Maryland & Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Anglers Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
As many awaited, it’s finally here: opening day of striped bass! The new regulations this season allow one fish per person per day with a slot size of 19 to 24 inches. Here are some areas to look for striped bass now that the season has opened.
Fishing shallow water with topwater plugs and subsurface jerkbaits will produce some striped bass during the early morning hours around marshy shorelines or any kind of hard structure, from mussel beds to dock pilings. The Eastern Bay and areas south of there would be great places to try this approach. Another option would be to live-line spot around the Bay Bridge pilings, as well as casting and jigging 5/8- to 1-ounce jigs paired with 6- to 7-inch Z-Man StreakZ or 5-inch DieZel Minnows.
Blue catfish will still be around, so if you’re chunking bait on the bottom for striped bass, you’ll have to battle to keep catfish off the hook. Most of the blue cats are in the 5- to 20-pound range with some true giants pushing 40 pounds. Mud shad and bunker are still your top baits for catfish, but if you’re targeting striped bass, try soft crabs on a bottom rig.
Spot and white perch seem to keep showing up in our area, which is great news for guys trying to get bait to live line for striped bass. Most of the spot are in the 4- to 6-inch range, which is the perfect size for live bait. Bloodworms and lug worms are the best worms to use when targeting spot.
The Angler’s Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Lower Bay
Anglers in the lower bay region look forward to the opening of the 2024 striped bass season today, Thursday, May 16. Anglers will be able to catch and keep one striped bass per day that measures between 19 inches and 24 inches in the main stem of the Bay, the tidal Potomac River as well as Tangier and Pocomoke sounds.
Trolling will be a popular way to fish along channel edges with umbrella rigs using bucktails dressed with sassy shads and twistertails or swim shads. Jigging will be fun when fish can be spotted on depth finders; most anglers will be using soft plastic jigs. Casting a mix of paddletails and soft plastic jigs along favorite shoreline locations will be a fun way to fish and a great way for kayakers to get in on the action. Spot have moved into the region and can be found near the mouth of the Patuxent River and Cornfield Harbor near Point Lookout, so many anglers will try live lining spot. When doing so, remember that one must use non-offset circle hooks for live-lining.
There has been a wonderful influx of red drum and speckled sea trout in the lower Bay for the past week or so — those casting a variety of soft plastic jigs and paddletails are catching them. In addition to catching slot-size red drum, anglers are catching large ones over the 18-inch to 27-inch slot size near Point Lookout and in Tangier and Pocomoke sounds. This is a great start to the summer season for anglers.
Blue catfish will be providing plenty of opportunity this week in the tidal Potomac, Patuxent, and Nanticoke rivers. In the Potomac River the blue catfish can be found from the Wilson Bridge all the way downriver to Solomon’s Island. The Bennedict area is a favored location on the Patuxent, and the Sharptown area on the Nanticoke. As always cut menhaden is the easiest bait to obtain and does a great job of attracting blue catfish.
Recreational crabbers who just can’t wait any longer have been going out this past week and running crab traps and trotlines. Most are reporting catching a lot of small crabs and the legal-sized crabs just make it over the minimum size of 5 inches but are heavy. Depths of 10 feet to 15 feet tend to be the best depths for the larger crabs. Catches run from a dozen or so to 3 or 4 dozen. The tidal rivers of the lower Eastern Shore tend to provide the best crabbing success this time of the year.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
Surf anglers are catching a mix of bluefish, black drum, and striped bass this week on cut baits of menhaden and mullet, or clams and sand fleas for the black drum. Anglers are catching and releasing some very large striped bass as they migrate north along Maryland’s beach fronts. Cownose rays are also beginning to make an appearance and give a tough fight before being released.
At the inlet and Route 50 Bridge area, anglers are seeing an increased run of bluefish with limit catches occurring. Casting soft plastic jigs and Got-Cha lures are two of the most popular methods being used. Striped bass are also being caught and released with a few measuring above the 28-inch minimum. Striped bass are being caught in the inlet area and at the Route 90 Bridge piers. In the back bay waters near the Route 90 Bridge, paddletails and jerkbaits are popular lures to use.
Flounder fishing in the back bay channels improves each week and anglers are now catching good numbers in the channels leading away from the inlet. There tends to be a high percentage of sub-legal flounder but most anglers can put together a good catch of legal-sized fish on each trip. Gulp baits tend to catch the larger flounder.
The 2024 tautog season will reopen July 1 through October 31 with a two-fish daily limit. The 2024 black sea bass season is open from May 15 to September 30 with a limit of 15 fish per day at a minimum size of 13 inches.
Offshore anglers may begin to encounter bluefin tuna migrating to northern waters anywhere from the 30-fathom line to the canyons. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the National Marine Fisheries Service designed a mandatory reporting program to monitor recreational landings of bluefin tuna, swordfish, billfishes, and sharks (except spiny dogfish) in Maryland. Anglers landing these fish in Maryland MUST report at a state-operated reporting station. You may NOT report using the NMFS toll free number, HMS Reporting App, or online. Anglers can go to the DNR Catch Card and Tagging webpage to learn more about this program and its requirements.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Very good! Blum man catches big fish with flying fishing rod! Much greatness!