Fish News

The Youth and Ladies Tournament begins this weekend. The targeted species are flounder and croaker. Fishing begins on Saturday, July 17. There will be a picnic at Dare Marina on Sunday, July 25 at 1:00 PM. Both the tournament and picnic are free to members of the PSWSFA and guest fishing with them. It will be nice to let the tournament director know how many are going atent the picnic so that the cooks will know how much food to repair. For more information about this and other tournaments visit: http://www.pswsfa.com/tournaments.htm .

The CCA/Rotary Kids Fishing Clinic will be held at the James River Fishing Pier on Saturday, July 17. Volunteers are needed. Arrive at 6 AM to help put the fishing tackle together. Volunteers are needed at 9 AM to help the kids bait hooks, take off fish and other related task.

The speaker at this month’s club meeting is 17-year-old, Brandon Bartlett. I believe this will make him the youngest expert speaker we have ever had. This is nothing new for Brandon. He was Virginia’s youngest Expert Angler at 6, and the youngest Master Angler at 8 years of age. Brandon established a number of junior world records. As a teenager, he works as an offshore mate. Brandon will be speaking to us about sight-fishing for cobia. Meetings are free and you do not need to be a member to attend: http://www.pswsfa.com/meetings.htm .

The Healthy Grin now has a web sight. You can visit it at: www.vbsf-hookedup.net/healthygrin/.

Flounder are the most sought after fish in the bay right now. According to the NMFS, we are having a banner year. According to local flounder experts, fishing has not been great. The best catches were made during the Flounder Bowl. Since then, the bite at the CBBT has slowed up but the bite up near the Cell and buoy 42 has really picked up. Cobia fishing remains good. Sight-fishing is weather dependent. Chummers continue to pick away at the fish. Buoy 18, York Spit, and the Inner Middle Grounds have been good areas. Spanish mackerel are available along the ocean front and in the bay up to Windmill Point. York Spit to Back River Reef has been a good area lately. Spadefish are available at the Chesapeake Light Tower and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. It has been the slowest spadefish year since they have become popular. Sheepshead and triggerfish are being caught at the CBBT. Amberjack are thick at the southern towers. Some are around the Chesapeake Light Tower. Offshore, billfish and dolphin action has been very good. A few yellowfin tuna and wahoo are being caught. The inshore hills are producing dolphin, bluefin tuna, king mackerel and false albacore.

July 13, Brandon Bartlett had a charter fish the 21 Mile Hill area. They caught 4 bluefin tuna up to 80 pounds.

July 12, Martin Freed and Ruta Vaskys fished for tuna at 21 Mile Hill. They did not catch any tuna but they did catch 7 really nice dolphin. They also caught some false albacore.

July 12, I fished for flounder with Steve Martin. We caught a 20-inch fish as soon as we put the baits out and then we were chased back to port by a storm.

July 11, Wes Blow took writer Ken Perotte out after cobia. They caught two nice fish near buoy 18. Ken caught his largest cobia to date and got some good photos for an article for Virginia Wildlife. They caught another cobia off of buoy 19.

July 11, Rick Wineman fished Bluefish Rock. They caught two cobia on live bluefish.

July 10, John Hunt fished the VBBT. They fished the 21 Mile Hill area and caught a 72.2 pound bluefin tuna. It was good enough for 9th place.

July 10, Mike Hurst fished the buoy 42 area. They caught 14 keeper flounder up to 9 pounds and lost a larger fish at the net.

July 8, Brandon Bartlett fished the Virginia Beach Tuna Tournament. They fished the Washington Canyon and do not catch any tuna. They had plenty of dolphin, several wahoo bites and the white marlin were a pest. Brandon caught two whites while trying to reel the baits away from them.

July 6, Steve Martin fished with Mike Hurst. They fished the buoy 42 area and caught a dozen keeper flounder up to 6 pounds.

July 6, Capt. Jorj Head, (757) 262-9004, fished for cobia. His charter caught cobia of 59, 54, and 40 pounds.

July 6, Martin Freed and Ruta Vaskys fished 21 Mile Hill. They did not catch any tuna but they did catch a bunch of false albacore. They also caught 2 very nice dolphin.

