Time for another forecast

For those who can deal with the overpowering heat, this has been pretty productive all all fronts.

After Thursday, the warmth is supposed to return to normal.

But let’s hope the fishing stays hot.

Just about everything summer anglers count on is here and lots of species have been quite willing to play along with the efforts.

For a couple of weeks, offshore waters had us between white marlin just north of us, with sailfish numbers off the charts just off the Outer Banks - go north for one species, south for another.

In the middle were tuna, dolphin and wahoo.

Deep-drop bottom anglers were finding tilefish, sea bass and other wreck-reef dwellers.

Bottom rubble closer to shore has been yielding flounder and triggerfish, with a few spadefish where waters get more shallow.

Closer to the beaches, anglers are finding cobia and sometimes hugs schools of red drum as the two species start to think about their upcoming migration south.

Red drum also are being found inside the Chesapeake Bay.

The inlets from the Eastern Shore to the bay’s southern shores are yielding puppy drum, speckled trout and flounder, with a few spot starting to show.

Anglers are starting to find good showings of pups and specks in the Elizabeth River.

Croaker have once again been scarce, and what’s being found typically has been small. The best places to find a few larger croaker have been at the piers on the Peninsula.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel continues to provide action for reds, cobia and flounder - with sheepshead still ruling the roost.

The freshwater scene is about to really heat up and temperatures cool - with wind-tide creeks and rivers throughout both states seeing a considerable increase in largemouth bass action. Topwater frogs have been a top producer.

In the grass beds of Back Bay and Currituck Sound, Johnson Silver Minnows and dark-colored plastic worms will be your safest bets.

Bluegill and shellcracker are still willing to participate and will continue to do so even when they moved to deeper water.

Crappie, on the other hand, are starting to move towards shallow cover. Brush piles, lay downs and boat docks are great places to look.

So while summer is looking at closing its door and opening up another one for the fall, fishing opportunities will continue to provide lots of action.