Waterlands

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Little tunnyShoulder season

Cape · Virginia

Cherry Point

37.63°N · 76.40°W · Cape · Rappahannock River from Urbanna to Windmill Point

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Best score today · 4 PM · Little tunny

84/100Great
Now
6810 AM EST
Best window
2-5 PMFlood tide
Tide now
Ebbing0.6 ft ▼

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

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24-hour conditions

Wednesday, Nov 4 · 12 PM

Time12P
Score73Great
Tide0.6 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb0.7 kn · toward E
Wind7 kn SSEgusts 16 · steady
Sea stateCalm0.3 ft · 3 s
Air temp73°Warm
WeatherOvercast88% cloud
Water63°FBias corrected

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Little tunny 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 Little tunny is best here

Shoulder season for Little tunny · 2 more weeks at shoulder

Little tunny season by week of the year. Shoulder season for Little tunny · 2 more weeks at shoulder.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • Not here
  • This week

Little tunny in Virginia →

Spot profile

Cherry Point

Depth
1-70 ftDrop-off
Structure
Point · Inner · Semi-exposedPoint · drop-off
Season
Shoulder seasonLittle tunny

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 Cherry Point

Cherry Point is a cape in Rappahannock River from Urbanna to Windmill Point, Virginia. Depth is 1-70 ft, with a drop-off. Its profile reads point, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 14 species here; the best right now are striped bass, black sea bass and tautog. It is peak season now for striped bass, black sea bass, tautog and spotted seatrout, and shoulder season for little tunny, weakfish, scup and red drum. 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. Tautog peak in April and from October through December.

Tackle & technique

Little tunny
Little tunny travel fast in schools that pin bait against inlets, points, jetties and tide rips, usually within a few miles of shore and often in less than 60 feet. Stay off the school's path, wait for it to surface within range, and cast small metal or epoxy jigs with a fast retrieve. When fish stay down, troll small feathers along bait edges and color changes to find them.
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.
Black sea bass
Black sea bass hold tight to wrecks, reefs, rock piles and jetties, from 15 feet inshore in late spring to well over 100 feet on offshore wrecks in late fall. Anchor or drift right over the structure and fish a two-hook high-low rig with squid or clam, or bounce a small jig on the bottom. The biggest males sit on the highest relief.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • Jack Cove

    Bay · 1.9 mi

    79
    Top: Spotted seatroutPeak season
    • Spotted seatrout 79
    • Striped bass 71
    • Bluefish 69

    1 kt NEL 11:57 AM · 0.4 ftH 5:44 PM · 1.5 ft

  • Sams Cove

    Bay · 2.1 mi

    79
    Top: Spotted seatroutPeak season
    • Spotted seatrout 79
    • Striped bass 71
    • Bluefish 69

    1 kt NEL 11:57 AM · 0.4 ftH 5:44 PM · 1.5 ft

  • Rowes Point

    Cape · 2.3 mi

    79
    Top: Spotted seatroutPeak season
    • Spotted seatrout 79
    • Striped bass 78
    • Bluefish 69

    1 kt NEL 11:57 AM · 0.4 ftH 5:44 PM · 1.5 ft

  • Greys Point

    Cape · 1.9 mi

    77
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 77
    • Spotted seatrout 71
    • Little tunny 69

    1 kt ESEL 11:34 AM · 0.4 ftH 5:35 PM · 1.5 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.