Sport fishing is big business in Beach's off-season

VIRGINIA BEACH

The ocean was a teeth-chattering 39 degrees.

Yet, just before dawn last week, cars piled into a marina by Rudee Inlet, and nearby restaurants had already served breakfast to their first customers.

The tourists are here.

These aren't the sun-worshippers who come for the tan and rounds of miniature golf.

They're here with a singular purpose: the fish. Specifically, they're here to catch striped bass, also known as rockfish.

"They're big and they're delicious," said Chris White, part of a group of locals and out-of-towners who recently boarded the Waterman charter boat for a morning fishing tour.

Sport fishing has become big business in Virginia Beach

during the winter. Marinas that would have been shuttered several years ago during the cold months now employ as many as six people. Hotel rooms are booked, and restaurants open at 5 a.m. to cater to anglers.

There's no data on the economic impact of winter fishing on Virginia Beach. Recreational fishing year-round employs 2,856 people and brings in $218.5 million in sales and output to Virginia Beach, according to the last state study, done in 2005.

Striper fishing plays a large role, said the Waterman's captain, Mike Standing.

Standing started a mid-Atlantic rockfish tournament six years ago to take advantage of the season. Between the local charter boats and out-of-town boats, Standing estimates that about 3,000 anglers a week come to Virginia Beach.

"That's more than the convention center," Standing said. "We don't have to do much with it. Just keep the inlets opened and have good accessible ramps and facilities."

The fish do the rest.

Half an hour into their trip, White and his colleagues all had poles in their hands and were fighting to reel in their catch.

"It started swimming away from me, and I thought I was going to have to swim in after it," said Shane Snow, a construction worker who had the biggest catch of the morning, a 30-pounder.

Snow knew the rockfish would taste good dipped in batter and fried.

Lured by the fish's fight and flavor, groups from Germany, China and New Zealand have come to Virginia Beach, Standing said.

Two weeks ago, angler Bill Dance filmed episodes of his television series " Bill Dance Saltwater " in Virginia Beach.

T wo fishermen who died last month when their boat flipped over into the frigid Chesapeake Bay were part of an Arizona group that made an annual trip to Virginia Beach for the rockfish.

This fish wasn't always so plentiful.

In the 1980s, national concern over the decline of the rockfish population led some states, including Virginia, to establish fishing moratoriums.

Their stocks started to recover in the mid-1990s.

About seven years ago, anglers started coming to Virginia Beach for the rockfish, said Paula Owen, the manager of Fisherman's Wharf Marina.

"Try to get into a marina on a Saturday in January, it used to be a ghost town," Owen said. "Now, there's a line.... There's no off-season."

T here are laws that limit the rockfish season to a few months a year and cap a catch at two per fisherman.

"The process has become quite involved and complicated, but one could argue that it's worth the effort," said Jon Lucy, a marine scientist with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. "It's quite a wintertime benefit for coastal communities that otherwise wouldn't have anything tied to the water."

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com