Chesapeake Bay, VA

Largemouth Bass

Micropterus salmoides

Ambush predators of warm, weedy water. Bass reward anglers who fish cover precisely and slow down when the sun is high.

Smallmouth Bass

Micropterus dolomieu

Pound for pound the hardest-fighting freshwater fish in the Northwest. Smallmouth live on rock and eat crawfish imitations year-round.

Striped Bass

Morone saxatilis

A powerful migratory bass shared by both coasts — Atlantic beaches and rivers, and San Francisco Bay and Delta on the Pacific side. Stripers school on baitfish, feed hard at night and in current, and hit plugs, swimbaits and bait alike.

Red Drum

Sciaenops ocellatus

The signature inshore fish of the Gulf Coast, also called redfish. Slot-size reds tail and push wakes on shallow flats, while big bull reds gather at passes and beaches in the fall.

Summer Flounder

Paralichthys dentatus

Called fluke in New England, this left-eyed flatfish lies buried in sand along channels and inlets and ambushes bait drifting overhead. Drift fishing with bait or bucktails is the standard game.

Bluefish

Pomatomus saltatrix

Voracious, razor-toothed schooling predators that tear through bait schools in a surface frenzy. Bluefish hit almost any fast-moving lure and are a staple of New England surf and boat fishing.

Tautog

Tautoga onitis

Called blackfish in New York and New Jersey, tautog live in the rocks, eat crabs with blunt crushing teeth, and pull like no other inshore bottom fish. Precise anchoring over structure is the whole game.

Cobia

Rachycentron canadum

A powerful, brown, shark-shaped fish that cruises the surface around rays, buoys and wrecks and is mostly taken by sight-casting. Cobia eat jigs and live baits presented right in front of them.

Bluegill

Lepomis macrochirus

The classic beginner's panfish: abundant, willing and surprisingly strong on light tackle. Bluegill nest in colonies on shallow flats in spring and guard the beds aggressively.

Channel Catfish

Ictalurus punctatus

The most widespread catfish in North America, at home in rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Channel cats find bait by scent and taste, bite readily after dark, and are the backbone of pay-lake and river catfishing.

Atlantic Croaker

Micropogonias undulatus

The croaking panfish of Chesapeake and Gulf bays — small, schooling and generous, the backbone of summer pier and small-boat fishing on the mid-Atlantic coast.

Black Sea Bass

Centropristis striata

The blue-black reef fish of the Atlantic — bold, structure-loving and superb eating, from New England rock piles to Carolina live bottom.

Blue Catfish

Ictalurus furcatus

North America's biggest catfish — a slate-blue, open-water hunter of big rivers and reservoirs, from Chesapeake trophy holes to Texas winter flats.

Chain Pickerel

Esox niger

The chain-mailed ambush predator of eastern weed beds — small, fearless and always ready to smash a flashy lure from the pads.

American Shad

Alosa sapidissima

The poor man's salmon — a giant herring that runs Atlantic and (introduced) Pacific rivers each spring in millions, and fights far above its weight on shad darts.

Landlocked Striped Bass

Morone saxatilis

The coastal striper gone inland — stocked giants that herd shad across big reservoirs from Texoma to Santee-Cooper and Mead, and America's favourite landlocked big fish.

Little Tunny

Euthynnus alletteratus

The 'false albacore' — a line-burning little tuna whose fall blitzes along Carolina and mid-Atlantic beaches are pure chaos: birds screaming, bait flying, and reels singing.

Atlantic Bonito

Sarda sarda

The striped sprinter of the northeast — Atlantic bonito knife into sand-eel schools from Cape Cod to the Jersey Shore each summer, a fly-rod and light-tackle favourite.

Redbreast Sunfish

Lepomis auritus

The river runner of the sunfish family — redbreast live in flowing water from Virginia to New Brunswick, flash turquoise and orange over the riffles, and hit tiny lures like fish twice their size.

White Catfish

Ameiurus catus

The bulldog of the tidal rivers — white catfish rule the brackish creeks and estuaries of the Atlantic coast, hit baits day or night, and out-scrap channel cats their size.

Northern Snakehead

Channa argus

An invasive ambush predator built for the thickest cover — northern snakehead guard fry in summer marshes and detonate on frogs dragged over the pads. The Potomac and Chesapeake tidal creeks are the centre of the fishery.

White Marlin Open

Early August, every year

Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament

Every August