Chincoteague fishing opportunities cover a broad range of angling
styles. You can try fishing the surf, piers, bridges, fly fishing, or fish
from a boat. Anglers may bring their personal boat, or choose from rentals,
flounder charters, or even charter a larger boat for a day of deep sea
fishing.
Surf fishing can be done on nearby
Assateague National Seashore, either on foot or with a vehicle. Inshore,
anglers can enjoy flounder fishing, or target
other inshore fish such as croaker, tautog,
sea bass, bluefish, rockfish or
black drum.
Beyond the inlet, there are
lots of places to fish off Chincoteague. The inlet is a bit tricky due to the
maze of sandbars inside. Once thru the inlet, there are a few choices to make. Many larger
boats follow the marked channel out to the seabouy "C1". Some
local boaters negotiate the shoals
at the inlet buoy and head southeasterly straight to the buoy 2TL which marks
the southern tip of Turner's Lump. Turner
lump is about 5 miles from the inlet and signals the end of
the shoals and deeper water ahead.
Excellent fishing can sometimes be found almost
anywhere off Chincoteague. It varies from season to season and every year is different.
Through the years, spanish, king and boston mackeral, houndfish, triggerfish,
cobia, amberjack, jack crevelle, rudderfish, blue runners, spadefish, tripletail, trout,
croakers, flounder, skipjacks, bullet tuna, false albacore, bonita, bluefish, bluefin
tuna, yellowfin tuna, marlin, dolphin, sea bass, tautog, red hake, cod, pollock, bergals,
stargazers and many more fish are caught. Sharks can include sharpnose, blacktip, dusky, sandtiger,
smoothdog, horndog, hammerhead, brown, blue, mako, tiger and others.
Some area fish come right
in to areas such as Blackfish Banks, Winter Quarter Shoal, etc. A good shoal for inshore
fishing is what I call the 28 foot lump. This area is 12 miles east of Chincoteague. The
bottom rises abruptly from 100 to 28 feet. Some years spanish mackerel, king
mackerel, skipjack tuna, false
albacore, bluefish, small dolphinfish and sharks all visit the shoal. Schools of small herring are sometimes found
on the surface here and small spoons or feathers seem to work well here. A drone spoon and
planer rig can be productive. Just east is the sub wreck which often holds dolphin, skipjacks, triggerfish, etc. Another overlooked area is several small shoals just inshore of
the Ammo Wreck. Small tuna and king mackeral are sometimes caught there.
The Parking Lot is 25 miles
off the beach. This area is a large hill just inside the 20 fathom line. Many people are
not aware of the whole story of this area. Before the big chunking craze hit Chincoteague,
this area was known as the Big Steel Barge as it holds a large wreck. The barge rises 30
feet or more above the bottom. A circle of bass pots mark it's location. This is sometimes
a popular spot for chunking. A few miles south is what the locals call the
Little Hill. It sits just inside the 20 fathom line. This spot can be real hot at times
for bluefish, bluefin and kings. Several large wahoo have even been caught here.
The next
popular spot south is the Lumpy Bottom. The Lumpy Bottom can get congested as
boats from Ocean City, Chincoteague and Wachapreague all compete for
position. It was once known for summertime trolling for Bluefin and
Yellowfin. Now it is known more as a chunking location where bluefin and
bluefish compete for scarps of butterfish. Other favorite
spots include the little 20 fathom finger, 30 fathom hole, 30 fathom lumps and Washington
Canyon.
Other areas worth
fishing include weedlines,
scallop boats,
lobster pots and tide rips.
