Virginia: Saltwater
Despite living just a few hours from Virginia saltwater opportunities, I had never paid any attention to them. But, after catching my trophy sand tiger shark in Maryland and my trophy bluefin tuna in Massachusetts, I started to do more research into saltwater options. These are the saltwater citations I have so far. Hopefully one day I will be a Virginia saltwater Master Angler, which requires 25 citations in at least six species with no more than one entry per species per year.
Striped Bass - 2021
After my very successful trophy saltwater trips in Maryland and Massachusetts, I decided to play the hot hand and headed to Deltaville, Virginia to tangle with some truly impressive striped bass. During the season, Wes Crump catches better striped bass in a week than I have seen in my life. And that isn't an exaggeration. My trip with Wes produced my biggest ever striper at 49 inches and 47 pounds, my second-biggest striper ever at 45 inches and 43 pounds, and my fourth-biggest striper ever at 46 inches and 39 pounds. It was absolutely unbelievable. Stripers are, by far, my most fished for species. I have fished for or caught stripers in 16 states and have caught trophies in four of those states. Yet, on one morning with Wes, I casually shattered my previous personal bests. Wes is a fantastic guide who knows the best techniques and locations for producing citation stripers. This was my first Virginia saltwater citation, and it is safe to say that I am officially hooked on saltwater fishing.
Red Drum - 2022
After getting my first Virginia saltwater citation in December, I returned to the Chesapeake in July to target one of my favorite saltwater fish, the red drum. It had been over 10 years since the last time I fished for red drum. Trophy red drum are catch-and-release only in Virginia and they get quite big. I chose Tom Ritter because of his reputation for finding citations. We sight-fished the whole day and I landed two massive red drum. The first was a 46.25", 33-pound citation and the second was an enormous 46.5", 48-pound bull, which eclipsed my personal best from Mississippi many years ago. I also caught a half dozen cobia and just missed a citation in that species as well. I had a fantastic time with Tom and first mate Jordan and I can't wait to go back.
Striped Bass - 2022
Still very excited from my amazing trip the previous December, I returned to Deltaville after Christmas to chase trophy stripers on the Chesapeake Bay with Wes Crump (wcsportfishing.com). Once again, Wes had been on them and catching some trophies, and, once again, Wes put me on the fish I wanted: a beautiful 46-inch, 40-pound, 9-ounce citation. The bite was slow, but Wes knows how to find them, and I am already excited to go back for round 3 this coming winter.
Red Drum and Cobia - August 2023
My interest in saltwater fishing has been accelerating and I returned to Norfolk again in the summer to chase red drum and cobia. Unlike Virginia's freshwater trophy program, Virginia's saltwater trophy program allows multiple entries of the same species, provided they aren't in the same calendar year. I love this approach because it encourages return trips for the same species every year, rather than shifting focus to a new species as with the freshwater program.
Travis Kemp of Foolproof Fishing (@foolprooffishing on Instagram), an expert drum fisherman, had been on a tear with citation cobia. As luck would have it, another phenomenal captain, Jack Limroth, who had also been all over the trophy cobia bite, joined us in my quest for big fish. After some scouting, we found the drum, and my first one of the day was a 47-inch, 38-pound citation! Fifteen minutes later, I had landed my second citation drum, a fatter 46.5-inch, 41-pound trophy! We then went in search of the cobia and, 90 minutes later, in the middle of nowhere in the Bay, the boys put me on a big one: 55 inches and 45 pounds. It was my first citation cobia and I was ecstatic. Multiple-species trophy trips are rare, and this was only the third saltwater one I have ever had. I loved fishing with Travis and Jack and I can't wait to join them again next year!
Sheepshead - October 2023
The Virginia Saltwater Master Angler requires 25 citations in five species with no more than one citation per species per year allowed. Fresh off the addition of the third species to my list (cobia), I set my sights on a species I had never caught before: sheepshead. While Zack Hoffman (salttreatedfishing.com) has built an amazing resume as a cobia tournament winner, it was his consistent sheepshead citation record that drew me to Seaford, Virginia in October 2023.
Mother Nature was alive and well on the morning of our trip. Shrimp were packed in the harbor and dolphins were cruising the mouth of the York. Zack quickly proved me right in picking him for citation sheepshead: I caught a 24-inch citation sheepshead almost immediately after we set up on Zack's spot. I then caught another one. Many more fish followed, with species including tog, black drum, red drum, northern kingfish, bluefish, and even a sandbar shark. My biggest sheepshead of the day went 26 inches and 10.5 pounds. It was a truly fantastic morning on the water and a perfect way to add species number four to my Virginia saltwater citation list.
Striped Bass - December 2023
I returned to Deltaville in December for the third year in a row to chase trophy stripers with Wes Crump. It was a beautiful, sunny, and flat-calm day, with the Chesapeake appearing as smooth as glass. The bite was finicky, but Wes has plenty of tricks up his sleeve and he was able to put me on the one I needed, a gorgeous 45.5-inch, 42-pound striper!
Red Drum - July 2024
Almost two years to the day after my first trophy red drum trip in Virginia with Tom Ritter (MarVaOutdoors.com), he gave me a trophy-filled day I'll never forget. The morning was a grind of only three red drum, though one was my biggest red drum ever at 52.5 inches and estimated to be 60 - 70 pounds. We searched in vain for cobia before finding an absolutely massive school of hungry bull reds. From 1:30 to 3:30, literally every cast except one produced a trophy red drum. They were eating jigs of all colors and even Whopper Ploppers. A fun part too was that the only other boat out there was my buddy Travis Kemp of Foolproof Fishing with his group, so all of us caught as many trophies as we could handle before a storm started brewing and chased us off the water.
Those two hours produced 28 citation red drum, for a total of 29 trophies on the day, shattering my previous record for most trophies in one trip, which had been 18 trophy channel catfish in North Dakota, interestingly just shy of exactly 12 years before. My biggest citation from that school measured 52 inches, easily 60 pounds, and it was the last fish of the day. In all, I caught seven citations over 50 inches. (By comparison, my previous personal best was 47 inches.)
It was a truly unforgettable day and I cannot thank Tom enough for the trip of a lifetime.
