This weekend we had gorgeous weather forecast and the satellite shot looked promising, so we took Underdog out for a 24 hour offshore overnight make up charter fishing trip. We left the Virginia Beach fishing center around lunchtime on Saturday headed for the Norfolk Canyon. We got there and based on slow fishing reports, we made a couple drops for swordfish, but no luck. As it became evening, we switched to trolling for tuna and caught a nice 78# yellowfin tuna on a spreader bar on the south wall of the canyon. It got dark shortly aster so we started drifting. Sharks were thick and we caught several hammerhead sharks up to 10 feet long and killed a nice 7 foot, 98 pound spinner shark for the grill. Spinner sharks are very good to eat. As the sun came up, we shifted gears and went back to tuna fishing. We immediately had a strong bite, but it pulled off. Then around 7am on the north side of the Norfolk, we hooked a double of yellowfin tuna and caught a 73.5# and an 80# yellowfin tuna. We found a nearby float that was holding some mahi, so we stopped and bailed 35 nice sized bailers in short time. Put the trolling gear back out and 20 minutes later had a real nice bite on the 50 wide in the long rigger and after 1 hour and 20 minutes, we caught a nice 161 pound bigeye tuna. We were getting low on ice and running out of time, so we decided to quit trolling. We stopped around the Norfolk and did some bottom fishing and caught 50 nice keeper sea bass, a limit of tilefish with 2 nice citations at 10 pounds, and a couple bluefish, and a red hake. Our 24 hour trip yielded 4 citation tunas, 2 citation tilefish, 2 shark release citations, and a couple hundred pounds of meat for the freezer. Very successful trip with great fishing and great weather.
Inshore, the red drum fisihng still remains very good. Sea bass season is now open, so we can keep sea bass. Triggerfish and sheepshead are still around. Tautog showing up some. There have been some bluefish around the islands at the chesapeake bay bridge tunnel. Still catching plenty of spot and croaker in the lower bay and inlets. There have been some false albacore and king mackerel off the Virginia Beach oceanfront. The striped bass fishing has been very slow, but we are experiencing an indian summer in Virginia Beach and the water is still too warm for striped bass to be around. The big news inshore really is and has been the excellent speckled trout fishing going on around the inlets. It has been a great fall for trout so far and it just keeps getting better. All in all, even though it has been a fairly slow summer for the pelagics offshore, the inshore fishing has been great in the fall and we are happy to see the great fishing and the warm temperatures here in Virginia Beach.
We have plenty of days available for fishing charters right now, and have everything from half day inshore trips, to deep dropping trips, to swordfish trips, to overnight tuna and shark trips available. If you want to go on a charter fishing trip with us, please call at 757749-6008. Thank you
