Beautiful 65 degree water in Washington, bluefin, no yellows yet…

Well we did our first shakedown/scouting trip of the year yesterday! Wa a beautiful day for it! We covered a ton of water starting at poorman’s which was the first spot we saw bluefins airing! we trolled for a bit then kept it moving, heading south east into the deep to go find the rip and see what kind of life might be out there, to our surprise it was more bluefin lol that was the theme of the day, but they were so scattered and randomly would just pop up here and there, we eventually pushed into the Washington as we headed towards home, and guess what? we found more bluefin in the Washington! lol for whatever reason they did not seem to want our offerings. The water in the Washington was 65 degrees and beautiful, soon as we get a good eddy to bring some tuna and other life into our canyons, it will be on! The bait is there, the water is there, the bluefin are there, all that’s missing is some big eyes and yellowfins! We’ll be keeping a close eye on the water over the next week, looking for the next opportunity to send it again! Tight lines and stay bent!

Watching and waiting….

By now I think just about everyone is ready or almost ready, and some boats (like ours) are sitting in the water ready to fish! All we need is a good piece of water worth going out for, and from the looks it could be coming soon. With the rainy weather the shots haven’t been great the last few days, but we have noticed on the SST recently a big piece of water that is breaking apart from the Gulf Stream! We are hoping between the Labrador currents pushing down from the north and maybe a little help from the wind and weather, some of that water will break apart and slide down the 100 line and into our canyons! Only time will tell, in the mean time we have a few extra days to get tackle ready and organized and be ready to go soon as we see a good window! We will keep you all posted, also the inshore bite is really starting to heat up if you wanna bend a rod on a striper or flounder both have been biting better and better! Also thank you for becoming a member, you are here early, we are gonna be updating the website and bringing a lot more tools and resources for you all! More member videos, and hopefully some other cool tools like maps and ability for members to chat with each other, we are trying to build the most helpful platform for the most serious anglers in the north east and mid Atlantic so if that’s you your in the right spot! We will remember those of you who supported us early on and we appreciate it! Tight lines and stay bent!

Beautiful weather and warming water temps

We’ve had some beautiful weather here recently and it seems like Spring has finally broke, water temps are rising, yellowfin and mahi are being caught in the Outer Banks and Carolinas, and the tuna and other life will be in our canyons before we know it! As you can see in the SST shot above there is a beautiful piece of water about 15-20 miles south of the Norfolk, that I would almost guarantee is holding some kind of life and it’s right on the 100 line. I know we aren’t the only ones itching to get out sometime this week, we are possibly looking at Thursday as a scouting mission and first shakedown trip of the year, but we like to know there is something out there worth looking at lol so we’ll keeping a close eye on this water throughout the week! We’ll also have some new videos coming to the member library so be sure to check those out, and of course our tackle! If you are a member reading this report use code BENTMEM10 at checkout and you’ll receive 10% off your tackle order for being a member with us!

Still keeping an eye out…

We are still watching the water, optimistically hoping for an early spring eddy that makes it into one of our canyons. Unfortunately judging from this mornings SST shot it appears the filaments of water we’ve been watching are going to get sucked back out into the Gulf Stream, however we will def be keeping a close eye on it. The wind is forecasted to blow out of the east today, and then out of the south the rest of the week, so you never know it could be enough wind offshore to move that water around! As for inshore this weeks wind conditions are looking beautiful! The striper bite continues to heat up at the local bridges and back bays, and even a few bigger striper showing up in the surf! The Tautog bite is also continuing to improve! We’ll see how the water looks tomorrow and again later in the week! Tight lines and stay bent!

Is it go time!? It could be! soon….

Some of you who keep an eye on the water temps may have noticed, there is a beautiful filament of Gulf Stream water peeling off headed right towards our canyons, actually there’s two of them but the top one really looks great. We’ve watched that water over the last week slowly from peel off and now it has almost separated from the Gulf Stream and as of this morning is just over 25nm from the Washington canyon! If the water continues to push in west it could be in the Washington as soon as Saturday, but there’s a chance depending on the wind that it could get sucked back out into the Gulf Stream before it reaches the 100 line. Regardless you know we will be keeping a close eye on it, and honestly we are standing by and might head out there ourselves, I know we aren’t the only ones itching to get out there! Also everyone has seen the guys down in OBX murdering the yellowfins the last week or so, which is also why we are so hyped on that piece of water possibly pushing our way, cause its that same type of Gulf Stream water that the guys in OBX were/are fishing and catching all the yellowfins in! Also on the Chlorophyll side of things the blue water looks amazing this spring compared to last spring, we talked about it last night on our live stream but that Gulf Stream water is just so blue this year, and from what we’re seeing it’s looking like we may be in for an awesome tuna season especially compared to last summer! Tight Lines and Stay Bent! We’ll check back in soon!

