Waterlands

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WeakfishShoulder season

Bar · Virginia

Goffs Bar

37.81°N · 76.27°W · Bar · Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point to Windmill Point VA

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Best score today · 6 PM · Weakfish

75/100Great
Now
5111 AM EDT
Best window
5-11 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Ebbing0.8 ft ▼

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 11 AM · now

Time11ANOW
Score51Good
Tide0.8 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentSlack0.1 kn
Wind7 kn NEgusts 15 · steady
Sea stateLight chop1.0 ft · 2 s
Air temp77°Warm
WeatherOvercast100% cloud
Water79°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Weakfish 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 Weakfish is best here

Shoulder season for Weakfish · 1 more week at shoulder

Weakfish season by week of the year. Shoulder season for Weakfish · 1 more week at shoulder.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Weakfish in Virginia

Spot profile

Goffs Bar

Depth
10-15 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Bar · Inner · Semi-exposedBar · flat bottom
Season
Shoulder seasonWeakfish

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 Goffs Bar

Goffs Bar is a bar in Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point to Windmill Point VA, Virginia. Depth is 10-15 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bar, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are Spanish mackerel, spot and little tunny. It is peak season now for Spanish mackerel, spot, little tunny and summer flounder, and shoulder season for bluefish, Atlantic croaker, black sea bass and spotted seatrout. Spanish mackerel peak from July through September. Spot peak from August through October. Little tunny peak from September through October.

Tackle & technique

Weakfish
Weakfish hold along channel edges, grass beds, oyster bars and bridge shadows in bays and sounds, usually in 5 to 40 feet of water, and feed hardest at dawn, dusk and after dark. Swim soft plastics or bucktails slowly near the bottom, or drift peeler crab and bloodworms. They have soft mouths, so keep the drag light and the pressure steady.
Spanish mackerel
Spanish mackerel school along beaches and around inlets, jetties, piers and bridge-tunnel structures, and along tide rips in 5 to 40 feet of water once the water climbs above about 68 degrees F. Troll small spoons or cast metal jigs and retrieve fast, or look for birds diving on bait and cast into the school. FWC calls for a 30 to 60 pound monofilament leader because their teeth cut light line.
Spot
Spot school over mud and sand in bays, tidal creeks and channels and around piers and bridges, generally in less than 25 feet of water. Fish a two-hook bottom rig with small hooks and bits of bloodworm or shrimp, and move until you find a school. In fall the biggest fish run out of the sounds past piers and inlets, and the bite can go all day.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Taskmakers Creek

    Bay · 1.3 mi

    72
    Top: SpotPeak season
    • Spot 72
    • Red drum 69
    • Spanish mackerel 63

    7 kt NEL 2:58 PM · 0.4 ftH 9:15 PM · 1.1 ft

  • Ingram Bay

    Bay · 1.4 mi

    72
    Top: SpotPeak season
    • Spot 72
    • Spanish mackerel 68
    • Red drum 67

    7 kt NEL 2:55 PM · 0.4 ftH 9:15 PM · 1.1 ft

  • Fleeton Point

    Cape · 0.9 mi

    67
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 67
    • Spot 67
    • Spanish mackerel 63

    7 kt NEL 2:58 PM · 0.4 ftH 9:15 PM · 1.1 ft

  • Cockrell Point

    Cape · 1.6 mi

    67
    Top: Little tunnyPeak season
    • Little tunny 67
    • Spot 67
    • Spanish mackerel 63

    7 kt NEL 2:58 PM · 0.4 ftH 9:15 PM · 1.1 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.