This week the lower Chesapeake is in the last good stretch of its summer program. The cobia are still there and still sight-castable on calm mornings, the Spanish mackerel and bluefish are working bait all over the bay mouth, and the speckled trout fishing on the grass and rubble has quietly been the most consistent thing going. Upper bay water is hot and stratified, so the middle and lower bay are carrying the report.
What’s Hitting
Cobia are the marquee fish on the lower bay — sight-casting on flat mornings and chumming over the shoals both producing. Spanish mackerel and bluefish are thick on the bait schools from the bay mouth up past the Target Ship. Speckled trout are excellent on the grass beds and rock structure in the Eastern Shore creeks and around the islands. Red drum, both puppies and a few bulls, are around the shoals. Croaker and spot are everywhere. Striped bass are around but sluggish in the warm water and best released quickly.
Where to Find Them
For cobia, work the shoal edges and the buoy lines from the Cabbage Patch and the Nine Foot Shoal area up toward the York Spit — flat light and a high sun make the sight-casting work. Spanish and blues are on the bait pods near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel islands and the Thimble Shoal channel. Trout are on the grass and rubble in the Eastern Shore creeks, around the CBBT pilings and along the Poquoson flats. Bull reds are showing on the shoals near the bay mouth.
Tides & Conditions
Moderate tides this week building off the waxing moon, with the strongest flow through the bay mouth on the late-morning fall. Water temperature is in the low to mid 80s in the shallows and upper 70s in the deeper channels. Mornings are calm and often hazy, with a southwest breeze building by late morning that ends the sight-casting for the day. Afternoon thunderstorms are common inland and can push over the bay quickly.
Tackle & Tactics
Cobia sight-casting: a 6000-size spinner, 50-pound braid, 60- to 80-pound fluorocarbon and a big bucktail or an eel-imitating soft plastic ready on the bow at all times. Lead the fish and let the bait sink in front of it. Spanish want a small spoon behind a planer at six or seven knots, or a fast-retrieved casting metal on the breaking schools. For trout, a 2500- to 3000-size spinner, 15-pound braid, 20-pound fluoro and a soft plastic on a quarter-ounce head worked along the grass edge or bounced off the rock.
Local Intel This Week
The Lynnhaven Municipal Marina ramp and the Owl Creek ramp in Virginia Beach are the main lower-bay launches, the Sunset Boulevard ramp serves the Lynnhaven system, and the Messick Point ramp in Poquoson gives good access to the flats and the York Spit. Shore anglers are catching trout and croaker from the CBBT fishing pier area and the Lynnhaven Inlet. Fish are concentrating on structure and bait — the shoal edges, the CBBT pilings, the grass lines. Virginia and Maryland cobia, striped bass and red drum regulations differ and change through the season; check current state regulations before keeping any fish.
This Week’s Tip
For cobia, mount the tower time to the light, not the tide. From about nine in the morning until the sea breeze fills is your entire sight-casting window. Be on the shoal, on the tower, with a rod in hand at nine — not idling out of the ramp at nine.
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