Been fishing pretty steady since friday the 4th. My bud came in from out of town and has never salt water fished so I was anxious to get him out as much as possible.
Friday the 4th the wx was threatening that night so we planned on staying close. I ran into another friend who was having engine troubles so I stuck with him till he figured it out and was off on his own safely. We fished for about an hour and caught one palm sized bluefish.

Monday we went out to the high rise and shot spade fish for about 2 hrs. Had a blast doin it. Watched another boat fish next to us and only hooked up twice that I saw but one was a nice sheephead. We also caught 1 spanish, a couple flounder and some very nice oyster toads. All in all pretty good day.

Tuesday we went out on that NW wind. I should have known better.....that's all I'll say about that.

Wed. Went out with the wife. We stopped inside LC inlet by the jetty and tried for bait. We ended up staying for 2 hrs catching flounder after flounder. We ended up with 9 keepers up- to 24".
Went over to the first and caught 2 more keepers that were 19"-23".
Moved over to the 4th and dunked some fiddlers I had left over and caught 6 sheepshead. Kept one for the table. The biggest one weighed almost 10 lbs on my scale.

Once the tide started going again we flounder fished and caught 4 more that were 22-24".
Trolled around the 4th and caught about a dozen spanish and one flounder on a clark spoon. First for me.!!!

Headed back to the first and trolled around catching 2 more spanish and some bluefish at an 8 kt troll.
Trolled all the way back to the ODU and caught several more bluefish and a few more spanish.

At the ODU we caught a few more flounder that were released cause we had our limit of flounder.
It was the best bite I have had in several months. Glad the wife was there to take part in it. Too bad my buddy was'nt there to witness some good old fashion Ches bay catching.

Water temp was 82-85*.

Ran into a gentleman back at the dock fueling his Alby. He had been offshore all weekend and said they had caught over 70 dolfin. The tuna bite was non-existant due to water temps.

That's a great report and good news.
By the way, what do you mean by saying you caught 2 nice oyster toads? Didn't know there were any nice angler fish?? I do have a recipe for monk fish, but have not been brave enought to try it.Did you keep the mud toads??

OK now you have opened a can of worms. I have eaten monk fish. Its great. Your right, it is the angler fish. Ususally caught in lobster traps off shore. Now I have heard that before - oyster toad is the angler fish.

I caught about a 3 pounder last weekend. I started this same conversation on the boat. Everyone thought I was crazy to even think about eating it. Heck I want to try skate wings too.

Every time I see monk fish on the menu, I order it. Its great.

I've often wondered if an oyster toad would be good to eat. Swell toads sure are but the skin is deadly poisonous so you have to be careful. If you eat one, let all of us know how it was. Also, make sure your loved ones put your board name in your obituary if things turn out bad.

Just a little humor y'all. I should have put a smiley icon next to that remark. They were very big , fat discusting and spewed something out their ass that left a sheen on the water.
I aint eatin nuthin that can do that!

Nice report. There are some asian stores that sell oyster toads and I have seen some people with coolers full that swear they are good eating. I will never find out if they are!

my dad stepped on a big one at chicks beach and caught it with his hands then bring it in...i asked can u even eat that and he said yup..they really good eating...never did had the chance to eat it though..

Your dad's a "hoss". If that sucker had gotten a hold of a finger, it would have been bye bye. They can crush an oyster with those jaws. That's why they call them oyster toads.

What's the release citation size for an oyster toad?? I think I dominated it today with a monster at the bend.

--Brett

Are you sure that wasn't a stargazer? Now thems is good eatin', but not a lot of meat.

Monkfish (anglerfish) and oystertoads are two different fish. Monkfish are deepwater fish caught offshore and are fished commercially sometimes called "The poormans lobster". They taste good, similar to lobster. Toadfish are found inshore. I've never eaten one but my fishing buddy took one home last year that had to weigh 3 lbs. Said it tasted OK but was a real pain to clean and not worth the trouble. Both fish are damn ugly.

toad fish and a cold beer what could be better