FISHING NEWS

The final results of the 2009 Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament are in. Two PSWSFA members won species awards. Bob Manus' 39-pound fish was the top dolphin registered in Virginia in 2009. Bob caught his fish while fishing on the Healthy Grin. The top cobia in the state was caught by Wes Blow. Wes caught his 105.5 pound cobia while fishing by himself. Wes had a bit of a tangle. Thinking that it was not a large fish, Wes just wrapped the line to the fish around his hand and cut the line on both sides of the tangle. While just holding the fishing line, Wes managed to splice it back to the line coming off of his reel. It was not until later, he saw what a fish he had. He knew he needed some help. While fighting the fish, Wes called several club members until one knew somebody fishing near him. They went over to Wes' boat and transferred an angler over to act as gaff man.

The second local ESPN fishing show of the year will air soon. Capt. Jorj Head (757-262-9004) will be catching cobia on George Poveromo's World of Saltwater Fishing. Jorj's show will air on Valentine's Day on ESPN2 at 7:30 AM. The show will be on again, Feb. 20 at 6:30 AM.

Large rockfish are being caught in ocean waters from the NC/VA boarder on down to Oregon Inlet. As the days continue to get longer, these fish will work their way back towards the Chesapeake Bay in preparation for their spawning runs. Some fish are inside the bay for catch and release action now. Fish have been caught at the CBBT and at the HRBT. Boats running offshore out of Oregon Inlet are finding some yellowfin tuna and some hefty bluefin tuna in the 100 to 200 pound range. The coastal wrecks off of Virginia are producing tautog for anglers looking to do something other than chase rockfish. Tilefish, spiny dogfish, and sea bass (which must be released) await anglers running offshore to bottom fish. Speckled trout and puppy drum are being caught in the Elizabeth River.

The 2010 flounder regulations are being determined. We will be able to fish under slightly easier regulations this year. Likely regulations will be something like 18.5 inch minimum with a 4 or 5 fish bag limit with no closed season. If we try to go down to an 18 inch minimum, we will need to have a summer closure of a bit over a month.

Our club’s awards banquet will be held on February 26. Cost will be $15 for members. Children eating the kids meal will be free. Everyone must be preregistered so we can give the restaurant our order. Look in the latest issue of the Chum Line for details: www.pswsfa.com/chum.pdf .

It is time to start paying our club dues for 2010. Annual membership is still only $30.

Feb. 1, Roger Burnley and I ran out to the Triangle Wrecks. We caught tautog and a few small sea bass using clam for bait. I weighed in one citation tog at 9.25 pounds. We tagged and released most of the fish. We caught on tog which already had a tag in it.

Jan. 27, Hot Ditch report from Wes Blow: I fished for speckled trout Wednesday. I got an early start and was the first boat in so I had my pick. First fish I caught was an unhealthy looking rockfish about 2 feet long, I quickly let it go. Then a while later I had a bobber twitch a little so I grabbed the rod. I held it for what seemed a couple minutes watching the bobber slightly twitch every so slightly occasionally. Then abruptly the bobber was gone and a quick jerk and I was hooked up to the hardest fighting and erratic trout I have caught. It would have a long runs with violent head shakes then calm down and start again. After working it around my other lines and anchor during it's impressive fight I finally got it to the boat and was able to net it on the first try. The fish ended up being 7 pounds and 14 ounces of absolute fun to catch, before I saw it I was thinking it was quite a bit bigger. I ended up catching 6 fish and losing one other at the boat that got tangled in another line.

Jan. 24, Wes Blow and I fished the Elizabeth River for speckled trout. We caught 7 nice speckled trout. We released all of them except one deep-hooked fish. The one kept fish weighed in at 6 pounds, 6 ounces.

Jan. 23, Rick Wineman fished the Elizabeth River. They caught one large speckled trout which they released. It was 27.5 inches long.

Jan. 20, Ric Burnley fished the HRBT in his kayak. They found fat rockfish lined up in the light line. The fish were in the 24-inch range but should be joined by some larger fish over the next few weeks.

Jan. 20, Wes Blow fished the Elizabeth River. He caught 6 speckled trout. The largest weighed in at 7 pounds, 3 ounces.

Jan. 17, Wes Blow fished the Hot Ditch. He caught one 20-inch speckled trout.

Jan. 16, we caught and released a few nice rockfish in the cold waters along the oceanfront. No birds or bait marks, we just marked some fish and we had one angler on board who had not caught a rockfish so we stopped and managed to catch a few. We left them and ran on out to the Triangle Wrecks where we caught a dozen tautog.

Jan. 15, Charles Southall and Gabe Sava ran way south out of Rudee. They found a few fish marks and put out some baits. They caught fish right away. Gabe released a 44-inch rockfish. Gabe's dad caught one a bit bigger, 54 inches long.

Jan. 15, Barclay Shepard and Matt Rink fished the Hot Ditch. They each registered to speckled trout release citations.

Jan. 15, Wes Blow fished the Hot Ditch. Fishing was slow at first but he managed to catch several nice trout. His largest was 31 inches long, weighing 9 pounds 10 ounces.

