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Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report: Early Winter Stripers, Trout, and Perch
Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Chesapeake Bay Virginia fishing report.
We’re in that early‑winter pattern now: cold, clear, and a little snotty on the water. The National Weather Service marine briefing out of Wakefield is calling for north winds pushing 15–25 knots at times, with small craft and even gale conditions around the mouth of the Bay and nearshore ocean. Seas in the lower Bay are running 2–4 feet with a stiff chop, so this is a day for bigger boats or tucking into the rivers and creeks.
According to NOAA’s Virginia Beach tide predictions, we’ve got moderate winter tides, with a predawn high and a late‑morning falling tide lining up nicely with the first real bite window. Over on the Back River and Hampton side, the Messick Point tables show a similar cycle: moving water most of the morning, easing mid‑day, then a smaller evening push. Sun’s up right around 7 a.m., down just after 4:50 p.m., so your magic hours are that gray light at both ends.
Fish activity’s classic December. FishingReminder’s Newport News report notes schooling striped bass stacking along the James River Bridge and adjacent deep channels. Anglers this past week have been picking schoolie rockfish in the 18–26 inch range with the odd keeper mixed in. Jigging 1–1.5 oz bucktails tipped with 4–5 inch soft plastics in chartreuse or pearl has been the ticket; add a little Pro‑Cure or similar scent if the bite’s finicky.
Trout and drum are still chewing in the warmwater haunts. Southern Fish ’N Forage’s recent trip down the Elizabeth River showed solid action on speckled trout, puppy drum, and the occasional striper in that deep, 10–20 foot winter water. He was throwing Z‑Man Slam Shady MinnowZ on Trout Eye jigheads, working them slow and low, and that’s exactly the kind of profile you want in these creeks and ship channels. Think light jig, long pauses, let that plastic hang in their face.
If you’re looking for a meat run, FishTalk Magazine points out that winter white perch are bunched up tight on deep structure all over the Bay. Around the lower Bay, that means deep bridge pilings, channel edges off the HRBT and CBBT, and any 30–50 foot hole that’s holding bait. A compact one‑ounce jigging spoon with a small dropper hook tipped with bloodworm, grass shrimp, or a 2‑inch plastic in white or chartreuse will put a pile of perch in the cooler when the rockfish play hard to get.
Bait and lure rundown:
- Best artificial for rockfish: 1–2 oz bucktails, 4–6 inch paddle tails (chartreuse, white, alewife), and metal jigs worked vertical on the bridges and channel edges. Umbrella rigs are still producing on the troll if you’ve got the spread.
- Best artificial for specks and reds: 3–4 inch Z‑Man style paddle tails and MirrOlure‑type suspending plugs in natural bunker and purple/ chartreuse, fished painfully slow.
- Best bait: live or fresh‑cut menhaden for stripers, bloodworms or small minnows for perch, and mud minnows or shrimp for trout and drum tucked back in the creeks.
Couple of hot spots for you:
- James River Bridge and mid‑channel humps between the JRB and Monitor‑Merrimac: schooling stripers on the jig, with a shot at some big marks deeper down.
- Elizabeth River, from the Jordan Bridge down to the Midtown Tunnel: deep bends and dock lines holding speckled trout and puppy drum, plus bonus stripers around lit structure at night.
Work the falling morning tide on the bridges for rockfish, then slide into the rivers once that north wind cranks up. Dress for spray, pick your weather window carefully, and you’ll still put together a solid December box.
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Published on 1 week, 1 day ago