many over three pounds. They also caught four bluefish over 10 pounds and plenty of pesky dogfish to round out an awesome end-of-season trip. When the season comes back in on May 15, there should be plenty of bass out there just waiting to be caught.

Captain Monty got the Morning Star off the dock a time or two in the past week, but most recently reports a relatively slow bite from the tautog. They also didn’t score any monsters this week, though last week they did reel up some chunky ones. Oceans East Bait and Tackle shared an awesome catch with us from angler Chong Chae. He caught a beast of a tog weighing in at 21 pounds while fishing the wrecks off Virginia Beach. Spring is almost here and many anglers are anticipating the return of a more fishing opportunities along the coast. By the end of the month we should start to see the first few reports of black drum moving into our region off the surf, so stay tuned.