Maryland & Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
Sailing out of West Ocean City, Captain Monty Hawkins of Morning Star Fishing reported that the heavy winds kept them at the dock on Monday this week, but their high hook ended the day with 14 sea bass caught on Tuesday. The fishing remains steady but requires some bouncing around between reefs to stay on the bite. They’ll be sailing for sea bass today, Friday, and again on Sunday, so give them a shout to reserve your spot at the rail!
In Ocean City, Taylor Bakke from Always Bent Fishing OC reported: “Bluefin tuna still seem to be what most anglers have been looking to target in the last week, with quite a few boats out trying when the conditions were right! Last Tuesday and Wednesday there were 6 bluefin caught in the 60- to 70-inch class anywhere from 140 to 200 pounds. A few boats (including us on Bad Habit) also were able to find some bluefin in the “under slot” which is 27 to 47 inches. Skirted ballyhoos are still the hot bait of choice, with trolling being the main method used to catch. Some guys are trying to start jigging or casting artificial lures and baits, which should get better and better as these fish continue to migrate south. Inshore we saw a nice mix of tautog, a few black drum, some lurking bluefish, as well as some nice striped bass! The tautog and striped bass should both continue to improve as we move into the prime of the fall run season! We heard whispers of a couple boats finding some small schools of migratory bass off the coast while looking for bluefin, but not quite the numbers we are used to seeing in the ocean later in the season (December to February). Trout and red drum are still being caught, they stuck around till Nov.-Dec. last year, so we’ll see how late in the season they stick around this year, but it is awesome seeing both of these species making their presence known here on Delmarva this year! Good luck to anyone fishing this week and tight lines!” Check out their website for detailed inshore and offshore reports each week!
Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Anglers Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
Fishing for striped bass continued to get better this week. Most anglers are finding schooling fish in the Middle Bay area around the mouth of the Choptank River and near Chesapeake Beach around the shipping channels. There were reports of breaking fish with birds working during the early-morning hours and evenings. Casting 1/2- to 3/4-ounce jigheads paired with 5- to 7-inch plastics has been working well this week. There were also some unusual reports of some anglers hooking up to bull red drum somewhere in the Middle Bay while fishing for striped bass.
Pickerel fishing is also heating up with anglers getting quality fish from the tributaries; some of the hot areas for pickerel have been the Severn and Magothy rivers, where 3- to 4-inch paddletails on 1/8- to 3/8-ounce jigheads and jerkbaits have been the ticket to a few bites.
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
The lower Bay is offering some of the best striped bass fishing opportunities this week. Anglers are enjoying good fishing by jigging and trolling along the main channels of the bay and the mouth of the Potomac and Patuxent rivers. A fair portion of the striped bass are measuring over the 24-inch maximum size but are providing fun catch and release action. Anglers need not worry about catch and release mortalities as they did during the hot summer months, since water temperatures are now in the low 60’s. Colder water is a very important factor in catch and release survivability of striped bass, higher salinities and fighting time are the second most important factors. Anglers often see a fair proportion of striped bass during the fall months in the 26-28 inch size range.
Waters 25-30 feet deep tend to be where most striped bass are being located this week. Soft plastic jigs in the ¾ to 1-ounce size range tend to work well. In windy conditions that increase drift, a little heavier jig may be needed, white and chartreuse are the most popular colors. Umbrella rigs using hookless sassy shads on the umbrella arms and bucktails dressed with sassy shads as trailers are popular and heavy inline weights, braided line and heavy trolling rods are needed to effectively get down to where the striped bass are suspended.
There is still some shallow water fishing for striped bass this week along the bay shorelines and the lower Potomac, Patuxent rivers and the Tangier Sound region. Casting paddletails during the morning and evening hours tends to be the best time to go fishing in these areas. In the Tangier and Pocomoke sounds anglers are reporting that there are even a few puppy drum to be found.
White perch are steadily moving out of the shallower tidal creeks and tidal river waters to deeper waters in the tidal rivers. They will continue to move deeper and to the lower sections of the tidal rivers as November progresses. Jigging with metal jigs with a small plastic teaser tied in above is the best way to target the larger white perch. Fishing with grass shrimp or pieces of bloodworm on a bottom rig will work well in these deeper areas but tend to attract the small white perch.
The tidal Potomac River from the Wilson Bridge south to the Route 301 bridge is full of blue catfish and they are waiting for you to show up to fish for them. It doesn’t take much to entice them to take a bait. They are moving farther up the river this month; it is a seasonal movement and the higher salinities we’re experiencing in the lower sections of the river tend to give them an extra push. The same can be said for the Patuxent and Nanticoke rivers. A sliding sinker rig with a circle hook is the most popular rig and baiting it with cut bait from gizzard shad, menhaden or eel are good oily baits to attract their attention.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
There are a lot of striped bass north of us this week along New Jersey Beaches, hopefully they will begin to filter along our Maryland beaches soon. Fishing for striped bass and tautog has been good at the Ocean City Inlet this week. Most of the striped bass are measuring a little short of 28 inches but there are some keepers being caught by jigging with soft plastic jigs. The tautog are being caught on sand fleas. Flounder are moving through the inlet as they leave the back bay waters and head to their offshore spawning grounds. Therefore, the inlet and the channels leading towards the inlet are a very good place to fish for the flounder.
Anglers are finding good flounder fishing outside of the inlet on some of the inshore shoals and the wreck and reef sites. The wreck and reef sites farther offshore are producing good catches of black sea bass and flounder can be part of the mix when anglers target them. Some impressive bluefin tuna are being caught with the 30 Fathom Line and at times just a few miles outside of the Ocean City Inlet.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.