Waterlands

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CobiaShoulder season

Cape · Virginia

The Saltworks

37.49°N · 75.93°W · Cape · Chesapeake Bay from Windmill Point to New Point Comfort VA

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Best score today · 1 AM · Cobia

58/100Good
Now
351 PM EDT
Best window
5-9 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Ebbing0.7 ft ▼

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

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 1 PM · now

Time1PNOW
Score35Fair
Tide0.7 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentSlack0.2 kn
Wind22 kn NEgusts 31 · steady
Sea stateModerate3.0 ft · 5 s
Air temp69°Warm
WeatherOvercast89% chance of rain
Water69°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

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.

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Cobia is best here

Shoulder season for Cobia · 1 more week at shoulder

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

Cobia in Virginia

Spot profile

The Saltworks

Depth
2-7 ftNearest water
Structure
Point · Inner · ProtectedPoint · 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 The Saltworks

The Saltworks is a cape in Chesapeake Bay from Windmill Point to New Point Comfort VA, Virginia. Depth in the nearest water is 2-7 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads point, inner water and protected.

Waterlands scores 17 species here; the best right now are bluefish, striped bass and black sea bass. It is peak season now for little tunny, red drum, scup and sheepshead, and shoulder season for bluefish, striped bass, black sea bass and king mackerel. Bluefish peak in May and from October through November. Striped bass peak from April through May and from October through December. Black sea bass peak from May through June and from October through November.

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.
Bluefish
Bluefish travel in size-sorted schools and feed where tide pushes bait past structure: inlet mouths, rips, shoal edges and the surf line, mostly in water shallower than 60 feet. Look for birds and breaking bait and cast metal or poppers into it, or soak cut bunker or mullet on the bottom from the beach. Use a short wire or heavy leader because their teeth cut light line.
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.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Gull Point

    Cape · 0.5 mi

    51
    Top: BluefishShoulder season
    • Bluefish 51
    • Striped bass 51
    • Black sea bass 48

    22 kt NEL 3:24 PM · 0.3 ftH 9:16 PM · 1.8 ft

  • Long Point

    Cape · 1.0 mi

    51
    Top: BluefishShoulder season
    • Bluefish 51
    • Striped bass 51
    • Black sea bass 49

    22 kt NEL 3:24 PM · 0.3 ftH 9:16 PM · 1.8 ft

  • Church Point

    Cape · 1.3 mi

    51
    Top: BluefishShoulder season
    • Bluefish 51
    • Striped bass 51
    • Black sea bass 49

    22 kt NEL 3:24 PM · 0.3 ftH 9:16 PM · 1.8 ft

  • Savage Point

    Cape · 1.4 mi

    51
    Top: BluefishShoulder season
    • Bluefish 51
    • Striped bass 51
    • Black sea bass 48

    22 kt NEL 3:24 PM · 0.3 ftH 9:16 PM · 1.8 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.