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Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report: Late Season Stripers, Tog, and Finesse Tactics
Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Chesapeake Bay, Virginia fishing report.
We’re sliding into that winter pattern now. According to the National Weather Service marine forecast, we’ve got mild south winds around 5–15 knots on the Bay with 1–2 foot chop this morning, but a Small Craft Advisory is posted starting this evening as the breeze cranks up and runs through tomorrow, so pick your window carefully. Sunrise is right around 7:10 a.m. with sunset near 4:50 p.m., giving you a short but productive light bite on either end.
NOAA’s tide predictions for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel show a mid‑morning high and an afternoon low today, which sets up a nice falling tide mid‑day around the CBBT and Hampton Roads area. Work those moving currents around bridge pilings, channel edges, and shoals.
Fish activity has definitely turned “late‑season serious.” Striped bass are the headliner. Southern Maryland Chronicle reports that rockfish have dropped into winter mode in the lower Potomac and Triangle area, and that same pattern is mirrored down into Virginia waters: fish staging on deeper ledges and channel drops, feeding when the tide rolls. Virginia waters of the Bay and coastal rivers stay open through the end of the month on a one‑fish slot for rock, so know your regs.
Recent catches out of the CBBT and lower Bay have been solid: a mix of 20–28 inch class stripers with a few bigger fish for the night crew working eels and heavy jigs near structure. Charter and light‑tackle guys have been reporting easy half‑dozen keeper bites per angler when wind and tide line up, plus plenty of short fish to keep rods bent.
Best offerings right now are classic winter striper tools. Coastal Angler Magazine notes that in December the Mid‑Atlantic shines on metal jigs, 6–9 inch soft plastics, bunker spoons, and live eels. Down here, that means:
- One to two ounce jig heads with 5–7 inch soft plastics in white, chartreuse, or pearl.
- Slim metal jigs and Sting Silvers hopped off the bottom.
- Umbrella rigs and tandem parachute rigs trolled 25–40 feet down along the channels.
- Live eels drifted near pilings and rock.
If you’re bottom‑minded, sea bass and tautog on the near‑shore wrecks off Virginia Beach are a strong play. Coastal Angler points out winter tog stack on wrecks and rockpiles; green crabs or fiddlers on simple bottom rigs have been putting keepers in the box when seas allow.
A few speckled trout and puppy drum are still hanging in the Elizabeth, James, and Lynnhaven systems. Think winter finesse: small soft plastics on light jig heads, worked painfully slow along deeper bends and dock lines during the warmest part of the day.
Couple of hot spots to circle on your chart:
- The **Chesapeake Bay Bridge‑Tunnel** – fish the pilings, rock islands, and nearby tube edges with jigs and eels on the moving tide.
- The **HRBT and Thimble Shoals Channel edges** – night lights and rips here can light up with schoolie stripers and some slot fish when current and wind cooperate.
Water temps are in the upper 40s to low 50s, so the bite is there but not reckless. Slow your retrieve, downsize just a touch, and stick with natural bunker and sand eel colors. Wind is your biggest enemy now; watch that Small Craft Advisory and don’t push it.
That’s your Bay beat from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report.
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Published on 6 days, 5 hours ago