The “spring surprise” of the fishing season has been the arrival of many Atlantic codfish in Virginia Beach waters. Cod have provided incidental but most welcome catches for tautog fishermen fishing the wrecks. Once alerted to the presence of the cod, anglers reverted to deep jigs to score. Until this year, cod have not normally visited Virginia waters, preferring the colder waters of the North Atlantic. Some of these cod weighed up to 9 pounds! Now that is some good eating.
Tautog have continued to cooperate nicely at all usual locations including the high rise portion of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, the concrete ships, the Yancey Wreck, and the CBBT tubes. Tautogs up to 15 pounds have been landed with most anglers returning with a limit within a few hours. Several citations were registered recently, including one fish of 10 lbs., 6 oz. Blue crab, fiddler crab, and clams have all put fish in the cooler. The Tautog season is now closed and will open again June 24.
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