Healthy Grin Sport Fishing

Trolled plugs along the oceanfront this weekend. Caught cobia and ribbonfish.

I trolled for king mackerel this weekend. I caught ribbonfish, cobia, and a 5-pound Spanish mackerel. There are 37 or so citation-eligible species in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament. All have been registered on the Healthy Grins…except for pompano. As I have often been more of a boat driver than fish catcher, there are a handful of Virginia citation species that I have not personally gotten. Spanish mackerel was one of those, until now. There are now just a few left. I guess I will need to learn how to catch pompano. VMRC’s citation program is a wealth of knowledge, collecting data since 1958. I know that September is the prime month and that shrimp is the best bait to catch a citation pompano in Virginia.

It was a lot of ribbons, a couple cobia, pulled off a drum, no king bites kind of Saturday. Some really nice kings are being caught. Not a lot but a couple a day.

I spent the weekend trolling plugs along the oceanfront for a king mackerel. I did not catch any. A couple were weighed in (35 and 36 pounds). I did catch Spanish mackerel, a cobia, and a whole bunch of ribbon fish.

Today was the monthly VMRC meeting. The only real change for recreational anglers is that there is now a requirement to use circle hooks when fishing for striped bass with natural baits (eeling or other live bait or chunking).

Fished a bit this weekend. Caught some bait and went to the Eastern Shore to try for tarpon. I caught sharks. I did see some tarpon rolling, so they are here. Don’t know if any have been caught yet…probably. Those guys are more secretive than speckled trout anglers. I’ll probably get yelled at for saying that I saw some. Then tried for a king mackerel with Stan Simmerman. We caught a little cobia and 1000 ribbon fish. OK, it wasn’t 1,000 but it seemed that way. Pretty Independence Day weekend.

I left the cobia alone and tried for an early king. I caught cobia. I also caught ribbonfish and big red drum. I had four of those hooked at the same time…that was fun. I was only trolling plugs. Those trolling spoons had a good catch of Spanish mackerel. There were reports of king sightings and king bite offs but no catches. I had no encounters.

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Ran out early. Caught, tagged and released 3 cobia. Started catching sharks. Came in for lunch. My dental assistant, Meghan Wells, was today’s angler.

Went back out after cobia this morning. Caught and released 6.

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Started out my birthday with a little cobia fishing. Caught 6 cobia and was back in for lunch.

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