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Fishing Report: Wreck Fishing off Virginia Beach
Virginia deep sea wreck fishing report for Sunday Nov 20th
The Virginia weather has finally cooled and the water temperature has started it's fall into winter. With water temps now well below 60 degrees we are hearing about some nice striper being caught although the Virginia striper fishing action is still just a bit slow. So in the mean time or until the rockfishing really gets going there is plenty of great fishing for other cold water species.
Just this past weekend my FinTalk partner Jeff who is also my brother went out Sunday for a little wreck fishing off the Virginia Beach resort area. Fishing with friends Matt, Smitty and "Mahi" the dog on Matt's boat the crew headed offshore looking for a few nice Tautog. They tried a few of their personal "hot-spots' with some success, they caught a sea bass or two, some nice flounder, and a few fairly decent togfish.
Then they headed to the "Gulf Hustler", a tiny wreck off the Virginia Beach coast for some more tog fishing. They had a pretty good day as you can see in the pictures below. Jeff was the angler of the day though as Smitty says, "He was the one with the golden horse shoe today". Jeff scored two Virginia citations for the day with a 12 pound 4 ounce fat ole Tautog and also hit paydirt with a 9 pound 4 ounce Spadefish. Seems like this Spadefish was lost because these guys are usually gone this late in the season.
I didn't go on this trip as I was out cutting grass and raking leaves so I was outside when they all came rolling up with the boat. I live only 2 doors down from Matt and when they arrived home I knew Jeff must have had something nice because the first thing he did was wave me over see the fish. First thing he asked was "how big was that tog you caught"? - He wanted to make sure his citation tog was bigger than the citation tautog I caught a couple years ago. As brothers you know we always try to catch the biggest fish to out do each other.
I wasn't sure the exact weight of my fish so I had to go check, I knew it was 12 pounds something but wasn't sure of the exact ounces. As it turned out the tog I caught was 12 pounds 2 ounces so brother Jeff got me by 2 ounces on this one and I will probably never hear the end of it. Now I have to listen to this every time somebody mentions tog fishing. Well I guess I have to just get out there on the water and get me a 13 pounder.
Take a look at a couple of the trip pictures:
Here is Jeff at a Rudee Inlet Marina where he is weighing in his 12 lb 4 oz tautog with the big rubber lips.
For those of you unfamilar with tautog you can take my word for it, they are one U-G-L-Y fish. They have teeth that just stick out from every where with a set of lips that looks like a toilet plunger. They are certainly not your average looking fish. Tautog are also known as chub or chubfish and also go by the name of blackfish which is usually what they are referred to in regions north of Maryland.
Tautog are VERY good eating though!
Here is Jeff weighing in Virginia citation number two for the day. A 9 lb 4 oz Spadefish. Very late in the season for Spades but I am sure Jeff was glad this one forgot to head to warmer water.
Here is Smitty and Jeff together almost smiling for the camera showing some of the days catch. Smitty is on the left with his nice tog and nice flounder too. I have been imformed Jeff that you will have to do a whole lot better or should I say bigger on tog to catch Smitty's 15+ pounder that he caught wreck fishing off the Virginia Coast.
Here is Jeff and his TWO Va Citations striking a pose in front of our boat, the Fintalk.com. If you look close you can almost see those wragged scary teeth that bad boy has. Not Jeff's but rather the tautog teeth.
The guys had a great day and besides Mahi the black lab getting tangled up in a rig with hooks they said it was a perfect day for fishing. Thanks to the fast action of Smitty Mahi did not get the hook barb below the skin and other than a few yelps she was just fine.
Nice catch fellas and tight lines to everybody! - Joe at Fintalk.com | 
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