Waterlands

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Striped bassShoulder season

Channel · Virginia

Little Camp Channel

37.48°N · 75.72°W · Channel · Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

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Best score today · 7 AM · Striped bass

60/100Good
Now
4112 PM EDT
Best window
7 PM-12 AMEbb tide
Tide now
Low0.6 ft

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 12 PM · now

Time12PNOW
Score41Fair
Tide0.6 ftLow
Current0.5 knmodeled · toward SSW
Wind17 kn NEgusts 28 · steady
Sea stateRough4.8 ft · 7 s
Air temp66°Mild
WeatherOvercast95% chance of rain
Water69°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Striped bass is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with VMRC before you keep a fish.

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Striped bass is best here

Shoulder season for Striped bass · 1 more week at shoulder

Striped bass season by week of the year. Shoulder season for Striped bass · 1 more week at shoulder.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • This week

Striped bass in Virginia

Spot profile

Little Camp Channel

Depth
Up to 1 ftNearest water
Structure
Channel · Inner · Semi-exposedChannel · flat bottom
Season
Shoulder seasonStriped bass

NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 13 on a 3.4 m grid. Depths are feet below NAVD 88, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.

About this spot

Fishing Little Camp Channel

Little Camp Channel is a channel in Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Virginia. Depth in the nearest water is up to 1 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads channel, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are scup, summer flounder and sheepshead. It is peak season now for scup, summer flounder, sheepshead and little tunny, and shoulder season for black sea bass, striped bass, bluefish and Atlantic croaker. Scup peak from June through October. Summer flounder peak from June through September. Sheepshead peak from July through September.

Tackle & technique

Striped bass
Striped bass feed where moving tide pushes bait past structure: inlets, points, jetties, bridge pilings and rips in the surf, usually in 2 to 40 feet of water. Fish dawn, dusk and night hardest, casting plugs, bucktails and soft plastics or drifting live bunker and eels, and chunk bait on the bottom in current. In midsummer the larger fish drop deeper or feed mostly after dark.
Scup
Scup school over hard and mixed bottom, rock piles, mussel beds, piers and jetties, usually in 10 to 60 feet of water. Fish a high-low rig with small hooks and squid or clam strips on the bottom, and chum with clam to hold a school under the boat. If nothing bites within 15 minutes, move to the next piece of structure.
Summer flounder
Summer flounder lie half-buried on sand and shell bottom and ambush bait along channel edges, inlet bars and ocean reefs, from a few feet deep in back bays to about 100 feet offshore. Drift with the tide and bounce a bucktail tipped with a squid or fish strip along the bottom. The bigger fish move to ocean reefs and wrecks in late summer, so follow them out.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Cunjer Channel

    Channel · 1.4 mi

    49
    Top: SheepsheadPeak season
    • Sheepshead 49
    • Summer flounder 49
    • Little tunny 48

    17 kt NEL 12:54 PM · 0.8 ftH 7:13 PM · 5.2 ft

  • Black Duck Cove

    Bay · 0.5 mi

    47
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 47
    • Summer flounder 42
    • Bluefish 41

    17 kt NEH 6:39 PM · 4.7 ftL 12:49 AM · 0.7 ft

  • Sandy Island Bay

    Bay · 0.9 mi

    47
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 47
    • Little tunny 42
    • Summer flounder 42

    17 kt NEH 6:39 PM · 4.7 ftL 12:49 AM · 0.7 ft

  • Bordenstake Bay

    Bay · 1.3 mi

    47
    Top: ScupPeak season
    • Scup 47
    • Summer flounder 42
    • Bluefish 41

    17 kt NEH 6:39 PM · 4.7 ftL 12:49 AM · 0.7 ft

Scores and forecasts are for planning only and can be wrong. Conditions on the water change fast; check the marine forecast before you go. Regulations change during the season, so confirm limits and closures with VMRC before you keep a fish.