Fishing report

JAMES RIVER

Castaway Sporting Goods (804-706-9100) reports the following catch: Jesse McMillan (Colonial Heights) caught a 32-pound, 14-ounce blue cat.

Starting to get a little bit of a shift from saltwater to freshwater fishing. Striper fishing began on Sunday, helping cause the shift. The saltwater side remains hot with spot. Crappie season is turning on in the ponds, lakes and James River. Start in the pits in the river.

CHESAPEAKE BAY/OCEAN

Dr. Julie Ball reports spot are causing a big ruckus. The lower bay is loaded with decent sized spot with many fish pushing to almost a pound. Lynnhaven and Rudee inlets, the HRBT and the CBBT are productive areas for anglers using bloodworms and Fishbites.

Striper season debuted this week. Anglers targeting rockfish are finding success casting to schoolies ranging to 28 inches near the islands, tubes and pilings of the lower bay bridge tunnels, especially at night along the light lines. Presenting live bait over the tubes can result in rockfish to 15 pounds. Wire liners and chunkers are scoring with fewer, but bigger fish in the same class range. For now, anglers can keep two fish ranging from 18 to 28 inches per person with no fish to be kept within the closed slot size from 28 to 34 inches. One of the two fish may exceed 34 inches. Regulations change in December.

This is the best time of year for drifters, who are catching flounder by sweeping the edges of shoals and channels with strip bait. The Hampton Bar is the hot spot. The 1st Island of the CBBT, the southern Small Boat Channel and the Baltimore and Thimble Shoals channels are producing hauls.

The best tog hauls are inside the Chesapeake Bay, where fish to six pounds are falling for crab and fiddlers along the CBBT.

Surf and pier anglers are taking big red drum on cut bait. Some fish are measuring over 50 inches. Robert Smith (Hampton) released a 52-inch red drum he pulled from the surf off Sandbridge. A few boats are having luck with the reds while fishing close to the beach, casting to schools and fishing the bottom.

Cobia are showing along the Virginia Beach ocean front, where fish to 70 pounds are jumping on live bait.

Spot and a few keeper-sized speckled trout and puppy drum are being caught in Rudee Inlet. The speckled trout bite is picking up with fish topping 22 inches within bayside creeks and inlets. Fish over seven pounds are coming from Lynnhaven and Little Creek inlets, where Mirrolures are the choice. Puppy drum are going strong on cut bait within the lower bay shallows, flats, inlets and the Elizabeth River.

Croaker weighing around 2.5 pounds are near entrance buoys to Lynnhaven, the HRBT, the 3rd Island of the CBBT and off Fort Story. Expect schools of false albacore to overrun the Light Tower and inshore areas, offering trollers and casters a sporting fight. Amberjack are circling the South Tower and a few offshore wrecks, with the Triangle wrecks providing good action.

On the offshore scene, trollers found a smattering of yellowfin tuna to 70 pounds near the Triple 0's.

OUTER BANKS

Leonard Nuchols reports the surf fishing on the Outer Banks is still good with plenty of blue fish and red drum of various sizes. The Cape Point area reports blues, puppy drum, yearling drum, big drum, sea mullet, pompano and Spanish mackerel. One bite of Spanish mackerel was so good that some anglers said they hit every color of Glass Minnow lures they threw at them. Berkley's Gulp! Shrimp Alive Pearl White Shrimp is producing flounder, puppy drum and speckled trout in the Pamlico Sound.

The Hatteras Village Beaches report pompano, sea mullet, spots, blues, puppy drum, Spanish mackerel, gray trout, flounder and big drum. Ocracoke Island reports big drum, puppy drum, flounder, blues, gray trout, pompano, sea mullet and croakers.

The northern beaches report puppy drum, pompano, blues, spots, sea mullet, spade fish, black drum, gray trout, speckled trout, blow toads and Spanish mackerel on the pink/white Glass Minnow lures and the southern beaches report blues, sea mullet, spots, flounder and pompano.

The offshore boats out of Hatteras Inlet report dolphin, wahoo, king mackerel, blackfin tuna, amberjacks and tile fish along with releases of sailfish and white marlin and the inshore boats report puppy drum, gray trout, Spanish mackerel, blues, speckled trout and big drum.

The offshore boats out of Oregon Inlet report amberjacks, yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, big eye tuna, dolphin and wahoo along with releases of blue marlin, white marlin and sailfish. Harry Clingenpeel (Hardy) caught a big eye tuna that was 126 pounds. The inshore boats report trigger fish, blues, Spanish mackerel, speckled trout, puppy drum, flounder and stripers.

LAKE ANNA

Jim Hemby of Lake Anna Striper Guide Service (540 967-3313) reports stripers are following schools of bait into the backs of creeks, up rivers and feeding on shallow flats. Earlier in the month, the fish are schooled throughout the lake in large numbers in deeper holes near their normal fall haunts.

With the water temperatures in the low 70s, stripers will be in the main lake regions near flats until water temperatures hit the lower 60s, when they migrate to the backs of creeks. As temperatures drop, you can locate the schools along creek channels on points and in channel bends. Uplake regions have not yet turned, but fishing should improve with significant rainfall or cooler water temperatures.

Midlake, the fish are stacked in the Rose Valley and Stubbs Bridge area feeding on shallow humps and points in the low light times of the day and fall back to 20 to 25 feet when the sun is bright. Stripers are roaming Contrary Creek. Work the humps in the mouth, the S turns midway back, the roadbed near the 652 bridge, the marked hump in the back bay and in front of Freshwater Estates. The islands around Boggs Creek and Dike 3 hold schools of stripers.

Techniques to catch striper vary depending on where they feed. We are running planner boards, freelines and bobbers working large Gizzard Shad on the deeper edges of flats. Toward the end of the month, fishing will improve with shorter days and falling water temps creating excellent shallow water fishing.

Nice bass are relating to points, bends, flats and humps in the backs of creeks, where structure and bait are present. Small crank baits, spinner baits, rubber twitch baits, Senko's and swim baits are catching bass in shallower water and deeper diving crank baits work well in the 8to 15-foot range. Try fishing crank baits and swim baits under the schools of threadfin shad in the creeks regardless if structure is present. With the cooling nights, bass can be caught right up on the banks in the early morning hours of the day. Plenty of bass are being caught around the shoreline grass up the North Anna.

Crappie: Crappie are shallow. They are feeding heavily on three-inch Threadfin Shad. Concentrate on water depths from 2 to 8 feet deep, fishing docks, shallow brush, rock piles and shallow bridge pilings.

ELSEWHERE

Glenn Jarman caught citation length bass of 22.5 inches and 18 inches in the Appomattox River.