Bluefin on the beach in OBX

I’m sure most of you have seen by now, guys down in Kitty Hawk, and Janette’s pier are catching Bluefin from land, from the beach, from the pier, and from kayaks, so awesome to see! To us it looks like some of that warmer Gulf Stream water is leaking up north west, possibly causing the inshore waters to heat up a little faster, and possibly be warm enough that if the bait pushes in close up here, the bluefin could also follow it inshore and we could have a little spring bluefin window, but we will have to keep an eye on the water temps and see what the weather does over the next couple weeks. Striper are migrating, they’re starting to bite at the inlet, 50 bridge, as well as the back bays. Route 90 and Verrazano bridge both hold fish this time of year, and then natural structure is good too, we look for cuts in the marsh, depth changes, places where the water looks different or the current is moving really good. Black Drum are one of the first fish to make the run for the surf casters, and the bite has been off to a great start, lots of fish being caught with bait even one or two on artificial, sand fleas, crabs, and fish bites are always effective I’ve also heard some guys say clams work well, either way the bite is hot so if you want to catch one now is the time to do it. Flounder are also making their way into the our waters, a few have been caught here locally and they will start to show up in traditional spots like the Thorfare and the airport. The flounder seem to like the southern waters better this time of year though in my opinion down around Chincoteague and Wachapreague and those areas. The Red drum bite has been hot in VA Beach and I’m thinking we could start to see some of those being caught especially on the VA side. Speckled trout should also be entering the mix any day now with water temps staying close to 60 degrees or higher. Spring run is starting and it is awesome to see, we are pumped to get out and catch some fish! So many options to chose from this time of year! Bad Habit drops in the water soon and then we’ll be back out in the ocean searching for a rip, temp break, or signs of life! I”m sure everyones itching to get back out there it’s right around the corner! Tight lines and stay bent!

Spring is in the air!

From guys catching black drum in the surf, to the local gill netters catching loads of bunker in the back bays, the waters in the Mid-Atlantic are showing signs of life! There have been loads of gannets, seagulls, and even Brown Pelicans they’re all feasting on bait fish just off the beach and around the inlet. Striper are also making there way into the back bays and up along the coast as the water temps continue to rise, with Ocean temps between 47-50 degrees and the back bays and flats reaching as high as 60, there are quite a few species anglers will be able to target. We’ve seen a good amount of tautog being caught inshore around the inlet, even a few keepers in the mix, shrimp seems to work good this time of year, and of course sand fleas and green crabs will get eaten too. Surf fishermen have been waiting all winter for the annual spring run of black drum and it looks like they’re finally here, we’ve seen dozen’s of pictures and reports of guys holding multiple big black drum, some reaching the 40-50” mark! Surf fishing isn’t my expertise however I’ve always done well with sand fleas for the black drum, the hard part is finding them but if you can dig some up or get your hands on em, the drum seem to love em! As for the striped bass, good structure with good moving water seems to be holding the bigger schools of fish, local bridges like Route 90, Verrazano and even Route 50 can all be productive this time of year. If you can’t get to man made structure, look for natural structure, deep holes, ledges, marsh points, can all hold fish and be productive in the spring. A jig head and a paddle tail is one of our favorite lures for any species but in the spring the X-Rap can also be irresistible to a striper! Now for all you Tuna Junkies who can’t wait to get back out in the ocean and chasing birds looking for a bite, if you’ve been following along on our YouTube or with our Wednesday night livestreams you know we’ve been keeping an eye on the Gulf Stream as well as the inshore temps, and looking at this years temps and trends compared to last year and the year before, and from the looks of it, we could be in for a killer summer season! As most of you know last summer the tuna bite was dismal compared to years past, the guys in Jersey got all the good water, and it just seemed like majority of the water holding bait and life was well north of our Mid-Atlantic canyons, we would get an eddy or a little filament of water here and there that would slide down the 100 line into our canyons and hold a few fish, but overall a slower tuna bite than usual. With the way the Labrador current is currently pushing down south against the Gulf Stream it is looking like we could have a lot of that good Gulf Stream water staying further to the south and generating fresh eddy’s and filaments that will spill right into our canyons as they break off the gulf stream. I’m sure Jersey will still get some good water as well and we’re still a solid month out, these are just predictions at the end of the day, but it is looking promising! The Bluefin should also begin migrating back up the coast as well, typically in the spring they are difficult to target and don’t seem to feed as much as they do in the winter, however that doesn’t mean its impossible to catch one! Few guys are still catching down in OBX and VA Beach but their season is coming to an end, Jeff and I think they tend to stay a bit further offshore on their way back north out closer to the 100 line and canyons and they usually don’t come as close inshore, the water temps are obviously warmer out there but for us a big part of the whole allure of the Bluefin fishery is catching them close to the beach or not to far offshore, so we’ll see what April’s wind and weather has in store for us, and keep a close eye on the ocean temps and Gulf Stream and we will begin to update the reports more and more frequently as we come into the peak fishing season!! We are so pumped and excited for this year and we hope you all are too!!

