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FISHING
TIDEWATER, JULY 2010
By Don Lancaster
CATCH RECOGNITION
I would like to begin this month’s fishing news with an explanation
concerning the publicizing of citation information. For me personally,
I have around 18 reporting stations, both fresh and salt water,
that provide me with “notable catch” information. All
these reports are compiled and put in my Friday column in the
Newport News Daily Press newspaper. Some calls received by either
my editor, or directed to me personally, ask why their citation
was not in Friday’s paper. When I ask where the fish was
weighed, I find that it is not one of my stations, and as a result,
I had no information. In this instance I get the data directly
from the angler.
In a few instances, I have received an email or call from an angler
who has caught the state species leader, but their catch was not
indicated in the latest citation report published every Wednesday
by the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament (VSWFT). Having
dealt with this type of situation many times, I try to explain
to the angler that each authorized weighing station sends their
citation data, by mail, to the VSWSFT office where it is entered
into the computer and included in the next week’s report.
Sometimes there is a week or better delay in publicizing this
information because the weigh station, for whatever reason, didn’t
immediately forward it to the VSWFT office. If anyone has any
problem determining what the delay is, I suggest you call the
weigh station
SUMMER IS HERE
TILEFISH & SEABASS
With the first week of June almost behind us, I think that the
numbers and variety of our local species will begin to mushroom.
There are a number of things that have contributed to a drop in
totals for this year. The reductions of deep dropping trips seeking
blueline tilefish, and the black sea bass closure last year caused
a drop in citations for early 2010. The sea bass season re-opened
on May 22 and, weather permitting, these numbers will begin to
climb. Many catch reports indicate good numbers of sea bass, but
only a very few reaching the 5 pound minimum for a citation as
the blueline tilefish citation numbers are climbing.
COBIA
The most important fishing news, in my opinion, is the arrival
of both the cobia and spadefish. Wallace’s B&T forwarded
7 cobia citations this week coming from several of the usual “hot
spots”. There were three weight citations from the Buckroe
area with the heaviest being 70-9, and one release of 54-inches;
there were two weight citations from the Rock Pile, with the heaviest
weighing 77-8; and finally, one weight citation of 68-8, coming
from the Grandview area. The pier manager at Buckroe Fishing Pier
reported they had two cobia landed on Memorial Day evening, one
weighing 22 pounds and 39 inches long, and one too short to keep,
with a 37 inch minimum size. Last Tuesday, they landed another
30 inch fish which was immediately released.
BLACK AND RED DRUM
The drum bite continues to be fairly constant. Large red drum
continue to school around the shoals at Fisherman’s Island,
while the areas around buoy 10, outside the High Rise section
of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT) are holding both red
And black drum. Concentrations of large black drum have been reported
around buoys 13 and 16. Several catch reports of black drum schooling
around the rocks at the 3rd and 4th islands have been received
from anglers fishing for striped bass.
COBIA
I received my first cobia catch report early Wednesday afternoon.
It seems that Wes Blow of Newport News was at it again. He telephoned
a friend to say he had released a 57 inch fish and had a larger
one tied to the boat. After reaching the scales, his big fish
weighed 57-8. There have been several reports of cobia landed
at Buckroe Pier, with one keeper measuring 39-inches and several
small fish being released. Other early season cobia reports have
come from off Buckroe Pier, off Grandview, at the Rock Pile, and
on Bluefish Rock. With the tremendous numbers of cobia being seen
around the Outer Banks, moving our way, the anglers should be
out in full force very shortly.
FLOUNDER
The heaviest flounder, as of this report, weighed 9-12, and was
caught around Wachapreague. Reports from around Chesapeake Bay
remind me of the last few years. Although the minimum size limit
for 2010 has been reduced to 18-1/2 inches, the ratio of throw
back to keepers is about 8-1. Flounder pounders are catching their
fish on flounder teasers, with a strip of squid and a minnow;
with a bucktail, tipped with a Berkley Gulp strip; using live
spot or croakers, and with only a strip of squid. May folks drifting
and bottom fishing for croakers report catching flounder.
STRIPED BASS
The old standby “rockfish” continues to fill the gap
when all other species have lockjaw. Anglers are easily catching
their 2 fish limit at most all of the usual hot spots. At the
James River Bridge pilings, casting bucktails, fishing pieces
of peeler crab on the bottom, or trolling up and down or back
and forth between the pilings has proved successful. Small boat
anglers and kayakers fishing around the structures of both the
Monitor-Merrimac and Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnels are landing
good fish using both artificials and cut bait. Out at the CBBT,
casting around the pilings with bucktails or fishing with cut
bait has been the preferred methods. Vertically jigging either
bucktails or jigs has been a good method for those anglers fishing
over the tubes. Around the rock islands, bucktails, 4 or 6-inch
plastic shads, swim baits, or top water lures have all produced
fish.
MISCELLANEOUS FISHING
The most consistent bite around the Bay and on Hampton Bar, has
been the croaker bite. The Sally-T, out of Sunset Boating Center,
has had tremendous catch reports as their customers are having
no trouble taking home buckets of eating sized fish, small spot,
gray trout, and a few keeper flounder (combined with many throw
back fish.. Of course this doesn’t happen each trip. Weather,
wind, the current (or lack there of) can all cause the fish to
have lockjaw.
The James River Fishing Pier and the Buckroe Fishing Pier each
report good catches of croakers, while Buckroe Pier additionally
reported scattered catches of mullet flounder, toad fish, blow
fish an occasional small gray trout, skates, rays and even a Spanish
mackerel.
With schools closed for the summer and vacations being planned,
please be careful out on the water. Have all the required safety
equipment aboard and make sure that if you have small children
aboard, have a personal flotation device that fits them aboard.
Be alert for the “other guy” when you are underway.
Get out on the water whenever you can. Catch all the fish you
want, but keep only those that you intend to use. Save a few for
our grandkids.
Tight lines, sharp hooks and strong knots.
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