Maryland & Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
- Sheepshead fishing remains hot.
- Flounder hit the ocean inlets as they exit the bays.
- Striped bass, bluefish, speckled trout and puppy drum take topwater lures and jigs.
- Sea bass and triggerfish fill coolers for bottom fishermen.
Tochterman’s Fishing Tackle Report — Baltimore, MD
The Tochterman’s Fishing Tackle Fishing Report is written by Tochterman’s team member, Kevin Trupia.
The Conowingo Dam continues to produce for anglers casting topwater lures, and paddletails for striped bass. The Susquehanna River by the mouth of Deer Creek can produce some nice smallmouth bass tis time of year on soft-plastic jigs and jerkbaits.
With water temperatures dropping striped bass of all sizes are actively moving around the Bay. Striped bass can still be found near the Key Bridge, the mouth of the Patapsco River, and Pooles Island. Trolling is starting to be more popular with the cooler temps and fish are moving into deeper water. Trolling tandem rigs and umbrella rigs seems to work best.
Reel Chesapeake Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Reel Chesapeake Fishing Report is written and compiled by writer and media professional, James Houck. Find the full report here, at reelchesapeake.com.
It’s been a gorgeous, if sometimes breezy, week across middle Chesapeake waters, and consistently cool with autumn temperatures that excite anglers and our quarry. On my past several outings (Friday and Monday mornings), the surface water temps dipped down to 70F, then 66F in the Severn River. All of this, coupled with mostly mild weather that offered excellent cloud cover, has created a very good bite for several species.
Charter captains, guides, and rec anglers are reporting the larger striped bass catches at the Bay Bridge pilings, Eastern Bay, Bloody Point/Poplar Island, and the mouths of the most western shore rivers. Further upriver, schoolies in the 17- to 24-inch range are roaming deeper channels and edges in search of the peanut bunker spilling out of creeks and making way downriver. It’s an excellent time of year to hit the water as early or late in the day as possible to try all manner of topwater plugs along sandbars and dropoffs, then shift gears to vertical jigging under birds.
Right now, the blitzes I’ve been seeing firsthand (and heard from others) have been scattered, quick to rise, quick to dive, and a bit tough to chase down. By the time you motor within casting range, the fish have gone under. So, what to do? Relax and catch a drift around and into the sitting gulls (your telltale sign fish are near). Like you, they’re waiting for the next blitz but chances are, there’s actually fish—even a few large ones—hugging bottom or swimming mid-column right under the birds and your boat. Try vertical jigging with 1-ounce heads and 5- to 7-inch plastics. Bounce the bottom, snap jig, and you might be pleasantly surprised.
Also try jigging around structure that breaks current and creates eddies with adjacent feeding zones. I gave this prescription a shot on Friday morning at the U.S. Route 50 bridge pilings, dropping lead down to 40- to 50-foot depths on the east side of the span and jigged up a couple decent fish, about 22 inches respectively. Fun and a relatively reliable pattern. Others had similar success at the Bay Bridge pilings as recently as Tuesday. Live lining spot and allowing them to swim down to bottom toward eager striped bass won the day for one angler renowned for the technique.
Lighter jigging around shallow shoreline structure, like docks and riprap, with 1/2-ounce bucktails (perhaps tipped with a twister grub, pork strip, or not at all) is likely to produce rogue stripers cruising in search of a meal. Work a line of docks and you’re bound to get a few hits.
This is my favorite time of year to work the docks for larger river stripers and sometimes I dedicate my entire outing doing so. Pitching bucktails around and under docks and casting jerkbaits or paddletails across flats/open water between piers is active, light tackle fishing at its best. On both recent outings, I spent a solid hour working a particular, favored spot and pulled a few striped bass, and the surprise catches of the week, puppy drum! Not just one, but two redfish from the same area confirms—firsthand—the many recent reports of these beautiful specimens being caught as far north as the upper Severn River.
This could be an anomaly season for the fish, or a harbinger of a future fishery. Time will tell, but for now, give drum a shot. You’ll find them near structure that’s harboring SAV nearby. White perch have also been in the mix at these locations. And I marked quite a few schools of perch over the oyster beds in the lower Severn. Try Sabiki rigs or sinking a 1/4-ounce perch pounder spinner down into the marked zone and retrieving it through them.
