I'll be staying at the Tides Inn over the Easter holiday. Any ideas on what would be biting in the Rappahannock at that time? I imagine the stripers will be high-tailing it north at that time. I'm just looking to wet a line with the kids near the hotel grounds.

TIA

Heres a chart I found hope it helps
http://www.vbsf.net/seasonal_fishing_chart.htm

Here's an old fishing report for the 1st week of Apr from a couple of years ago. It should give you an idea what to expect.

Huge schools of croaker have moved into the Bay with rod and reel catches reported well into Maryland waters. As usual, the best early season hauls of the bigger fish are coming from the mid to upper portions of the tributaries--the James, York and Rappahannock rivers. Further, the biggest fish are often caught near the shoreline, in as little as 3 feet of water. Preferred baits are bloodworms, squid and shrimp but add fresh peeler crab to the list once it is available.

Cape Charles -

Chris Snook from Chris' Bait and Tackle reported excellent flounder fishing "over on the seaside," as most anglers choose the public launch located at oyster. Despite the poor weekend weather, several customers were in early each day with their limit of 16 to 22-inch flounder. Chris added that black drum were starting to show in the commercial gill nets set on the seaside and heard that a few drum had been beached by rod and reel anglers at the Barrier Islands but could confirm no rod and reel catches.

Lower Bay/Bridge Tunnel -

Cobbs Marina reported decent rod and reel catches of flounder and tautog around the CBBT islands "when they can get out." Small to medium-sized croaker are showing along the beach and inside Little Creek.

Bubba's Marina said the fishing activity was almost nil in recent days but good catches of flounder were registered at the CBBT, from the Third Island to the High Level Bridge, the prior week. Tautog are biting around all four of the CBBT rock islands while medium croaker are showing around Cape Henry and the southern portion of the CBBT. Puppy drum remain in good supply inside Rudee Inlet and are just beginning to show at Lynnhaven.

Donnie Wallace from Wallace's Marina said Robert Huffman boated four speckled trout at Poquoson Flats on Sunday. The heaviest weighed 6-7 and earned Bob a Citation! Donnie added that flounder were starting to show around the mouth of Back River--largest thus far measured 20 inches.

Johnny from Sunset Marina had no fishing activity to report, as anglers remained tied to the dock due to rough weather.

Allen Vanasse from Vanasse Bait and Tackle knew of a handful of tog that were caught the prior week off Grandview and over the Back River Reef site, as well as some smallish flounder inside Back River. Allen added that commercial gill net fishermen were making impressive hauls of both large croaker and spot off Buckroe.

Jimmy Lewis from A & S Feed and Bait Supply said Bobby Flippin boated a 5-6 citation speckled trout at North River last week. "That's the earliest I can recall checking in a citation speckle," he observed. Jimmy indicated several other large speckled trout had been caught at Ware Point. On the York River, croaker were the big news, as anglers lining the Gloucester Point Pier recorded good hauls of the tasty bottom feeders, as did most who bottom fished the mid-section of the York. Jimmy also heard flounder were biting off Back River, where one customer had claimed his limit of 8-flatfish last week.

Members of the Peninsula Anglers Club indicated tautog were biting at the Santore wreck and flounder, grey trout and striped bass at the CBBT complex but poor weather conditions kept most of these avid anglers in port.

Virginia Beach -

Headboats sailing from the Virginia Beach Fishing Center had been catching sea bass and a few tautog on the inshore ocean wrecks. Sea bass have begun moving inshore and are now reasonably abundant on the Tower Reef. There has been no word of big bluefish on the inshore lumps--though the fish typically arrive in mid to late April. Inside Rudee Inlet, puppy drum and a few speckled trout are caught by anglers working the edges of the marsh grass on high tide.

Paula Owens from Fisherman's Wharf Marina said tautog to 13 pounds were pulled from the ocean wrecks the prior week but the weather had curtailed all fishing activity recently.

Virginia Piers -

James River - A recording indicated the pier is open for the season with anglers catching good numbers of croaker and a few pan trout.

Grandview - No answer.

Buckroe Beach - The pier will open for the season Friday, April 21.

Harrison - Charlie described the croaker fishing as "real good" since opening for the season April 15. Bottom fishermen are also catching a few flounder and sea mullet.

Lynnhaven - Though overall action was slow, anglers did manage a few puppy drum, flounder and bluefish.

Virginia Beach - No answer.

Sandbridge - The pier attendant described the fishing as "real slow" the past week but indicated decent numbers of puppy drum were decked the prior week.

Outer Banks, NC -

Puppy drum have been providing good angling opportunities along the Outer Banks for several weeks, where surf waters remain in the mid-50's. Both sides of Oregon Inlet, Cape Point at Buxton and the south end of Ocracoke Island have been the premier locations. Nags Head area piers report a mixture of sea mullet, snapper blues, blowfish, croaker, speckled trout, dogfish and skate, in addition to puppy drum.

Oregon Inlet based boats have been running near the Point for school-sized yellowfin tuna and the occasional dolphin and wahoo. Hatteras-based boats enjoyed a run of large yellowfin tuna the past week with good numbers in the 60 to 100-pound range. Most of the Hatteras boats are working between the Rockpile and the rocks located south of Diamond Shoals Tower. Wahoo and dolphin are showing in increasing numbers and several blue marlin and at least one white were caught and released on Sunday.