The waters off Virginia are still producing some early winter action for anglers venturing out. Big chopper Bluefish, Bluefin, Swordfish and countless bottom species are still being targeted. The waters might be cold, but the fish are still there and some are record size.

Fishing the Ken Neill on “Healthy Grin“, Chris Boyce landed a beauty of a fish while working the bottom contours offshore. The fish was a 66 pound Snowy Grouper. That is now a pending new Virginia State Record and a pending IGFA World Record. They also landed a nice bag of Blueline Tilefish and a Golden Tile. Fishing offshore wrecks in waters approaching 50 fathoms and the deeper drop-offs over 100 fathoms could land you the fish of a life time.

Bluefin tuna are still hanging around. They’ve been seen boiling around the Fingers, Triangle Wrecks and the SE Lumps. Bluefin have been very finicky, but when you hook into one, you’ll be in for a fight. Warren Smith of Virginia Beach knows all about that. While fishing on board “Frog Pile” he landed one scaling at 115 pounds. If you’re heading out for these brutes, make sure you have the tackle to fight them. Popular baits have been Blue/White or Pink/White Islanders or G & H lures. Make sure to have a little weight to your rigs to keep them in the fish’s strike zone. A big fish like that moves a lot of water when chasing a surface bait, so a light weight lure can be pushed right out of the way, missing a potential 100 plus pound fish.

“Lucky Strike” out of Long Bay Pointe Marina, headed out on a daytime Swordfish trip. They released a pup Sword to fight another day and also hooked into a second larger fish that decided not to come to the boat. This is a great time of year to target them when you have a weather window. They can be had either on overnighters or during day trips to the Norfolk Canyon or deeper contours East of the Cigar.

Chopper Bluefish are now hanging around the Chesapeake Light Tower. Some of these toothy monsters are nearing 20 pounds. Many have been taking them on the jig, but trolling spoons or Stretches will land them as well. Areas around the Triangle Wrecks, Fingers and Hot Dog are still holding some Bluefish. As more bait moves down the coast, these fish will move even closer to shore.

The Oregon Inlet Fleet has continued their success catching tuna. The week saw some big Bluefin hit the docks. Several boats landed fish scaling from 140 to 260 pounds. The Fleet also put it to the Yellowfin once again. Many boats landing 10 or more. The “Virginia Small Boat Contingency” headed down this weekend to get their own shots at Yellowfin. It was hard fishing for these fellas, but they scored some fish. Team “Still Think’n” boxed a nice 45 pounder caught on a Get Reel Lure Tiki Bar while working a pod of tow-tones around the 700 line. “Black Pearl” boxed one of the same class. This was Todd Beck’s first tuna that he actually reeled in. He’s put many people on them, but this was his first. The brothers on “C-Note” went to Plan B and started chunking. This proved to be the right move, as Conner and Carson put their guests on 3 Yellowfin in the 55-65 pound range.

The Hatteras reports were sparse this week. Not many boats headed out. Mike Hill (conch27) made a two day trek and did extremely well. Working jigs over the 1250 to the 280 rocks, Mike and crew boated a 45 pound Yellowfin, 14 Blackfins, 4 King Mackerel, a 26 pound Wahoo, and numerous False Albies. The couple of charter boats that left from Hatteras Harbor Marina reported good numbers of King Mackerel to 30 pounds and some scattered Wahoo action, some topping 40 pounds.

You can’t catch them sitting at the dock, so Get out there and Catch ‘em Up!!