Bluefin Bonanza in the Washington

Well it might sound crazy to some, as this mornings temps were in the teens, so it was def a cold ride out, but as you get further out and into that warmer water it warms up quick! We heard back from Capt. Monty who caught over a dozen unders in the Poormans canyon on Thursday, and between that and the SST shot, that was all Remo needed to hear! That orange and red water in the Washington and Norfolk is 59-62 degrees! Remo is out there now, as we speak busting em up in the Washington! We’ll get a more detailed report when he gets in, but its very clear and easy to see where the good water is on the SST shot, I’m sure there’s def some bluefin in that water in the Norfolk as well. We’re gonna be doing a live stream Sunday evening, we’ll see if we can’t get Remo to hop on stream with us and give us a recap, but if your friends with him on snapchat your seeing he’s tearing up em up this am!! 1/25/25 Good luck and tight lines if you're fishing! Be safe and have all the right safety equipment cause it is no joke if something goes wrong in this cold!!

Bluefin confirmed in canyons

We had been hearing the commercial guys were tearing em up out In the canyons, but Capt. Monty confirmed that yesterday! Surprisingly he found all unders, over a dozen, but they could only kill one, they weren’t able to find and kill a giant but seemed like a great day offshore! Long ride for him lol tempting to send it out there!Now we know if anyone wants to make that run and still wants to tuna fish they’re out there!

Its cold very cold

Well it’s 430 and we haven’t heard from Capt. Monty and crew on the Morning Star, they went out to the Poormans canyon today to see if there is Giants lurking in that warmer water out there! We’re very curious to see how he made out, as we’ve been watching that water out there and thinking the same thing, it’s just a long way to go in the cold, and for us that trip takes a decent amount of fuel. Besides that inshore the water is super cold, I mean some of it is literally frozen lol same with the bay, I’m sure the striper are around somewhere, maybe the inlet or jetty, def in the ocean and on the shoals, but probably wherever they can find some semi warm water! We’ll see what Monty’s report is from the canyon that’s the main thing we’re curious about! Ready for some warmer weather for sure! Good luck and tight lines!

Wow anyone else see this!?!

First of all if you're seeing or reading this YOUR A LEGEND! We really appreciate those of you who have supported us and stuck with us here, and will not forget who you are!! Hopefully you guys have been finding these reports and info useful, it’s been working for us! Just had to say thank you and you guys are awesome! NOW There is a beautiful piece of warm blue water that has slid right into our Mid Atlantic canyons here in the last couple days, and boy does it look fishy!! It appears that filament or piece of water peeled off the Gulf Stream up to the north east, and spun off and made its way down through the northern canyons and has now landed right around the Baltimore Canyon. Obviously a run to the canyon this time of year is a bit unconventional, and can even be dangerous with the frigid cold temperatures, but with the right safety gear and equipment, and decent weather and conditions, that run could pay off HUGE! Down in OBX that same kind of water has been holding Giant BFT as well as Big Eye’s, and I’d be willing to bet they’re in that water here too! Can you imagine a January Big Eye!? We are gonna be keeping a close eye on this piece of water, as well as the weather forecast and see if or when we can get a window to possibly poke out and see what’s out there! It looks like that water is pushing south west with the wind and current, would be ideal if by Sunday it lands right in the tip of the Washington in the big eye hole, but only time will tell! Like I said we’re gonna keep a close eye on it, and might possibly head out there Sunday if the weather and conditions hold up! Good luck and tight lines, we’ll check back in with y’all soon!

Are the Bluefin finally gone?