Pickerel are starting to become active. On Monday morning, I personally had a nice fish (20 inches at least) chase a white paddletail rigged weedless all the way to the boat before turning away. This was at the Sherwood Forest grassbeds. Pickerel, of course, love natural cover such as grass, laydowns, reeds. Snakehead too. Small chatterbaits, paddletails, flukes, or inline spinners could be effective these next couple weeks for both species. By month’s end, the snakehead bite will have cooled severely off. But pickerel will be entering prime time.
As this week heads into what’s forecasted to be a wet weekend, we’ll have a new moon Friday night into Saturday and average tides. Both days look particularly favorable in the mornings, with an ebb tide, cloud cover, and chilly temps. Good luck!
View the full Reel Chesapeake Fishing Report, written and compiled by writer and media professional James Houck, at reelchesapeake.com.
Angler’s Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Angler’s Sport Center fishing report is compiled and written by Anglers Team Member, A.J. Lewis.
Upper and Middle Bay
With the rapidly cooling water temperatures, smaller baitfish are slowly moving out of the tidal rivers and into the main Bay. The best spots to catch striped bass currently are river mouths where they’re likely to be found chasing the smaller baitfish. Anglers are catching slot-sized striped bass in the early morning or late evening hours and transitioning to deeper water at a depth of around 30 feet during the day.
Anglers are beginning to notice the numbers of spot dwindling. Spot are beginning to move south as the water temperatures have recently dropped significantly in the Bay, but anglers are still catching them here and there in deeper water using bottom rigs. Areas around the western part of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge are still host to a decent amount of live-lining sized spot.
White perch are still present in tidal rivers, however anglers are beginning to transition to using bottom rigs or Chesapeake Sabiki rigs tipped with live or artificial bait in slightly deeper water, around 20 feet. The larger white perch can be found staging in river channels.
South Bay
The south bay follows a similar pattern as the middle bay when it comes to targeting striped bass. Rockfish are becoming slightly more abundant in the south bay area, where anglers are having success targeting them in shallow waters in the early morning and late evening hours while jigging soft plastics, trolling or live lining. Anglers are targeting deeper channels during the mid-day hours when the morning bite dissipates.
Point Lookout is host to some amazing flounder fishing currently. Areas around the Target Ship are also providing excellent opportunities to get on some good sized sheepshead. Anglers are catching them on anything from peeler crabs to eels, even pieces of cut bunker.
Spot are beginning to move out of the tidal creeks and rivers as the temperature begins to rapidly cool, however, the fishing for other species such as bluefish, speckled trout and striped bass is still explosive in these shallow waters. Anglers are catching them while throwing topwater lures, and while jigging paddletails or live lining spot.
The Angler’s Sport Center fishing report is compiled and written by Anglers Team Member, A.J. Lewis.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report
Maryland Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
Surf anglers are enjoying some good fishing for kingfish. Bloodworms or an artificial bloodworm-scented bait should work well. Flounder are being targeted by using squid or casting Gulp baits into the surf. Bluefish are being caught on finger mullet or cut spot.
At the inlet and Route 50 Bridge area, sheepshead are being caught close to jetty rocks and bridge piers on sand fleas. Flounder are moving through the inlet so casting Gulp baits tipped with squid is a great way to target them. Striped bass and bluefish are being caught on soft plastic jigs.
The channels leading towards the inlet are one of the better places to fish for flounder in the next few weeks. As bay waters cool and the amount of daylight present each day declines, flounder are beginning to head to their offshore wintering grounds.
Many of the inshore and offshore wreck and reef sites as well as lumps are good places to fish for flounder. Now that black sea bass is open again, catches of sea bass and triggerfish are very good this week.
The boats heading out to the canyons are finding white marlin and better numbers of yellowfin tuna this week. Many of these fish are moving south from more northern waters and give Ocean City based anglers a good chance of connecting with them if good weather holds. Deep drop anglers are also doing well catching blueline tilefish.
Maryland Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.