July 5, Capt. Jorj Head fished for cobia. His charter caught two cobia to 40 pounds.

July 5, Charles Southall received a call from Ric Burnley. The word was to get out to Nautilus Shoal where there were thousands of red drum schooled up. There were just their two boats working this amazing school of fish. Charles said that he has never seen anything like it. They caught fish up to 51 inches long. Everyone caught multiple citation-sized fish. They left the fish when all of the anglers were worn out and Charles had two broken rods.

July 4, Wes Blow chummed for cobia by himself. It was rather rough. He hooked three cobia. He caught the smallest one, 44 inches long. The other two were much larger. He lost both of them near the boat.

July 3, J. T. Hale fished for cobia. They were hooked up within minutes. It was the only fish of the day but it was a big one. Back at the dock it weighed in at 74 pounds.

July 3, I was able to go cobia fishing with Capt. Jorj Head, (757) 262-9004. We had a gorgeous day to sight fish for cobia. We stayed in the general area of the Hump between the Baltimore and York River Channels. It was good to see a lot of menhaden. We found the cobia around these the rest. Jorj collected a DNA sample from each fish for a study being done at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. All of the fish were caught on live eels.

July 3, Wes Blow and Keith Blackburn chummed for cobia. They were hooked up before they got all of the lines in the water. In short order, they had a 54-inch cobia in the net. That was their only cobia of the day. They then ran to the CBBT where they caught some small flounder.

June 29, Brandon Bartlett called and said that the bluefin bite has been pretty good on the inshore humps. He fished the Hot Dog and caught two bluefin tuna. They also caught king mackerel and false albacore.

June 28, Capt. Jorj Head, (757) 262-9004, went cobia fishing. Really, he has been catching cobia almost every day. I just have not been calling to get his reports. On this day, they caught 6 cobia around the Baltimore Channel, sight fishing.

June 27, Wes Blow chummed for cobia at York Spit. He had one bite and caught a 50-inch cobia.

June 26, The turn out for the Flounder Bowl was fantastic. A total of 97 boats entered this event held out of Dare Marina. Both the weather and the flounder cooperated for a fantastic day of flounder fishing. Flatfish were caught from buoy 42, the Cell, 36A, the Hump, Back River Reef, Cape Henry Wreck and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Anglers fishing the buoy 42/Cell area had a slow day. That area was where the winning fish were caught in the 2009 tournament. This year, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was the place to be. Almost all of the large flounder caught came from between the 4th island and the high rise section. The one exception was a flatfish, over 8 pounds which Skid Joyner, caught at Back River Reef. Live bait, mostly spot, produced most of the large fish. This year’s Bay Champion is Brian Hogge and his “Hogchoker” team. Their 3-fish stringer weight was a very impressive, 26.03 pounds. They earned a check for $5,000. They won the championship cup and they also won the sponsors challenge trophy for their sponsor, Grafton Fishing Supply. Second place was won by the team captained by Donald Bowers. They weighed in 24.20 pounds of flounder. They received a check for $1,500. The third place team was the “Hell Bent” captained by Rudy Levasseur. They weighed 23.72 pounds. Their largest fish weighed 10.84 pounds and it won the Big Fish Calcutta. Their total winnings were $6,500. Fourth place was won by team “Choo Choo” captained by John Perry. They weighed in 21.39 pounds. They received a check for $500. The fifth place team was “Turkey Man”. This team, captained by Benji Lineberry, weighed 17.82 pounds of flounder. They won $250. Finishing out the top six was team “Salt Lick” captained by Mark McIlwean. They weighed a stringer of 17.16 pounds. They also received $250.The Youth winner was Fisher Dedmon who was fishing on the Bull Island Express sponsored by Bishop Fishing Supply. He won $100 and a prize donated by West Marine. The Lady winner was Hilary Polk fishing on a boat sponsored by TPMG Internal Medicine. She won $100 and a pair of sunglasses donated by Costa. This year’s “Lucky Dog” is Jason Wright of team “Summer Hunt’n” He received a check for $500. Total payout was $14,700 plus merchandise donated by the many wonderful sponsors. The businesses supporting this tournament make this event possible. The one prize that was raffled was a flounder artwork donated by Mountain Breeze Taxidermy. David Brabrand won that prize. All of the other donated merchandise was given out via door prize tickets included with team registration.

