DATE: Thursday, June 19, 1997               TAG: 9706180808

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON

                                            LENGTH:   31 lines

A WEEKLY GUIDE TO THE REGION'S HOT SPOTS

It looks as though Chesapeake Bay anglers are in for a repeat of the tremendous cobia action that developed in the lower Bay the past two years.

More than 60 of the brown-and-white battlers were boated last weekend on and around Bluefish Rock, east of the Grandview section of Hampton.

In addition, several cobia recently were decked at Harrison's Pier at Ocean View in Norfolk and the Little Island Fishing Pier at Sandbridge in Virginia Beach.

Finally, boats heading up the East Coast have reported tremendous concentrations of fish finning their way north off the North Carolina coast. Apparently, they have been headed for the Bay.

But just where the hottest Chesapeake fishing will take place is a matter of conjecture. Cobia have a habit of not being very habitual.

Thirty-five years ago tremendous concentrations appeared off Windmill Point at the mouth of the Rappahannock River.

A few years later the hottest battles were waged along the Bay shoreline between Onancock and Pungoteague creeks, almost directly across the Chesapeake from Windmill Point. Onancock billed itself ``Cobia Capital of the World.''

For the past two years, which saw record numbers of cobia entered in the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament, action has centered at three spots in the lower Bay: Bluefish Rock off Hampton, the Cabbage Patch off Kiptopeke and Latimer Shoals near the north end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Don't bet that the scene will not be repeated.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu