Good morning, folks—this is Artificial Lure with your Chesapeake Bay fishing report for November 15, 2025.

We woke up to a brisk, late-fall morning across the bay. The sun rose at 7:11 AM and will set at 6:27 PM, and you’ll want to pack your gloves with the air hovering in the low 40s early, climbing into the low 50s by afternoon, with a northwest wind running around 10–15 knots. Skies look mostly cloudy, but there shouldn’t be much in the way of rain—classic November fishing weather for the Bay.

Looking at the tides today, it’s an early fall at most of the local landings. At Virginia Beach, we had a low tide at 3:37 AM (3.3 ft), a high tide rolling in at 9:38 AM (0.7 ft), a midafternoon high at 4:03 PM (3.9 ft), and the next low tide coming in just before midnight. For anglers working the mouth of the Bay near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, you’re seeing similar swings, so time your departure to catch the incoming tide—that’s when the bite’s been strongest, especially right around those solunar peaks, which are running low today but still seem to be driving some solid action before and after tide changes, according to Tides4Fishing and Tide-Forecast.

Fishing activity has been hot for rockfish (striped bass), and the striper blitz is on. Anglers at the CBBT and up around the HRBT are landing keeper-sized fish consistently, with reports from Spreaker and local marinas showing a mix of solid schoolies and the occasional cow pushing 40 inches. Most fish are coming off live eels or bunker chunks fished on the bottom, but some of the more active pods are hitting soft plastics—Z-Man and Yama paddle tails have been dynamite, especially in pearl or chartreuse. Surface action is picking up at sunrise and sunset, so don’t be afraid to toss a topwater spook near breaking birds early or late.

Along the shallows and back bays—like Lynnhaven Inlet and Little Creek—white perch and speckled trout are still biting well. MirrOlure MirrOdines and soft plastics on a quarter-ounce jighead are the ticket. The jumbo perch bite has been described as “the best of the season,” especially near structure and deeper creek bends. A rising barometer and cooler water temps have brought the specks into predictable holes; try fish finder rigs with live shrimp or cut mud minnow if you’re aiming for a meat haul.

Reports from shore and pier fishermen mention decent numbers of black drum, especially on peeler crab or fresh clam chunks, with some slot red drum mixed in. Kayak anglers around Broad Bay and along the channel edges at Lynnhaven have also been picking up some fat flounder, with Gulp! curly tails fished slow on the bottom accounting for most of the action.

Keep in mind, as reported by Saving Seafood and National Fisherman, that the blueline tilefish commercial fishery is currently closed, so offshore anglers should plan accordingly.

Hot spots this weekend are definitely the CBBT pilings and tubes, where birds have been working hard, and Lynnhaven Inlet for speckled trout. Don’t overlook the Elizabeth River for late fall stripers, either.

To wrap up, best bets for today are live eels and bunker for the big stripers, paddle tails and MirrOlures for trout and perch, and classic shrimp or crab baits for bottom species. Give the incoming tide a shot, and stick around for the crepuscular (dawn and dusk) bite windows for a shot at a trophy.

Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure’s Chesapeake Bay report—be sure to subscribe for more reports, tips, and hot bite alerts straight from the dock. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI