Maryland & Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
Sailing out of West Ocean City, Captain Monty Hawkins of Morning Star Fishing switched things up this week and instead of pulling sea bass off the deep reefs, they went out for an experimental tuna trip on Wednesday the 27th in pleasantly calm seas. It didn’t take long for their crew of 6 to find the action, but unfortunately, both tunas they hooked wound up finding slight faults in their tackle and gear, breaking them off before the skipper could net them; he prefers to use a net over a gaff or harpoon in order to preserve the quality of the meat. Had either of the fish been landed, they would have been his two largest tunas ever! Friday’s outing was a bluefin redemption trip after going 0 for 2 on Wednesday. They hooked and lost a 200-pound class fish and within 2 minutes, the fish broke them off again. However, the next bite came from a 61 incher that they successfully got to the boat and landed in a matter of 25 minutes! When Sunday came around, the captain headed out again with a crew of longtime regulars aboard the Morning Star and found gannets diving on bait and tuna breaking 3 miles closer to home than the previous trip. After some time, one of the rods went off and their topshot unfortunately failed, so they pressed on. The second bite came a little further out on the same rod, and after a battle that lasted nearly 2 hours, they secured a 69-inch, 211-pound bluefin. The captain is considering running more trolling trips for bluefin tuna, so if you’re interested, sign up for their email list via morningstarfishing.com to be notified.
In Ocean City, Taylor Bakke from Always Bent Fishing OC reported: “Well, I think we’ve reached peak of our bluefin season here in Ocean City, seems like the fishing has been the best we’ve seen over the past week! Lots of boats are catching with giants and unders all mixed in. Jeff and the crew on Bad Habit had another awesome week, killing two last Monday and a giant 72-inch, 240-pound tuna Wednesday before Thanksgiving! Then on Sunday, we saw lots of boats catching, with a few giants (over 73”) in the mix. We caught and released an 80-inch giant yesterday; the bluefin bite is the craziest we’ve seen yet outside of Ocean City. The bite has been red hot, to the point we have even heard of a few guys getting tight on spinning gear; however, landing them can be tricky, especially if a 70-inch fish hits, but it seems like they are thick out front right now, and will stick around for at least another 3 to 4 weeks! Get out and get on ’em while the bite is hot! We’ve also got some migratory stripers beginning to show up locally. Let’s hope the weather cooperates this week!” Check out the Always Bent website for local fishing reports, videos and more.
View this post on Instagram
Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Anglers Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
Pickerel and yellow perch fishing have taken center stage this past week, with most anglers heading up the creeks and looking for pickerel in the local tidal rivers and Eastern Shore mill ponds. The Severn River had the most reports of numbers with some quality pickerel in the mix. Most of the fish are in the 18- to 22-inch range with some 24- to 25-inch citation-size fish mixed in.
Some of the yellow perch are coming as bycatch when casting smaller jerkbaits, and a few have been pushing 14 inches long. Hot lures have been the small Rapala X-Rap jerkbaits in the white and yellow perch colors.
Striped bass have been moving south just outside of Taylor’s Island and south of Chesapeake Beach with some bigger fish in the 30-inch range showing up. The power plant has been a popular spot this week because of some holdover speckled trout holding just at the end of the power plant rips.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Cold weather has settled in, and if you dress warmly and keep your feet dry, there is plenty of good fishing to be found throughout Maryland. Coastal anglers are enjoying an epic bluefin tuna bite off Ocean City and tautog at the inlet.
Inland, one fish that excites cold weather anglers is the chain pickerel.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASFMC) Striped Bass Management Board will meet in-person and via webinar on Monday, December 16 to consider changing 2025 management measures to increase the probability of rebuilding the stock by the 2029 deadline. The draft agenda, webinar information, and the Technical Committee Report with management options for consideration are now posted on the ASFMC website.
The Commission will host an Informational Webinar on Thursday, December 5 at 6 p.m. to review the management options developed by the Technical Committee and provide the public with sufficient background information to inform the development and submission of public comment by December 10. Register for the webinar online, and for more information, including public comment opportunities, see the press release on the ASFMC website.
Lower Bay
Anglers in the lower Bay continue to pursue striped bass and even a few puppy drum. The lower Potomac River has been a very popular area to look for striped bass along some of the deeper and steeper channel edges. When fish can be spotted on depth finders, they are usually holding deep close to the bottom at depths of 30 feet or more.
Jigging will always be a fun and popular light-tackle way to fish for suspended striped bass when concentrations of them warrant attention. The edges of the main shipping channel in the bay near Cedar Point, Cove Point and the eastern side of the channel from Buoy 76 to Buoy 72 are good places to look for striped bass. Jigging with medium sized soft plastic jigs and metal jigs are popular choices.
Trolling is a very popular way to work the region’s channel edges this week. Using umbrella rigs behind heavy inline weights is the best way to get down to the depths of 30 feet or more where the striped bass are holding close to the bottom. Bucktails and skirted jig heads dressed with sassy shads or twistertails in white or chartreuse are favored trailers.
White perch are now holding in water depths of 35 feet or more in the lower Potomac, the mouth of the Patuxent, and Tangier Sound. They prefer to hold close to the bottom over oyster bars or similar hard bottom. Jigging with metal jigs is the best way to target the larger white perch.
As one can imagine, the tidal Potomac, Patuxent and Nanticoke rivers are holding large numbers of blue catfish. At this time of the year the stretch of the Potomac from the Route 301 Bridge to the Wilson Bridge offer excellent fishing opportunities. The Patuxent River from Benedict to Jug Bay is a good place to fish as well as the Sharptown area on the Nanticoke River. In most cases the blue catfish will be found in the channels.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
Surf anglers patiently wait for any indication that some portion of the southerly fall migration of striped bass will arrive. There continues to be some striped bass action inside the Ocean City inlet where anglers casting soft plastic jigs are catching striped bass in the inlet and the Route 90 Bridge. As usual most fail to meet the 28-inch minimum but some do, and they all provide fun fishing.
Fishing for tautog at the inlet and Route 50 Bridge area has been very good and anglers are enjoying the action and a good portion of the fish being caught exceed the 16-inch minimum length. Sand fleas and pieces of green crab are two of the most popular baits to be used near jetty rock, bulkheads, and piers.
When weather and wind conditions allow, anglers headed out to the offshore wreck and reef sites are enjoying excellent fishing for black sea bass with limits not being uncommon. The biggest and most exciting news outside the Ocean City Inlet is the epic bluefin tuna bite. Anglers are catching medium sized bluefins within 10 miles of the inlet. It is not known how long the southerly migration of these amazing fish off Ocean City will last so don’t miss it.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.