Inshore flounder action gets hot along Va. coast

The White Marlin Open in Ocean City continues to send anglers offshore, but the story hasn’t been offshore.

Flounder fishing along inshore wrecks and in the back bay has been producing a lot of great fish. In addition, red drum have been biting around Exmore. The fish are biting during the late evening on bunker and clams.

Lower Shore

“Good flounder bite in the back bay,” said Jimmy Vasiliou of Captain Steve’s Bait and Tackle.

Flounder bite has been good on the Chincoteague rail cars as well as the offshore wrecks. Charters have been catching their limit of sea bass.

Shark fishing has been fun recently as well, according to Vasiliou. Sand tigers have been biting in the surf and anglers have been catching sharpnose inshore.

Spot and kingfish are biting in the inlets.

Middle Shore

Late season cobia are biting in the area on live eels, according to James Beasley of Chris’s Bait and Tackle. A big surprise for anglers who thought the fish had moved out of the area.

The red drum bite has picked up as well. The fish have been biting the best during the latter half of the day into night.

A few croaker are starting to show up in the area, but anglers are still hungry for the full on croaker run which has been quite late this season.

Flounder continue to bite off structures along with spadefish. The spadefish are being caught in good numbers, but the fish have been on the smaller side.

Chincoteague

“Flounder biting in the inlet,” said Don Varney of Don’s Tackle Shop.

Flounder have also been caught off the wrecks of the Paramore Reef in good numbers.

Red drum are being caught in the area as well. Bayside, the fish are biting at night on clam and bunker.

“A lot of people are using the bunker,” said Varney.

Upper Shore

“The annual red drum run is here,” said Matt Abell of Seahawk Sports.

Cutbait has been the best bet for anglers targeting the drum. Mullet and spot has been a popular choice recently, according to Abell.

The red drum are being caught in 18-30 feet of water in the Exmore area.

The rail cars off Chincoteague have been producing a good flounder bite. The flounder have been biting on the inshore bays as well.

A big surprise for many anglers has been the recent run of speckled trout. Although the fish have not been big, anglers have been enjoying a nice catch.

A few perch are being caught in the creeks.