Virginia Beach Fishing Report, Mid atlantic rockfish shootout update

On Friday, I ran Legacy in the mid atlantic rockfish shootout. Dr. Julie Ball fished with us and wrote this report. The picture is Chip yost with the 2nd largest fish weighed in ‎2012 Mid Atlantic Rockfish Shootout at 48.8 pounds.

" It was the 2nd day of the 3-day tournament, the wind was around 15 out of the SW, and the high was supposed to be around 60-dgrees. Captain Jake Hiles was our skipper aboard the Legacy. Lines were to go in at 8 am, so we motored out at around 7:30 to ride around and claim our start...ing position off Virginia Beach. The fishing has been incredible, the best we have seen for ocean rockfish in about five years or more. And this time we also have the amazing bluefin tuna fishing right off the beach. The best we have seen in10-years, or maybe ever. But as long as the water temperatures continue to hold and the bait stays, the fish…all of them…will stick around. Jake chose our position, and we idled there as we prepared the lines to go out. This was no ordinary striper spread. These rockfish rods sported Tiagra 50-wides, and a few 80’s with 130 to 200-pound test leaders. This was serious gear in preparation to tangle with a big bluefin tuna if need be. We were ready. At first, we looked around for the tuna. But since the largest tuna in the bluefin category was already well over 200-pounds, we moved on to striper territory after no luck for about an hour. Once we got down to serious striper business, we were busy. There were over 200 boats trolling along the coastline looking for rockfish, which made for interesting maneuvering at times, and excited conversations on the radio. Our first fish was a typical 30-pounder, nice but not big enough to get on the leader board. But the next fish was the ticket. A nice fish pushing to 50-pounds put us in the chase. And chase we did. We had solid action for the rest of the day. We pulled up our lines at 1:50, after boxing our final forty-pounder. We were one tired crew with 14 fish, with several weighing over 40-pounds, and one at 50-pounds. Back at the dock, we pulled up to the fuel dock at the Virginia Beach Fishing Center and dropped off our three largest fish. Our fish weighed in at 122.6-pounds, enough to put us at 3rd place. The top seven places earn money and trophies. By the end of the third fishing day, we were pushed to 7th place. It was a great day on the water, with a top notch crew. "