Mid-Winter Stripers and Specks in the Chesapeake Bay

This is Artificial Lure with your Chesapeake Bay, Virginia fishing report. We’re in a classic mid‑winter pattern on the lower Bay. According to the National Weather Service marine forecast out of Wakefield, winds are running northwest 10 to 15 this morning, bumping up this afternoon with a Small Craft Advisory from New Point Comfort down to Little Creek, and air temps holding cool with a chance of light rain later. Seas in the Bay are running 1 to 3 feet, a little choppy on the open stretches, more manageable in the rivers and creeks. Tides around Norfolk, from Tides4Fishing, show a pre‑dawn high just before 1 a.m., dropping to a low around 7 a.m., then building to the afternoon high about 1:30 p.m., and easing back toward low near sunset. That makes the late‑morning to early‑afternoon incoming a prime window. Sunrise is right around 7:20 a.m., sunset about 5:10 p.m., so you’ve got a tight low‑light bite at both ends of the day. Virginia Saltwater Fishing reports that the lower Bay rockfish bite is still strong, even though striper keep season is closed. It’s all catch‑and‑release now, but there are still 40‑inch‑class fish hanging on deep structure in the Channel and near the CBBT. Live eels are still the ticket for those bigger winter linesiders, and trollers are doing well with heavy Mojos and umbrella rigs dressed with 9‑inch shad to stay in that 30‑ to 50‑foot zone. If you’re releasing, keep them in the water, unhook quick, and let those breeders kick off strong. Back in the creeks and inlets, Virginia Saltwater Fishing also notes decent mixed action. Rudee, Lynnhaven, the Elizabeth River, and the York River system are giving up schoolie rockfish, puppy drum, and some very nice speckled trout out of the deeper holes and along warmer mud flats on sunny afternoons. The specks in the Elizabeth and Yorktown area have been steady for those willing to slow down. Bait and lure selection is pretty simple right now: - For big Bay rockfish: **live eels**, 24–32 ounce Mojos, and umbrella rigs with big shad bodies. White, chartreuse, and bunker patterns are all producing. - For trout, pups, and schoolies in the creeks: suspending jerkbaits like MirrOlure 17MR and 18MR, along with 3–5 inch soft plastics on light jigheads. Locals are “dead‑sticking” soft plastics—just barely twitching them—to mimic a dying minnow. Natural and glass‑minnow colors in clear water, chartreuse and darker backs when it’s stained. Fish activity today will be slow but steady: classic winter fishing. Expect a scratch bite early on the bottom of the tide, then better action once that tide turns and starts pushing. Midday, when that incoming lines up with any peek of sun, should be your best shot at a speckled trout or puppy drum thump in the rivers, and that afternoon high lends itself to probing deep structure for bigger stripers. Couple of local hot spots to consider: - The **Chesapeake Bay Bridge‑Tunnel**: work the pilings and nearby deep ledges for catch‑and‑releas