Jan. 15, Ric Burnley went on a charter out of Oregon Inlet. They did not catch a fish but Ric was not done. When they got in, Ric hit the beach and found the puppy drum crashing the surf.

Jan. 14, Wes Blow fished out of Hatteras. They jigged up a bunch of small blackfin tuna, false albacore, various jacks, a couple of sharks, and a small yellowfin tuna. At the end of the day, they baited a large shark which Wes got to fight for a long time before releasing it. They estimated the hammerhead at 11 feet long.

Jan. 13, Wes Blow fished the Hot Ditch. He caught a couple of 22-inch speckled trout.

Jan. 11, Steve Martin and I ran south out of Rudee Inlet for about 30 miles. We found all the rockfish we could handle. We caught fish up to 46 inches long.

Jan. 9, Ric Burnley fished about 35 miles south of Rudee Inlet on the Matador. They had a great day catching many large rockfish.

Jan. 8, John Hunt ran 40 miles south of Rudee Inlet. They found a bunch of feeding rockfish about 2 miles off of the beach.

Jan. 6, Rick Wineman ran down to the Duck Research Pier. They got down there after the hot bite was over. They managed to pick up a couple of nice rockfish.

Jan. 1, Wes Blow fished the Elizabeth River. He caught 6 speckled trout up to 6 pounds.

Jan. 1, Ruth and Mac McCormick fished the Elizabeth River. They trolled up some speckled trout.

Dec. 31, Phillip Neill drifted eels at buoy 18. They caught the one rockfish which bit.

Dec. 30, Wes Blow eeled the High Rise of the CBBT. He caught a single, 40-inch rockfish.

Dec. 28, Charles Southall and I fished along the oceanfront. It was slow until we ended up 26 miles south of Rudee. Then it was more fish than we could handle. We kept our 4-fish limit of fish to 42 inches long and we released many more.

Dec. 27, I drifted eels at Plantation. I caught one rockfish. It was the only bite I had.

Dec. 27, Phillip Neill started out at York Spit where he caught a 38 inch rockfish. They then ran over to the Concrete Ships and drifted eels. They caught 2, 42-inch fish. They lost a much larger fish at the boat.

Dec. 27, Capt. Jorj Head, (757) 262-9004, drifted eels at buoy 18. They only got one bite but it was a good one. They caught a hefty, 48-inch striped bass.

Dec. 27, Mac McCormick took his grandchildren, Gabrielle and Hunter, out for their first rockfish trip. They had very good luck catching fish at the MMBT and were all smile showing off their first rockfish.

Dec. 27, David Brabrand fished in the York River. He caught a 36-inch rockfish.

Dec. 24, My son, Cameron, and I went out Christmas Eve. The radio chatter was a steady bite at Cape Henry. Before we got past the jetties, we were hailed by a boat. One of the smaller custom Carolina boats. We could see them bobbing around out side the jetties. They were without power, anchor would not hold, and they were drifting to the beach. We went over there and they threw us a line attached to a life jacket. While Cameron is trying to untie it, their line gets in my starboard prop. Great, now we are both drifting to the beach in some rough water. I ran back and just tied off their rope, the part that was free behind my transom. I pulled us away from the beach with the port engine. When we were safe, I went back and cut their rope on both sides that went under my boat, leaving them tied to the bridle I had rigged. We managed to tow them back into the fishing center. A little scary getting them into the inlet. The captain offered to pay us anything we wanted. We just told them Merry Christmas. Tim Barco was in the water the day after Christmas and cleared my running gear. Tim is a diver who has taken very good care of me. If you are looking for a good diver, look Tim up.

Dec. 24, Wes Blow fished for speckled trout in the Elizabeth River. He caught a catfish.

Dec. 23, Matt Rinck and Jorj Head fished Elizabeth River. They caught a 23.5 inch speckled trout.

Dec. 23, Brandon Honeycutt fished the Elizabeth River. He caught 4 speckled trout on live bait.

Dec. 22, Rick Wineman ran out to the Triangle Wrecks to try for bluefish. What they caught were some very nice sea bass up to 5 pounds. They had to release all of the sea bass. They also caught a couple large flounder. The biggest weighed in at 9.25 pounds!

Dec. 22, Charles Southall fished along the Virginia Beach oceanfront. The water was rough and muddy. They managed to catch a couple of nice rockfish.

Dec. 21, Gabe Sava drifted eels at the Concrete Ships in some rough conditions. They did not get a bite in the few hours that they fished.

Dec. 20, we fished along the Virginia Beach ocean front. Fishing was not great but we did manage to catch some nice rockfish. Wes Blow had one really large fish on but the hook pulled.

Dec. 18, Rick Wineman fished the high rise section of the CBBT. They caught 2 rockfish with the largest 47 inches long.

Dec. 18, Mike Avery fished the High Rise. They caught 4 rockfish to 44 inches long.

Dec. 16, Wes Blow fished the Elizabeth River. He caught 6 nice speckled trout which he released and 5 eels which will later be fed to rockfish.

Contact Ken Neill with fishing news.

E-mail Ken Neill with fishing news.

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