Cape Henry Tide Charts & Fishing

Season: Spring and fall runs along the beach; summer offshore

Baits: Cut menhaden, Metal spoons and jigs, Topwater plugs

When blues are blitzing bait in the surf you will see birds working and bait spraying; throw a metal or a popper into it. Wire or heavy mono leader, because they bite through everything else and through each other. Bleed and ice them immediately if you plan to eat them.

Season: Year-round, best in fall

Baits: Cut mullet, Live shrimp, Gold spoons

Sight-fish tailing reds on shallow flats on a flooding tide. Fall schools push bait against oyster bars and grass edges.

Season: Spring and fall runs

Baits: Silver spoons, Gotcha plugs, Live pilchards

Find birds working bait and cast fast-moving metal through the frenzy. Wire or heavy fluoro — their teeth are scissors.

Season: Late spring through early fall (check regs)

Baits: Squid strips, Live killifish (minnows), Gulp! swimming mullet

Drift or slowly retrieve a bait along sandy and gravel bottom near channel edges, inlets and drop-offs. Moving water is everything: fluke face into the current and ambush bait, so a slack tide usually means a slow bite. Bounce the bottom and give a second before setting the hook.

Season: Late spring through summer

Baits: Bloodworms, Squid, Shrimp

A bottom fish that runs in schools over sand and mud, especially in the Chesapeake and its rivers. Two-hook bottom rig, small hooks, bait on the bottom. Evenings and the hours around a tide change are usually best from piers and shorelines.