Fishing Hot Spots

Lake guides for this map

Month-by-month patterns, fish, ramps and rules for each water:

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Fishing Hot Spots by area

Offshore lumps, the Light Tower, bridge-tunnel islands, inlets, piers, shoals and reefs. Tap one to fly to it on the map.

Spadefish at the Light Tower, flounder in the CBBT channels and rockfish under the bridges

The mouth of the Chesapeake Bay is one of the best fishing areas on the East Coast. About 14 miles due east of the bay sits the Chesapeake Light Tower, famous for summer spadefish on clam baits, with sheepshead, triggerfish and cobia around it and tautog on Tower Reef in the cooler months. Farther out, the Fingers, the Hot Dog, the Meat Cleaver, 26 Mile Hill and the Cigar are the classic Virginia Beach trolling grounds for yellowfin and bluefin tuna, mahi-mahi and king mackerel, and Norfolk Canyon holds marlin, wahoo and tilefish.

Inside, the 17-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a giant reef: tautog and sheepshead on the four tunnel islands, flounder drifted along the channel edges, rockfish (striped bass) and speckled trout under the lights at night, and cobia and big red drum on the shoals at the bay mouth in summer. The HRBT, Fort Wool and the Elizabeth River hold rockfish, trout and puppy drum, and the Intracoastal Waterway starts at Mile 0 in Norfolk and runs south through Great Bridge and the North Landing River. Up the bay, Wachapreague is known for flounder, the Northern Neck for trout and drum, and Maryland's bay for rockfish and white perch.

Virginia salt water needs a Virginia saltwater license (or a free registration where it applies); Maryland needs its own license. Rockfish, flounder, cobia, red drum, tautog and black sea bass all have seasons and size limits that change often. Check VMRC and Maryland DNR rules before you go.