June 26, Rick Wineman fished 26 Mile Hill and the Norfolk Canyon. At the hill, they caught bluefin tuna, false albacore, and lost a couple of king mackerel. Their largest bluefin had a 42-inch fork length. Out at the canyon, they caught dolphin and then did some bottom fishing. They caught sea bass, blueline tilefish, and a 30-pound wreckfish.

June 26, I fished in the Flounder Bowl with Charles Southall. His Special Kate was sponsored by Southern Heating and Plumbing Supply. We had a pretty decent bite at the Cape Henry Wreck on fish up to 23 inches long.

June 26, Danny Forehand and Wes Blow fished in the Flounder Bowl. They caught some nice fish up near New Point and then at the high rise area of the CBBT. They were sponsored by the Pomoco Auto Group.

June 26, Milton Hudgins, sponsored by Sea Tow, fished in the Flounder Bowl. They caught about 9 keeper flounder around the 3rd and 4th islands of the CBBT.

June 22, Martin Freed and Ruta Vaskys fished 26 Mile Hill. They lost a nice bluefin tuna at boat side. They caught 7 false albacore.

June 21, I went fishing with Capt. Jorj Head, (757) 262-9004. Jorj launched his boat at Messick and we spent about a half a day looking for cobia between Bluefish Rock and 3rd Island of the CBBT. We saw 15 fish or so and caught a handful. Some just did not want to eat. Others, including a very large fish, we never got a cast on before it went down. I took notes and photographs. Brian Kreter, of Richmond, caught all of the fish including his first citation (release).

June 20, Wes Blow fished out of Morehead City. They caught red grouper, scamp grouper, some unkown grouper, silver snapper, sand tilefish, triggerfish, and some dolphin that swam by the boat.

June 19, I fished out of Hatteras on Charles Southall’s boat. Really long daytrip. We caught small dolphin. There are a lot of them around. Hunter Southall hooked-up a billfish that pulled the hook after a fast run and jump. I’m pretty sure it was a sail. That was our excitement for the day. Steve Martin and Gerald Abraham were down there with us. They had pretty much the same day we had.

June 19, Capt. Jorj Head fished the Hampton Creek Cobia Tournament. They started out chumming without any luck so the went sight-fishing and caught 3 cobia. His largest, 58 pounds, was good enough to win him 2nd place money.

June 19, Ric Burnley tried for sheepshead at the CBBT without any luck. They then sent cruising and found a school of large red drum on the bayside of the 2nd island, about a mile off the island.

June 18, Capt. Jorj head took a charter out after cobia. They caught 3 fish chumming and then went sight fishing. They caught 2 more cobia and then broke out the fly rod. They had a lot of lookers and then managed to hook a nice cobia on the fly. After a long fight, the 25-pound tippet broke.

June 14, I ran to Fisherman’s Island with a couple of pop-up tags to get out on red drum. I trolled spoons for hours and caught sharks (small duskys I think, toothy things). Set up and started bait fishing in the evening and caught more sharks on some live perch and cut bunker (really fresh, I had snagged them with my spoons). Switched over to all crab baits and stopped the shark madness. Then on half peelers, started catching rays. Caught my first eagle ray. Stopped that by going to all live, whole crabs about sunset. Had 5 rods cast all over. SE chop was hitting the boat side-to, not real big but enough to rock that boat pretty good. I have myself braced in and anything that is going to fall down has. Settled in to fish through the sunset and beat the storms home. All five rods went off. Must have been a big school of drum because those baits were scattered all over. Everything is tangled, two broke off because of the lines cutting each other. I got 3 untangled somehow and then activated a tag (they were sitting in my red boat bag on the captains chair beside me). I fought one fish and left the other two in the rod holder. When I got my first look and confirmed I had drum, I one handedly activated the second tag. The first was sitting on the chair, the second was in the open bag. Current was running in pretty good and none of these fish liked the look of the boat or the net. I managed to get the first one in, 43 inches, put the first tag in and released the fish. The other two fish were still on. I cleared the net of the sinker and hook of the first fish, (just cut the line, no time to untangle) and started on the other two. I fought those together, one rod in my hands and taking turns cranking the other in the rod holder. I wanted them both in about the same time so I could choose the largest to tag. I managed to get them both in with difficulty. Both were larger, 45 and 46 inches. Got the hooks out and went to tag the larger. Found the tagging stick up front, where I had left it, looked at the red bag and did not see the tag. Well, there is a lot of stuff, it must have just fallen down inside. I ripped everything out of there, looked all over the boat where it could have fallen, no tag.
The only thing I can think of that happened is that on one of the netting attempts, the tag caught on the net and went overboard. I never saw it. Figuring that out, I got the anchor up as fast as I could. It was getting dark, I went looking for that tag down current until I could not see (I just chunked the other two fish over). I did not find the tag. Coming home, I did not beat the thunderstorm.

