FISHING NEWS

Offshore fishing remains very good out of Virginia. It has shifted a bit in that the numbers of yellowfin tuna have decreased but they have gotten larger. The too-little-to-keep fish have been replaced with tuna in the 50-pound class. There should be no complaints about that. Dolphin catches have picked up. Billfish encounters are becoming more common. Some wahoo are being caught and there are some bigeye tuna hanging around the Norfolk Canyon. It is a good mix-bag bite right now. Most of this action has been around the 100-fathom curve. Bluefin tuna are being caught around the Fingers and on the inshore hills. King mackerel and bluefish are found in these same areas. It is a great time to get offshore. Amberjack have taken up residence around the southern towers. Spadefish continue to be caught at the Chesapeake Light Tower, over the inshore wrecks and in the bay at the CBBT and at the Cell. Sea bass are available at the Triangle Wrecks and other wrecks about that far out like the Ricks and Hanks. Sheepshead are biting at the CBBT. Cobia remain the hot catch in the bay. Sight-casting has been productive near the mouth of the bay. Latimer Shoal and the Inner Middle Ground have been good areas to set up a chum slick. Large red drum continue to be caught by the few anglers still targeting them near Fisherman's Island. Others are being caught by anglers targeting cobia (both chumming and sight-casting). Black drum have staged around the islands of the CBBT. Spanish mackerel are all along the oceanfront and in the lower bay. The current rips around Cape Henry is the top location. Flounder action has been a bit hit and miss. Some nice catches have been made at the CBBT, Back River Reef, and near the Cell.

Sixty-two boats fished in the Flounder Bowl this past weekend. The top boat was Reelentless, Capt. Kenny Jarvis, with a 3 fish weight of 16.16 pounds. They won the big fish calcutta with a 7.04 pound fish caught by Richie Allen, his first citation ever. They also won the Ladies Award with a 5.09 pound fish caught by Kathy Jarvis. Their total cash winnigs were $6,800. Second Place was team Above Average (Capt. Ben, Rudy, Bucky, Kevin) with 14.49 pounds. They won $1,500. Third Place was Paige II Charters with 14.14 pounds. They (Capt. Craig Paige, Cheryl, Chris and Dave Boyce) won $1,000 plus they also won the Sponsors Division Trophy. Fourth Place was Miss B Haven (Capt. Jorj Head, Allen Williams, Carlin Thomas, Alan Meetze, Matt Rinck) with 14.04 pounds. They won $500. Fifth Place was Special Kate (Charles and Hunter Southall, Skid Joyner, Neal Insley) with 11.10 pounds. They won $250. Sixth Place was Choo Choo captained by Jerry Maxey with 10.98 pounds. They won $250. The Youth Award was won by Jack Gailing fishing on the Summertime captained by Wayne Summerfield. Jack's 3.38 pound fish beat out Hunter Southall's fish by one one hundredth of a pound. The $500 Lucky Dog Award was won by team Shari Gail captained by Norm French. www.pswsfa.com/FlounderBowl_09.htm

The first of the red drum satellite tags released right on schedule, June 24. Four of them appear to have beached themselves. If you want to try for the $100 reward for each tag, these are the approximate locations: 
Tag 62101 is about 37 09' 40'', 75 54' 38" 
Tag 62102 is about 37 08' 08", 75 58' 27" 
Tag 62104 is about 37 11' 47", 76 00' 24" 
Tag 62105 is about 37 32' 07", 76 00' 36" 
Tag 62103 is bobbing around Cape Henry.

Capt. Will Branson will be the speaker at the July 21 meeting of the PSWSFA. He is a diver who will be able to show us what is going on at our favorite wrecks and he will share some information on wrecks we do not know about.

June 30, Brandon Bartlett mated on an inshore trip on the Virginian. They ended up out at the Hot Dog where they encountered “thousands” of bluefin tuna on the surface. They caught one on 12 pound test after a 2 hour fight (they had been catching Spanish mackerel, one citation). They broke off others and caught a couple more after switching to heavier tackle. They caught the fish on Drone spoons.

June 29, John Hunt ran offshore and caught a nice yellowfin tuna and 4 dolphin.

June 28, Wes Blow fished out of Kiptopeke by himself. First he targeted cobia and caught a half-dozen up to 51 inches. He then went for red drum and caught two in the 42-inch class.

June 27-28, Mike Avery did another overnight trip to the Norfolk Canyon. There was not much action during the nighttime but during the day they caught some nice fish. They caught a 40-pound bluefin tuna, a 55-pound yellowfin tuna, 3 gaffer dolphin, 6 golden tilefish up to 47 pounds, and 5 wreckfish.

June 27, Jody Linthicum tried the Hot Dog for bluefin tuna with no bites. They then ran to the South Tower and found it loaded with amberjack. They caught all they wanted up to 48.5 inches.

