Maryland & Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
From Ocean City, the guys at Always Bent Fishing OC reported that they brought the first yellowfin tuna of the season back to the dock after a hazy, early morning trip on Saturday the 18th. Water temperatures are slowly climbing, and after some prolonged warm weather, the bite will only continue to improve the rising water temps. They also reported some quality stripers chewing well in the ocean surf as they continue to make their way up the coast, so grab some chunk bait or soft-plastic jigs and get to casting!
Sailing out of West Ocean City, Captain Monty Hawkins of Morning Star Fishing Charters reported a solid start to the black sea bass season under beautiful blue skies. They spotted plenty of life out there throughout the day, including several hundred saddleback dolphins, 5 fin whales, a minke whale, and a large humpback whale with its calf! There’s plenty of life out there going into the holiday weekend. After dropping down some new reef structure, they got to work and marked a ton of fish, but the sea bass bite started out slow; thankfully, everyone went home with some fillets and Connor had the hot hand with 5 of the biggest fish boated that day, including the pool winner. The fish were hitting everything from jigs to baited hi-lo rigs. Give them a shout to get in on the action next trip out!
Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Anglers Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
We just had our first full week of striped bass fishing, which has been open for anglers fishing the main body of the Chesapeake Bay since May 16th. Once again, all rivers and creeks will open up for harvest of striped bass on June 1. Until then, it is strictly catch and release.
Most of the striped bass seem to be on their early summer feeding patterns; they are quite spread out through much of the upper and middle Bay, and no one pattern is sticking for more than one day. Fishing around Bloody Point or Poplar Island has been decent when fishing the early morning or evening hours. Casting plugs to the shoreline structure around the island has produced some fish, and so has fishing the channel edges, jigging anywhere from 15 to 30 feet of water. Rapala X-Rap jerkbaits in the bunker color and 5/8-3/4-ounce jigs paired with 5- to 7-inch Z-Man StreakZ in white and chartreuse have been working great.
Live-lining spot has been producing some fish around the Bay Bridge with most of the fish measuring around the mid 20-inch range. Bottom fishing around Mountain Point has produced some striped bass and blue catfish. Bunker and mud shad are still the baits of choice when bottom fishing.
Bottom fishing for bait has been great with more spot moving in to the area. There are also good amounts of perch being caught around the oyster bars with sabiki rigs or bottom rigs tipped with bloodworms.
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.
With Memorial Day weekend, the traditional beginning of the summer season is upon us. Remember to take a moment to reflect on those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms, including the ability to enjoy the outdoors with families and friends.
Striped bass season opened with a couple good days until some wind and rain put a damper on weekend fishing. With the return of fair weather, anglers are enjoying a chance to land Maryland’s state fish.
Lower Bay
There is a lot of exciting fishing action in the lower Bay this week. The first segment of the 2024 striped bass season opened and other exciting fish were caught as well. Anglers who are casting to their favorite shallow water shoreline locations are finding excellent striped bass fishing but are also finding speckled trout and puppy drum in the mix. The Tangier and Pocomoke sounds are currently providing the best action for the three species. Casting paddletails and spooks over grass beds seems to be the front row ticket to this action. Speckled trout and puppy drum as well as striped bass are also being caught in the lower Potomac River near Point Lookout. Other favorite spots are the Cedar Point rocks, lower Patuxent River shorelines, and the Hoopers Island cuts – a great place for “walking the dog,” which is to cast soft plastic jigs and work them along the bottom as the current sweeps them past.
There are plenty of spot to be found in the lower Patuxent area, and striped bass anglers are wasting no time collecting a bunch and heading to favorite channel edges for live-lining. The 30-foot edge in front of Cove Point is always a favorite spot to check, as is the steep channel edge from St. Georges Island to Piney Point in the lower Potomac River. The Point-No-Point area is another location to check with a depth finder to locate suspended striped bass.
Large red drum have moved into the region and are mostly being found from the Middle Grounds up past the Target Ship. Some anglers are targeting them by jigging, and others are trolling large spoons. Large black drum are also in the same area and are mostly being caught on soft crab baits when they can be located on a depth finder.
Blue catfish are always ready and willing to entertain lower bay anglers and provide plenty of meat to fill ice chests. The tidal Potomac River from the Wilson Bridge to the mouth of the river is full of them, and they will likely stay in the lowest part of the river as long as salinity values are low from repeated rain events. The tidal Patuxent River from Jug Bay south offers excellent blue catfish fishing as does the Nanticoke River near Sharptown and south. The Wicomico and Pocomoke are seeing increasing numbers of blue catfish.
White perch are providing plenty of fun fishing this week in the lower sections of the region’s tidal rivers as well as Tangier and Pocomoke sounds. In shallower waters casting small spinnerbaits, spinners, and small soft plastic swimbaits is a fun way to catch them in the morning and evening hours along the shorelines. In deeper waters bottom rigs baited with pieces of bloodworm is the most common way to catch them.
Freshwater
Cool mountain streams and rivers of western Maryland hold excellent catch and release trout fishing all summer long for those who can match the various hatches of aquatic insects or terrestrial insects that happen to fall into the water. There are also some delayed harvest waters that have been catch-and-release but will open to harvest on June1 until September 30.
Fishing for smallmouth bass in the upper Potomac and lower Susquehanna rivers is very good. Flows are fishable, water clarity is good, and the smallmouth bass are active, casting a variety of small crankbaits, tubes and spinnerbaits are excellent lures to use. Current breaks, underwater ledges and large boulders are good places to target.
Largemouth bass in many areas of the central, southern, and eastern regions of Maryland are just entering their post-spawn phase of activity; based on recent angler’s reports they have not heard the dinner bell yet and are reluctant to feed. This should change soon if it has not already. Crankbaits, tubes, and drop shot plastics will be good lures to use near drop-offs and deep structure. In the shallower waters, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and plastics worms and creature baits will be good choices.
Chesapeake channa (snakeheads) are in various stages of spawning and are holding tight to the thickest grass they can find. If they’re feeding, a variety of frogs, white paddletails, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and buzzbaits will be good choices for lures. If they are not feeding and defending fry balls, try to annoy them and get them to strike at a lure by dragging frogs or buzzbaits through the fry ball.
Crappie fishing is about as good as it gets in places like the tidal Potomac around marina docks in the Fort Washington area and the spoils on the northeast side of the Wilson Bridge approach. In other waters, look for them in relatively deep waters near structure. A slip bobber with a small minnow or marabou jig is one of the most popular rigs to use. Various species of sunfish are finishing up spawning and always provide plenty of fun on light tackle. Chain pickerel are holding near structure in the form of sunken wood, overhanging brush, lily pads and grass beds.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
Surf anglers were presented with some rough surf conditions recently but those that stuck it out and used very heavy sinkers enjoyed good fishing for striped bass, black drum, bluefish, and red drum. The striped bass and red drum were large and above the slot-size maximums, but offered some exciting catch-and-release fishing. Most of these fish were caught on cut baits of menhaden and mullet, some anglers did better on the black drum with clams.
Inside the Ocean City Inlet, anglers were treated to excellent catches of bluefish weighing 2-3 pounds, which were caught by casting bucktails, soft plastic jigs, and Got-Cha lures. Striped bass are also being caught on the same lures and although fun to catch most are below the 28-inch minimum. Flounder continue to move through the inlet and are filling up the coastal bay waters. The best flounder fishing has been coming from the channels leading away from the inlet, white and pink Gulp baits tend to be catching the largest flounder.
Last week’s rough weather kept anyone with common sense from heading to the offshore wreck and reef sites, dampening the beginning of the 2024 black sea bass season and the end of the first segment of the tautog season. When the boats finally did get out to the fishing grounds, fishing for black sea bass was reported to be fair to good. It would seem better days are ahead. There was a report around the Ocean City docks of the port’s first yellowfin tuna being caught at the Norfolk Canyon.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.