June 13, Wes Blow and Chris Boyce chummed for cobia. They caught 2 nice fish and missed a couple more.

June 12, Danny Forehand ran to 26 Mile Hill and fished for bluefin tuna. There were a few caught around them but they just managed on Bonita.

June 12, Capt. Jorj Head, (757) 262-9004, did a half-day of cobia fishing. They caught one fish. They should have caught two but broke off a very large fish near the boat after a long fight.

June 11, Barclay Shepard ran his boat out of Hatteras. They experienced some great dolphin fishing. They kept their limit and released others. Then, they came in and did some bottom fishing. They caught amberjack, snapper, and a large triggerfish.

June 7, we headed back offshore bottom fishing. It was rough. By the afternoon, it had laid down for a nice ride in but she was sporty getting out there. We just fished deep this time not trying for sea bass or blueline tilefish. Really, we were mostly letting Wes Blow try for that grouper that broke him off last week after a long fight. Fishing was pretty slow. We caught a handful of different species. The best catch was Mike Hurst’s golden tilefish but it was the only one of the day. Unlike the previous two trips, no snowy grouper were landed. Broke off a couple (short fight) and caught wreckfish and other critters.

June 5, Capt. Jorj Head, (757) 262-9004, took a charter out to look for cobia. They saw a number of them, catching two nice fish.

June 5, Barclay Shepard and Scott Elford took the kids flounder fishing near Back River Reef. They caught a lot of flatfish. They had a dozen keepers and a bunch of short fish.

June 5, Charles Southall fished for flounder near New Point. They caught one keeper. A school of bunker moved through and Charles cast a bucktail to it and imediately hooked up. He thought he had a cobia but it turned out to be a large red drum.

June 5, my son, Cameron, and I set out to do some fisheries research (we went drum fishing) Saturday afternoon. Dr. John Graves is finding some really neat stuff about large red drum through the use of pop-up satellite tag technology. He wants us to get out a couple more tags to fill in the blanks. These are tags which were recovered from last spring and are being repowered. The problem is the tags were not back from the manufacturer yet…any day now. Cameron and I went anyway. We trolled Nautilus Shoal, with spoons, for just a little bit with no bites. We then set up near buoy 10 where Cameron caught, tagged (VA Gamefish Tag), and released a red drum. Good start but it was also the finish. We missed a few other drum bites and called it an early evening. Amazing number of sponge crabs were swimming by the boat.

June 4, Charles Southall spent some time fishing for cobia. They did not catch any chumming or sight fishing. They then moved to buoy 10 where they caught two nice red drum.

June 3, Ric Burnley and Blake Hayden fished around the CBBT. They found a school of drum and caught a big black drum. They also caught a couple of cobia sight casting. They then moved to buoy 10 where they caught a dozen red drum.

June 2, Wes blow did some early morning chumming off of Buckroe. He caught and released a 49-inch cobia.

June 2, Brandon Bartlett did some sight fishing near the CBBT. They came across a huge school of drum. They caught a large red drum and three black drum before leaving the school. Cruising around, they spotted 12 cobia and caught 6 of them.

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