Chincoteague Inlet is unique for the simple fact that it is one of the few major inlets along the mid-Atlantic that is still a natural waterway. Large commercial fishing boats such as draggers and yachts can utilize its entrance with little or no danger of running aground as long as you stay in the marked channel.
There are no groins or jetties supporting its continual function as a navigable waterway. Yes, there are certainly other natural inlets along the Eastern Shore such as those to the south, but they don’t get the amount of boat traffic as Chincoteague.
Chincoteague Inlet is located actually between Assateague Island and Wallops Island. Like most inlets in their natural state, it’s constantly changing and reforming seasonally, sometimes almost weekly, depending on storm activity. So what may be navigable water one season may not be the same the next.
Chincoteague Inlet has all the characteristics of any natural inlet with its rips, cuts and bars forming on the Assateague side. The Wallops Island side tends to hold slightly deeper water with rips located to the south just outside the actual inlet. A depth finder is invaluable for identifying bottom contours such as channel edges and adjacent flats.
Fishing around the inlet can be very good. Depending on seasons and species, the twice a day tidal flush will bring in bait, and warm or cooler water, all of which attract gamefish. In the late spring, fat croakers will often stage there for a short period of time before they commit to the back bays. Kingfish will hold in the sand bottoms, and snapper blues feed under birds in the inlet. Big sharks pass through in June to lay their pups in warm deep holes in tidal creeks.
During the hot summer months, flounder will hold or move just outside the inlet to escape escalating back bay water temperatures, and savvy anglers drifting live snappers or big strip baits can connect with good sized fish that find the cooler waters more comfortable. Big cobia can sometimes be seen patrolling along the outer buoys that line the inlet entrance. During the early fall, just out in front of the inlet, trout will school, getting ready for their annual push south.
One fishery that has gotten only limited attention is the great striper fishing that happens in and around the inlet in the late fall. There is a nice rip located on the edge of the Assateague “hook” where big stripers ambush baitfish getting beat up in the tidal changes.
Drifting live eels, spot or jigging bucktails can all produce fish. Or try trolling big spoons, swimming plugs and bucktails on the edges of the channels and near the flats outside the inlet.
All inlets are a gateway for migrating bait and gamefish, and Chincoteague is a natural funnel that can produce action almost year round. Get out and try fishing Chincoteague.