June 25, Steve Williams fished the 100 fathom curve south of the Norfolk Canyon. They caught 4 yellowfin tuna in the 50-pound class and should have others lost for various reasons. They caught two gaffer dolphin and then did some fishing for blueline tiles. They only caught 8 tiles but 5 of them were citations. 

June 25, Martin Freed and Ruta Vaskys trolled 26-Mile Hill. They had five bites but for a variety of reasons, most got away except for the nice 45-pound bluefin tuna that they brought home for dinner.

June 24, Donnie Crist fished the Norfolk Canyon where they broke off a blue marlin after a couple of jumps. They then tangled with a bigeye tuna for an hour and a half before breaking it off. They managed to boat some gaffer dolphin and then moved inshore to try for a bluefin. They caught bluefish. http://www.pswsfa.com/FlounderBowl_09.htm

June 24, Rick Wineman fished the 100-fathom curve south of the Norfolk Canyon. They caught a couple of yellowfin up to 53 pounds. They lost several other tuna.

June 24, Jody Linthicum fished near the 44 Fathom Wreck. They caught a half dozen yellowfin tuna and 2 dolphin.

June 22, we stayed inshore, way inshore. We have a flounder tournament coming up, the Flounder Bowl. http://www.pswsfa.com/FlounderBowl_09.htmFor this tournament, I am getting rid of my regular crew and bringing out my special, crack tournament crew (my wife and children). I figure our best shot is the Lucky Dog Award and they are the luckiest group I know. To get ready for the tournament, we fished from the docks of both Rudee’s Inlet Station Marina and Dare Marina and Yacht Sales. Spot ranging from flounder bait size up to eating size were plentiful at both locations.

June 20, Brandon Bartlett mated on the Virginian. They brought back a limit of yellowfin tuna.

June 20, Brent Meadors fished the 100 fathom curve near the 41350. They caught a bunch of yellowfin tuna bringing home nine fish and releasing the rest. June 20, Carlin Thomas fished the Hampton Creek Cobia Tournament. He came in third place with a 58 pound fish. He came in first in the money due to the Calcutta.

June 20, Capt. Jorj Head, (757) 262-9004 fished the Hampton Creek Cobia Tournament. His angler, Amy Hatok, took top Lady Honors with a 52 pound fish.

June 20, Chris Boyce fished the Hampton Creek Cobia Tournament. They weighed in a small cobia. They spent a good part of their fishing time fighting a big fish. When they finally got it up, it was an eight foot shark (species still being debated).

June 20, we fished the 100 fathom curve around the 41350 and found plenty of yellowfin tuna. We also caught a gaffer dolphin. We had one wahoo hooked-up but the hook pulled before we could gaff it.

June 19-20, Mike Avery fished an overnighter south of the Norfolk Canyon. During the daylight, they caught a ton of yellowfin tuna and a nice gaffer dolphin. They kept their 18 fish limit of yellowfin and released the rest. During the night, they caught and released 3 large mako sharks.

June 19, we ran out to the Norfolk Canyon and started catching tuna as soon as we got our baits out. They were little things, most too small to keep. We caught 30 of them in the morning, keeping 8. The bite was going off to our south and they had larger fish, up to 40 pounds (still tons of little guys). I was ready to head down there but... We had some new guys on board, friends of regular crew who have wanted to go for those bottom fish. When the tuna are biting , you don't bottom fish but that is what we did. We made a few drops and they all caught the fish they were looking for. At one time, 5 anglers were all hooked up to golden tiles. Moved off of the goldens after everyone had caught one and went and caught a snowy grouper and a couple of wreckfish. That was a plenty for everyone and we came on home.

June 14, I went blue marlin fishing. It was a last minute, put together, "fools errand" kind of trip. We ignored the tuna bite, went out to the deep (triple 0s, 1000 fathoms), put out 4 teasers and some Spanish mackerel and horse ballyhoo baits. We have 51 of 60 pop-up tags deployed. The final 9 will probably be put out the next full moon in St Thomas but we had a couple of the tags so we gave it a go. We actually raised a blue marlin, between 300 and 400 pounds. It hit the Spanish on the short rigger on one side of the boat. We missed it with that and it charged the ballyhoo on the long rigger on the other side but did not eat it, just faded off. That was it for marlin. We did catch 5 gaffer dolphin on the big baits. All of the dolphin were 15-17 pounds. It was our second trip in a row where we have encountered sperm whales. There was a pair of them this time.

June 14, Larry Lusk fished the Norfolk Canyon. They caught 13 yellowfin tuna up to 60 pounds. They also caught a nice gaffer dolphin.

June 14, the Virginian fished the Norfolk Canyon. They caught 22 yellowfin tuna.

June 14, Martin Freed and Ruta Vaskys trolled 21 Mile Hill. They caught bluefish and an Atlantic bonito.

June 13, Wes Blow caught 3 big red drum near Fisherman's Island. This was after not catching any cobia at York Spit.

June 13, Brandon Honeycutt caught a 47.5 inch red drum. They also caught some nice flounder at the CBBT.

June 13, I did a little fishing on the York River in the evening with Bernie Sparrer. We fished from the bank. We caught puppy drum, perch, and I caught an American eel. The eel was the only thing we kept. Bernie took it cobia fishing the next day.

June 12, Brandon Honeycutt fished near Fisherman's Island in the afternoon. They hooked two big red drum, landing one of them.

June 12, Jody Linthicum fished near the Rockpile. They managed to catch a single cobia.

June 10, Rick Wineman started out sight fishing for cobia near the CBBT. They spotted 8 fish but could not get any of them to bite. They then ran out to the Chesapeake Light Tower where they caught a 20-inch spadefish. They finished up near Fisherman's Island where they caught 8 large red drum up 48.5 inches long.

June 9, Brandon Honeycutt did some offshore bottom fishing. They caught tilefish, sea bass, blackbelly rosefish, and a few grouper.

June 7 and 8, Jim Weilmuenster fished out of Hatteras. They had great gaffer dolphin fishing the first day but the fishing slacked off the second day when they only managed 3 gaffers.

June 7, Mike Avery made a run offshore for some deep-dropping. They came back with a limit of wreckfish, blueline tilefish to 15 pounds, big sea bass, and a golden tilefish.

June 7, Jorj and crew showed up at the boat dark and early. We have a big flounder tournament coming up where we are providing free food and drink to the participants (actually, it is the sponsors who are making that possible along with the $3,000 first place prize), http://www.pswsfa.com/FlounderBowl_09.htm . Jorj thought it would be good if we had one of our fish fries as part of this. We have been at tournaments where the catch is cooked but that does not work out so well for flounder (or tuna) tournaments. The anglers want to keep their catch. I told Jorj that if he put a crew together, we can get plenty of fish. He did and we did. We ran south and worked our way up to the Norfolk Canyon. We got a good catch of big sea bass and blueline tilefish. Next were golden tilefish and we wacked them. It was as good as I've seen it. The largest were 50 pounds. Moved off of them and left them biting. Easy to fish these critters out. Moved over to a grouper hole and hooked up two beasts. Jorj made a lot of funny faces and noises before his broke off. We had the other grouper slowly coming up when it went crazy. We came up with a cut off hook. I think a big shark got that one. We got back dark and late.

June 6, Capt. Jorj Head (757-262-9004) and friends did some chumming for cobia off of Back River. They caught 3. Alan Meetze caught the largest at 82.5 pounds. I've received two reports about Alan's big fish. This was the more entertaining of the two: We were looking for a spot to set up and noticed a boat had one hooked up. So we anchored in their chum slick. The fish made a hard run and came broadside to us. Joey threw an umbrella rig in the water and snagged the mighty fish in his bunghole. Dedmond cut the other angler's line and handed me the rod. Joey's zebco only had 60 ft of 8 lb test so we had to release our anchor so as not to get spooled. We drifted aimlessly chasing the fish for 4 hours. In the process we ran threw a dozen chum slicks, capsized a kayaker, and forced an oil tanker to run aground. Even still, with hour 5 approaching, we couldn't tame the beast. Every time it surfaced Dedmond bludgeoned it with his numb chucks and screamed horrible, profanity laced insults at it. But nothing would slow it down until Joey emptied the flare gun. With the fish dazed and confused, we were able to back over it and beat it's head in with the prop until it bled to death in the water. Fearing a loss of blood weight, we forced all our lead and our last 3 beers down his throat before weigh in. We apologize to the families of the raft full of 24 Haitian refugees that got caught in our abandoned anchor rope and capsized. If we knew none of them could swim we would have been more careful.

June 6, Mike Avery fished near Fisherman's Island where they caught a few, large red drum.

June 6, Rick Wineman fished red drum near Fisherman's Island. They clobbered them. They caught and released 13 large red drum to 48 inches long.

June 6, I ran over to the buoy 10 area with Tricia in the evening. She had not been with us when we tagged all of those reds (tags should start popping off June 24). As soon as it got dark, the bite was on. She caught 3 big red drum back to back and said that was plenty. That was a good thing because I had a crew meeting me at the dock in a few hours and I needed a nap. We called Capt Craig Paige over to us. I don't know how many he ended up with but we could hear his drags screaming as we were leaving. We were anchored in 20 feet of water and were using live blue crabs as bait.

June 3, Bernie Sparrer fished near Back River Reef. They caught a half-dozen keeper flounder to 24 inches long.

June 3, Wes Blow made his first (of many) cobia trips. He caught one and lost another fish at the boat. He was fishing off of Buckroe.

June 2-4, Steve Martin, Charles Southall, and Jerald Abrahamfished out of Hatteras. They went 2 for 4 on white marlin, caught a bunch of gaffer dolphin, and 2 wahoo. They also did some wreck fishing and caught a bunch of triggerfish.

June 1, I fished the York River with Bernie Sparrer. We caught some puppy drum up to 28 inches long.

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