Bountiful species in the food-rich Mid-Atlantic waters draw anglers to Virginia Beach every season of the year

(Virginia Beach, Va., 2012) - While Virginia Beach is known as the "Striped Bass Capital of the World," outside of striper season, anglers are hauling in the mightiest of tuna, flounder, amberjack, wahoo, mackerel, red drum, tautog and much more. Virginia Beach's "reel" claim-to-fame is its superior year-round sportfishing and diversity of species - resulting in some of the best catches in the world thanks to its unique position abutting the Atlantic Ocean and mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

            With two inlets, Rudee and Lynnhaven, visitors can embark on half-day and full-day inshore and offshore charters to chase everything from marlin to mahi mah. For landlubbers and fishing fanatics who left their sea legs at home, Virginia Beach has four fishing piers offering tackle rental and bait. For more serious fishermen, the resort city hosts several sportfishing tournaments offering cash and prizes. Whether it's a fishing trip with the buddies or a family adventure, Virginia Beach is where anglers "live the life."

Spring

            While the flowery spring season marks the retreat of Old Man Winter, Virginia Beach visitors welcome April showers because of the scores of Atlantic mackerel that begin migrating to the resort city's coastal and offshore waters. Bluefish are popular here too, emerging from mid-April through July. Spring also begins seasons for tautog, croaker, black drum, red drum, flounder, kingfish and trout.

Summer

            Tuna — bigeye, bluefin and yellowfin — are the most sought-after and plentiful summer fish in Virginia Beach. Kingfish (roundhead and whiting), Spanish mackerel and small gray trout frequent the city's coastal waters while dolphin, blue marlin and sailfish can all be found offshore. The Chesapeake Bay teems with black drum, red drum, croaker and cobia. Flounder and large gray trout (a.k.a. weakfish) are known to congregate around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, while coastal shipwrecks and reefs harbor amberjack, spadefish, triggerfish, mackerel and crevalle jacks, especially around the Chesapeake Light Tower. Large and small bluefish are reeled in from all waters. Many of these fish peak during summer, but continue their season into autumn.

Fall

            Reel in tuna, white marlin, swordfish and wahoo offshore. King and Spanish mackerel and little tunny frequent both inshore and offshore waters and often can be found in the Chesapeake Bay. Flounder and spot migrate out of the Chesapeake Bay in the fall and are easily landed from piers while light tackle aficionados find speckled trout and puppy drum in Lynnhaven and Rudee Inlets. Most notably, fall opens the striped bass season and they're ample into and through the winter months.

Winter

Approximately 80 percent of East Coast striped bass, or rockfish, are spawned in the Chesapeake Bay and are so abundant that Virginia Beach is known as the "Striped Bass Capital of the World." Tautog, another year-round fish, begins to peak in December and can be spotted in the bay near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and around wrecks and reefs off the coast. Winter also has witnessed a renaissance of black sea bass that tempt offshore anglers during the cooler months.

Virginia Beach entices visitors to "Live the Life" year-round! Located in the southeastern corner of the state in the Coastal Virginia region, Virginia Beach is four hours southeast of D.C. by car and within a day's drive or less from two-thirds of the U.S. population. For visitor information, call 1-800-VA-BEACH (800/822-3224) or visit www.VisitVirginiaBeach.com for online trip planning. For media information and digital images, click on www.VisitVirginiaBeach.com/pressroom. Please follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/vabeachcvb and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/VirginiaBeachVA.

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Ron Kuhlman  Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau  |  757.385.4700| rkuhlman@visitvirginiabeach.com

Danya Bushéy  BCF |  757.497.4811  |  dbushey@boomyourbrand.com