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CobiaShoulder seasonGut · Virginia
Short Prong
37.40°N · 75.79°W · Gut · Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel
Species here · tap to switch
Best score today · 7 AM · Cobia
- Now
- 303 AM EDT
- Best window
- 6-9 AMHigh slack
- Tide now
- Flooding2.0 ft ▲
Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine
Notify me when Short Prong scores 75+
Checked every morning against the 14-day forecast. Free by push and email.
14-day forecast
Best days to fish
24-hour conditions · rolling from now
Conditions · 3 AM · now
Tide & current
NOAA CO-OPS + Open-Meteo Marine
96Tide: FloodingCurrent: 1.1 knWind & pressure
ECMWF
40Wind: 17 kt NEPressure: RisingWater temp & sky
NDBC + Open-Meteo Marine
35Seas over the limit · capped at 30Water temp: 73°F, primeLight: NightSolunar: Between periodsSeas: 4.5 ftSeason & habitat · Cobia
Species seasonality
39Season: ShoulderHabitat: Poor fitDepth: Out of rangeRegulations: no rule on file
Current regulations
What you can keep here today
No rule for Cobia is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with VMRC before you keep a fish.
Source: VMRC · synced yesterday
Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed
When Cobia is best here
Shoulder season for Cobia · 1 more week at shoulder
- Peak
- Shoulder
- Off
- Not here
- This week
Spot profile
Short Prong
- Depth
- Under 1 ftFlat bottom
- Structure
- Channel · Inner · Semi-exposedChannel · flat bottom
- Season
- Shoulder seasonCobia
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 Short Prong
Short Prong is a gut in Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, Virginia. Depth is under 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 striped bass, bluefish, black sea bass and king mackerel. Scup peak from June through October. Summer flounder peak from June through September. Sheepshead peak from July through September.
Tackle & technique
- Cobia
- Cobia cruise inlets, beaches, buoys, wrecks and the backs of rays in 5 to 100 feet of water. On calm, sunny days sight-cast bucktails or live eels to fish near the surface. Otherwise anchor up-current of structure, chum, and fish live eels, crabs or menhaden near the bottom.
- 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
- Harbor Gut54
Gut · 0.4 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 54
- Summer flounder 54
- Sheepshead 51
17 kt NEH 6:41 AM · 3.8 ftL 12:36 PM · 0.8 ft
- The Deeps54
Channel · 0.7 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 54
- Summer flounder 54
- Sheepshead 51
17 kt NEH 6:41 AM · 3.8 ftL 12:36 PM · 0.8 ft
- Gull Marsh Channel54
Channel · 1.3 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 54
- Summer flounder 54
- Sheepshead 51
17 kt NEH 6:41 AM · 3.8 ftL 12:36 PM · 0.8 ft
- Powells Channel54
Channel · 1.8 mi
Top: ScupPeak season- Scup 54
- Summer flounder 54
- Sheepshead 51
17 kt NEH 6:45 AM · 4.3 ftL 12:54 PM · 0.8 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.