Moved from Hawaii

[fetzerb]

Hello all-

I am waiting on my boat to finally make it here to Norfolk VA. I have a 2000 Arima sea legend 22 ft cuddy cabin. It has twin 75 HP hondas with 106 gal of fuel. It did the job for hawaii, but have some questions for this area.

I cant wait to start fishing. I know the inshore stuff the boat can handle, but I really love the offshore stuff. I am looking for advice for fishing this area with my current set up. I grew up in central Florida, so I have fishing experience from that area as well. Im not sure if its any different from what I currently do. Any advice would be great on fishing styles, baits, rod / reel setups, spots to fish, and if my boat has the range for the big game.

Thanks,

Ben

[Skipjack/VA]

I also moved here from Hawaii. Couple things are very different. The deep offshore fishing is around 50 to 65 miles from VA Beach versus just a few miles. You can get fish inside of 50 miles (30-35) certain times of the year however. This means 2 hours to the grounds. It is hard to get used to. Weather has to be perfect for a boat that size that far out. The fishing here is a little bettter quantity wise, but the yellowfin tuna are way smaller than the average 100lb+ Hawaii yellowfin. Not as many blue marlin, but a fair share are caught almost every day during summer. Plenty of Mahi are here as well. Wahoo also. Another difference is you would want to use more ballyhoo here. Seems like pure plastic in Hawaii. Smaller gear and leader use here also. GOOD LUCK and welcome to VA.

[Regulator]

Ben,
Is your boat on a trailer, if so you have the option of fishing Hatteras, Oregon Inlet and VA beach. Offshore most are trolling using 50 wides on standup rods trolling seawitches with ballyhoos and some plastics mixed in such as traditional plastic lures, spreader bars, daisy chains and birds. Tuna/Marlin waters are 30nm range from Hatteras, 35-50nm range for OI and 50-75nm for VA beach. Lots of folks on this forum in your neck of the woods, so you are in great hands.

[Kevin-Dan's Legacy]

You will have to have almost perfect conditions to fish offshore with that boat and be very cautious. Small/medium ballyhoos are mainly what are used naked or behind lures such as Ilanders and Seawitches. Run spreader bars, daisy chains, birds, cedar plugs, diving plugs, and maybe a little other plastic. And a Green Machine will catch just about any Pelagic in the ocean. Tackle should be as light as you are comfortable with, mainly reels like Penn International 50's spooled with 50-60lb line. Stand up set ups are common and work well. I personally use 80lb fluorocarbon leaders for most everything when it comes to my offshore trolling gear. Just a few basic things... (I am by no means an expert)
Kevin
Dan's Legacy

[fetzerb]

thanks for the replies guys. My boat is on a trailer so once i get it registered and more famliar with the area, that will be be an option. I have PENN 80's with 130 lb main and 300lb leaders so i will likely down size to some smaller stand-up rods. The boat is equiped to fish 5 lines with outriggers and center pole. I also have electric reels for deep bottom fishing. I need to buy the local chart chip for this area before i go deep. I am looking to store my boat at Little Creek Naval base and launch from there. cant wait to hit the water again.

thanks for the info!

[ocnslr]

I am looking to store my boat at Little Creek Naval base and launch from there. cant wait to hit the water again.
thanks for the info!

Welcome to the area. I hope you have gotten on the list for storage at Little Creek.

We are just a bit up the creek, on Pretty Lake.

Brian
USN (Ret).