BY BILL HALL, Eastern Shore Post —
Last weekend’s tidal flooding on both sides of our peninsula, combined with another round of breezy conditions, severely impacted the amount of angling activity for the second week in a row. Fishing immediately improved when the weather conditions stabilized, only to be interrupted again by another weather system.
Upper Shore
Shallow water anglers have been finding an abundance of small speckled trout, most under the minimum size limit. However, there are enough keeper-sized trout as well as an occasional trophy-sized fish to keep up the interest of dedicated trout enthusiasts.
Schools of puppy drum, ranging in size from 16 inches up to fish exceeding the maximum slot limit are plying the same shallow water grass beds. Most of the shallow water anglers are using popping corks with Berkley Gulp Paddletails, Swimming Mullet, or Gulp shrimp suspended on small jig heads. When fresh shrimp can be acquired and fished from the same popping cork rigs, success is almost guaranteed if there are feeding fish in the immediate area. A larger class of red drum and bluefish have been caught along the channel edges.
Chincoteague
Jimmy Vasiliou, at Captain Steve’s Bait and Tackle, told me that fishing has been improving now that the “weather is getting back to normal.” He said that recent catches inside of Chincoteague Bay have included croakers, flounder, speckled trout, puppy drum, and black sea bass.
Ribbonfish has been a recent addition to catches coming from the surf, joining some large red drum and a variety of sharks, skates, and rays, as well as a few kingfish (whiting) and spot.
Laura Shifflett caught and released a 36-inch red drum from the surf on Assateague Island. The shop weighed in a 23-inch, 7-pound, 8-ounce sheepshead for an angler visiting from New Jersey.
Wachapreague
Captain Lindsay Paul, aboard the Almost Persuaded, confided that there “has not been much going on,” with regards to recent fishing action out of Wachapreague. Flounder were caught during last weekend once the winds settled down. The recent tidal flooding has made for good marsh hen (rail) hunting, according to Captain Paul.
Lower Shore
Tyler Nestor, at Ocean’s East — Eastern Shore, told me that the lower Shore speckled trout fishery is really starting to heat up. He said the shop has already registered over a dozen citation catches this season. Catches have come from both the bayside and the seaside creeks for anglers casting Paul Brown’s and Mirrolures.
Schools of puppy drum are being caught in the same area on artificials suspended under popping corks. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and the concrete ships are holding a population of sheepshead, with anglers targeting the striped porgies with fiddler crabs or sand fleas on sheepshead jig. Trophy-sized red drum are still hitting bucktails, large paddletails, and peeler crab baits at the third island of the bridge-tunnel. The lower bay piers have reported catches of flounder and spot.
Jeb Brady, at Bailey’s Bait & Tackle, said the weather “played havoc” with fishing over the last week, with windy conditions and excessively high tides. The improved weather conditions revealed schools of puppy drum along the lower bayside beaches and creeks, as well as on the seaside.
Numbers of speckled trout are also starting to increase along the bayside creeks. When clear water can be found, “decent” flounder action is still occurring along the bridge-tunnel. Medium-sized croakers, spot, and ribbonfish catches have been recent catches off the piers, according to Brady.
The writer was the first Eastern Shore resident to achieve Virginia Saltwater Master Angler status. He has been named Virginia Saltwater Angler of the Year and Virginia Saltwater Release Angler of the Year. He has won numerous Virginia Press Association awards for his columns.