Well it looks like our winter Bluefin season could finally be coming to an end. Yesterday a few boats went out in search of the last of the bluefin including Capt. Monty Hawkins on the morning star, and unfortunantley there was no signs of tuna at the jackspot, the water that was 45-46 degrees on Monday 1.6.25 had dropped to 42-43 degrees, and even as cold as 30 degrees just outside the inlet! With those cold temps, it’s likely the. bluefin have pushed a bit further offshore, and of course further south. There was striper an tautog, but no bluefin. Based off the SST shots, you would have to go out a bit further to find that warmer water, and for most boats it just doesn’t make sense to make that sort of run this time of year. If you did want to try and find them we would suggest trying Parking Lot or Lumpy Bottom, maybe even Marine Electric, but it’s still gonna be a gamble. Even the boats fishing out of VA beach were having some trouble finding them yesterday, quite a few boats were headed back out today both in VA Beach, Chincoteague, as well as Ocean City so we’ll see if anyone is able to find them and keep you guys in the loop! I think we are about done with the bluefin for now and will probably switch over to winter striped bass both inshore and within 3 miles of the beach, as well as some trips over to the Chesapeake Bay! We will continue to report with whatever info we are getting! Good luck and tight lines!

Bluefins in the snow

I’m sure most of you have seen by now, but us and a small crew of the usual suspects went out last Monday 1.6.25 in the snow and hammered on a few bluefins in 45 degree water at the Jackspot! We were a little surprised they were so fired up in that cold water, but was awesome to see! Looks like we may get a weather window again tomorrow, we’ll see if these things are gonna continue to hang around!

The bluefin are still here..

Yesterday a few boats went out in search of the last bluefin of the season, but the first for 2025. Capt. Monty on the morning star went out and found a handful of unders on the Morning Star. Chris Huk also got his limit as well as released a few, with an awesome day of fishing. Then Chase Ereble of Chasin’ Tides found a giant bluefin at 97” and 442 lbs! These bluefin are still up and down the 20 line on the warmer eastern side of most of the lumps and structure. We also were able to get out on the little boat inshore yesterday and tore up some school sized striper! All 18-24” fish, and we banged em up catching 21 in just under 2.5 hours, all at the 90 bridge, 90, 50, and Verrazano as well as Femwick Ditch all hold striper this time of year and can be a blast when they’re chewing! Weather forecast is looking pretty gnarly the next 2-3 days, looks like better hunting weather than fishing! lol if y’all are bored and snowed in the house check out our YouTube channel! We’ll be doing more and more live streams where we hop on and do live Q&A’s and just talk fishing with you all and other followers! We may do some private or “members only” live streams in the future as well! We will also have more educational style/tips videos coming to the members only video library soon! Good luck and tight lines if you do fish!

Bluefin are sticking around for now…

Well Happy New Year y’all!! 2025 is looking like it’s gonna be an awesome year both for fishing and for our members! We have so much coming for you guys from the video library, to our network of captains and anglers, we will be sharing all of our most valuable intel and information with you all! We are also gonna incorporate more video segments, as well as live streams with live question and answer! Were stoked for the new year and pumped that these bluefin seem to be sticking around! Remo was out on his Sea Hunter the “Black Magic” yesterday looking to end the year with a bang, and he did just that! He found his limit of 2 unders and an over at the Jackspot! He also managed to find a nice school of bass on the way in and found a slot size bass in the mix they took home for the dinner plate! Remo also lended his crew to a friend in need they were hooked up to a big tuna and only had two guys and weren’t sure if they could land it by themselves, so his crew hopped on and helped them land it flawlessly! (see recent instagram video) Other boats caught bluefin as well so lets hope this bite continues into the new year! Good luck and tight lines!

Christmas eve bluefins and bass!

Well today was another amazing day of fishing! Jeff and his crew had the bluefins hitting spreader bars and plastics today!! Bass were also chewing today with a few slot sized bass in the mix they were able to take home to eat! As you all know we’ve had an epic December of fishing, not much has changed in the way of reports, we’ll see how long they stick around! Just wanted to get on and thank you all for the support and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! Big things coming in 2025!!!

Nasty weather turned some boats around

Yesterday lots of boats made plans to get out for what could be one of the last trips for this winter, as the weather gets colder and the bluefin continue to push south, however the few boats that roughed the nautical conditions were rewarded! The bluefin still seem to be al along that 20 line in the 50-53 degree water, the 12 and masseys is still a hot spot, but they should be at Twin Wrecks, Jackspot, 20 fm fingers anywhere in that range with that 50-53 degree water and structure should be holding life. The migratory bass continue to push in from the north with reports of them being as close as a mile off the beach up near Femwick Shoal. Hopefully the weather cooperates for us this week and we can all catch some Christmas bluefins! Monday is looking promising, good luck and tight lines!

