Virginia Beach 1/25 & 1/26 Fishing Report

[Blue_Runner]

One word summary - lackluster. But, I'm not complaining for it could have been much worse. We got to fish a day and a half.

Friday 1/25

After getting in before midnight we worked to get things ready for morning. The wind was slated to blow pretty good until around lunch time so we knew the prospects of getting out at sunrise were pretty slim. Well, we were right. The wind didn't lay until around 1pm so we made it on the water around 2ish. From there we ran south toward Sandbridge. Pulled it down a few times to see what was there and just a cold, dead, 38 degree ocean. Also, very few boats in sight. We kept running knowing that we couldn't go very far due to it being so late. In all we went around 12 miles south before putting the lines in and trolling around for a couple of hours. Not a nibble so we packed it in and headed for home. The other 2 boats with us didn't do a bit of good either.

Saturday 1/26

Weather man said it was going to be NICE on Saturday. With all the great info TLB88, garagenc, and stillrunning gave me we knew we had to be up early if we expected to hit the water at a reasonable time due to all of the weekend warriors in town. We shoved off early and arrived at the ramp at 5:53 am to find a line backed up the road just a little ways - maybe less than 100 yards so we got in line. The two other boats with us did not get such an early start. When they arrived at the ramp about a half hour later they were backed up almost to the bridge so they went back to the room to let things die down. I don't think they got on the water until 9am or later. We were able to get the boat in the water around 6:30 (I think).
Here was the view going out of Rudee at around 6:30 ish:

We were in line with the fleet and knowing how cold the water had gotten everybody was going south so we went with them. We ran...and ran....and ran....and ran. At one point someone came on the radio and said, "Uh, guys, where exactly are we going? To Florida?" We all got a kick out of that! Then a little later as we were nearing 30 miles south a guy came on the radio and said, "I'm 5 miles north of Corolla light (NC) and all rods are down - you'd better get here quick!" Finally, something to be hopeful about! Down that way the water was around 41 degrees which sounded alot better than 38 to us. We stopped about 2 miles before Corrolla light and in just a few minutes we saw a school pass under the boat on the Garmin 250. Still no bait, but at least we saw some fish! I immediately tell my crew to get the lines in. In about an hour, the boats started to pile up in the area. We marked some scattered fish and by 9am we had lost 2 fish due to poor hookup. Then just a short time later the left wwb went down and I began to battle. I eased in a nice 20lber to the net. Ok 1 for 3 at this point. Next we are able to get another knock down on the same rod. My buddy Garrett took the rod and began the long arm aching battle back to the boat with a nice 22 lb fish. So we are 2 for 3.

Then we have a double hookup. Lost both to poor hookup and/or angler error LOL - inside joke.

Next up is Chad - same rod, man they like the wwb - and he battles another 22 lb fish identical to the last to the net.

Ending the day at 2pm to beat the rush at the ramp we went 3 for 7 on knockdowns all before 11am which was kindof a bummer since we felt we should have almost limited with our 4 man crew.

During all of the action we are calling our other buddies telling them to get down here. After they made it in the water they had made the decision to ride north to Cape Henry to check it out so they didn't make it back down our way until after 11 or 12 am, which sadly was after the hottest part of the bite. They ended up going 0 for 4 and the other boat went 0 for 2.

Here are some more pix:
Can't tell but there are alot of boats in this pic:


Fin Galley - charter boat. We got a little close LOL


Garret - aka G-Money

Overcast on Saturday but flat slick calm. Able to run 30 mph!


Mr. Heat/ Buddy heater paid its dues. We were toasty warm despite the cold air temps outside. First mate Cory on the helm as we trolled.


The catch:


G-money

G-Money and 1st mate Cory (they are brothers)

Left to right, Chad, me, G-Money, and Blue Runner (the boat).

Captain and proud owner of the Blue Runner


We had great fun even though the fish didn't want to ride in the boat for some reason. I guess we can't complain too loudly since we did bring back 64 lbs of rock in my fishbox

[C YENSEN]

nice fishing report BR.

[Stillrunning]

Great catch. I was suppose to go Sunday but the wind was blowing a little to hard. Just a note: If you fish in NC you have to have a NC fishing Lic. as NC does not regonize VA's Lic. anymore. Its pretty stupid but it changed a couple of years ago.

[Blue_Runner]

Yep, I am from NC so already had the NC saltwater license. I thought it was pretty cool that I was able to buy a boat license for VA for $38 as opposed to all 4 of us non-residents having to pay that much a piece for individual licenses.

I did hear some boats on the radio mention the NC license and that they wouldn't be able to go into NC due to folks on their boat not having the NC license.

Saturday was a super nice day on the water. From the reports on Tidal Fish sounds like we should have been using the tandem umbrella rigs

[Stillrunning]

Its hard to tell. I try trolling an umbrella, mojo on bottom then one up mid way, and a stretch 30. If its slow I will change up colors until something works. If I start catching on one rig I'll try running more stuff that matches its colors. Then some days it just does not matter they won't hit anything or they will hit everything. My buddy and my brother-in-law went out Saturday and both got skunked so feel lucky.

[macojoe]

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!! Not bad for January!!

[Blue_Runner]

Thanks guys. I guess we are pretty fortunate to be fishing in January. We saw a little snow flurry while we were out there Saturday. Actually in one of the pics I was trying to get a flake or two on film but it was just too small.

[randlemanboater]

Nice job BR. Looks like a load of fun.

That water up there is COLD!!!! The water was 50 degrees @ Holden Beach yesterday.

[Blue_Runner]

No kidding...just a tad more and the whole pond will ice over
Its the coldest water I've fished in. Its no wonder the fish weren't biting good...they could barely open their mouths for the shivers

[lumberslinger178]

thats some nice fish there brother blue