Some 498 citations were registered. Included were several 50-pound giants. This was followed by big-fish catches in the ocean the last three weeks of December, but the weather then was a frequent foe and the fish often were well to the south of Virginia Beach, leaving success to the bigger boats. Even with a slow start to the 2001 season, there is little reason to believe striper fishing will be anything other than excellent this year, as long as the weather cooperates. Citations for gray trout jumped 79 percent last year, and the boom is expected to continue.
Speckled trout are another story.
Some nice citations were registered last season, but overall the fishery was down. For those of us who live in the western part of Virginia, the big news is that one of our own registered the top Spanish mackerel in the tournament. Spanish in the Bay at the Cell. Elliott was having a bad day flounder fishing, so he moved to the Cell where he spotted fish feeding on the surface. It was a school of Spanish mackerel with bluefish under them.