Bluefin continue to chew!

Man what a December we’ve had!! Been tough to make daily reports when it seems like everyday is the same thing, “The bluefin are going nuts, chewing like we’ve never seen before!” LOL Also in a lot of the same areas we’ve been preaching about all season, right now the biggest tool we are using is the SST shots to locate that 50-53 degree water, they can be in colder water but we’ve had the best results in that 50-53 degree water! Which at the moment is hovering right around the 20 fathom line, from Jackspot all the way north to Masseys and every piece of structure or lump in between! Guys are getting bites on plastics/worms as well as ballyhoo, even a few guys hooking up casting and jigging! Curious to see how long the bluefin madness continues, I think it will depend on the weather and how cold it gets. We slo have the big migratory bass moving through out front, they are always fun to catch and release on light tackle, technically you should try and stay inside 3 miles to target striper specifically, and they have been in close enough to stay inside 3 miles, but a lot of boats are seeing them on their way home from bluefin fishing, anywhere from 2-3 miles off the beach to as far as 7-10 miles out, they are passing through making their way to the Chesapeake! Remember if you do target striper to handle them with care and get them back in the water quickly, and don’t hold them or hang them by their jaw! Cradle those big 40-50” 40-50 pound bass like a big baby!! hahaha Good luck and tight lines y’all!!!

Tomorrow is looking amazing

Tomorrow the weather is looking awesome! I’m sure a lot of boats will be out trying for both bluefin and striped bass, just a reminder to everyone who sees these, the bluefin are EVERYWHERE, if you fish the fleet your odds of catching decrease, do not be afraid to get away from the fleet and other boats and find your own little lump, near the 12 or near the jackspot or near bass ground, or wherever you decide to work. These will all be hot spots, so our best advice is to look for life and use your Navionics, or Garmin etc. to find some structure and work it to yourself! Also don’t be afraid to mix it up, slow down and let the baits sink, or drop a rod in free spool and drop your lures back, if your not getting the bite but your marking them mix it up and try something different! For those who might be casting, remember it’s a 1000 casts for that one bite, just keep looking for those feeds and cast at every opportunity you get! Nlbn 8” straight tails have been the hot bait for both bluefin and striper casting! Good Luck and tight lines!

Bluefin and Striped Bass

Man the. bluefin bite just keeps getting better and better!! It has been a cold and windy last week however the boats who have been able to get out have had some awesome fishing! We went out last Wednesday and hooked up to a giant bluefin! Fought it for a little over 2 hours on the Talica 50 and that thing kicked our ass!! We got it next to the boat 3 different times, but we knew it was too big to kill, our estimate is about 80-85” and easily over 300lbs possibly over 350lbs! They’re tough to judge sometimes in the water, but regardless we went ahead and broke the leader when it was next to the boat and let him swim off to see another day! Then we were back out yesterday, in some cold windy conditions, we were hoping the wind would lay down but it never really did, not to mention the Navy has been testing helicopters right over top of Jackspot and has ran us off twice now, first the day we hooked the giant, then again yesterday, so we were frustrated and decided to pick up and run inshore a bit and look for life and possibly some striper. Sure enough we saw a huge cluster of birds on the Garmin radar, so we ran to check it out, and sure enough pulled up on a huge school of bass blitzing, and then for 90 minutes, it was every drop with paddle tails and straight tails on spinning gear, whether you jigged the bottom, or fished the top of the water column, they were so thick! Not one fish under 35” and the biggest at 50”! One of the best bass bites we’ve had in a while, and the first we’ve seen of the big migratory striper this year! The cold front may have helped with that and also may have messed with the bluefin a little as the inshore temps are now below 48 degrees as cold as 45-47 degrees! The bass like that cold water but in our experience the bluefin seem to like 48 and above, not saying you can’t catch one in 46-47 degree water we just feel its normally the 48-55 degree water the bluefin seem to like. This week the weather is looking awesome! Tuesday is looking the best as of right now, we plan on getting out and going after some bluefin on spinning gear, with a back up plan of targeting the big striper again! So awesome to have this bonus season to keep us fishing through the winter! Get out and get bent! Good luck and tight lines!