Atlantic stripers keep biting in Va.

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Ken Neill of the Peninsula Salt Water Sport Fisherman's Association in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk corridor says the fishing for rockfish in the Atlantic Ocean is outstanding.

"With the mild winter we are having, I do not see any reason for it to stop until the fish make their spawning run," he says.

Neill reports large stripers getting caught up and down the coast.

"If you want to catch big rockfish, you need to be along the coast of Virginia right now," he adds.

Not only are the striped bass providing great outings, the jumbo sea bass are filling any vacant hiding spots in the offshore wrecks. Neill said some sea bass up to 7 pounds (which is big) have been caught, and a fine number of 5-pounders is available. Some large chopper bluefish are still out in the close-in ocean portions.

To illustrate the fine fishing, Neill and his wife, Tricia, took their boat north toward the Eastern Shore's barrier islands Monday and found a massive amount of "working" birds and fish some two miles off Fisherman's and Smith islands. We're talking about rockfish anywhere from 38 to 47 inches in water as shallow as 10 feet, although the best action was had in 20-foot depths.

If you're interested in such fishing, get in touch with the Virginia Beach Fishing Center (757/422-5700) and ask about charter boats. Also ask Claude Bain of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament (757/491-5160) to send you a pamphlet that lists all charter operators on the state's coast and Chesapeake Bay.

Meanwhile, tautog catches have been pretty good around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and the general area of the bridge-tunnel shows a presence of fat stripers.

Local fishing is good -- We have no idea how strong winds might affect the local fishing in the next several days, but in the early part of the week it was quite good.