Maryland & Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
Sailing out of West Ocean City, Captain Monty Hawkins of Morning Star Fishing shared reports for both bluefin tuna and sea bass. On Friday the 27th, they cleared the inlet in slightly choppy conditions that diminished as the day progressed, which is always helpful when it comes to spotting tuna and bait on the surface. They headed north while most boats were south bound, but by 10:15 AM they doubled up on bluefin. The first knock down came on a diving plug, and about an hour later, they hooked another fish on the troll—the fish demonstrated a preference for plugs on this fine Friday in late December. After boxing that fish (the third of the day), tuna started blowing up on the surface all around the boat, but they didn’t receive another bite.
The next day, the Morning Star crew was back on the sea bass grounds, but they set up to troll for bluefin on the way out, which yielded no bites even though they saw some fish breaking on the surface. Thankfully, the sea bass were more than cooperative. The skipper said they needed to anchor only once, and the first limit of keepers came in just 35 minutes. For the next hour, the rest of the anglers on board caught their own limits of sea bass, so they headed for port with a few lines out in hopes of bluefin to cap off some great bottom fishing; however, they didn’t see one sign of tuna on the way in.
With the sea bass season now closed, the skipper will be sailing for tautog and keep plugging away (pun intended) at bluefin until the action dissipates as the fish head south. Give them a shout to inquire about availability! You can sign up for their email list to stay in the loop with upcoming dates, and call to book—all contact info is available at morningstarfishing.com.
In Ocean City, Taylor Bakke from Always Bent Fishing OC said that not much has changed on the fishing front this week—they’re still plucking away at stripers and bluefin out front when the conditions allow. Some larger migratory bass have been making their way north in the Bay, and he’s hopeful that they’ll be able to capitalize during tomorrow’s fishable conditions. Recently, Taylor’s friend Tyler Clazey, and his two friends, Seth and Kellen Conboy, were blessed enough to tangle with a hefty 60-inch-class bluefin tuna on spinning gear after borrowing a boat from Bad Habit Sportfishing for the day. Check out the original IG post below.
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Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Anglers Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
The striped bass bite slowed down for the bigger migratory fish right as we reached the weekend. Lots of boat traffic and fluctuating temperatures shut off the bite for the big ones, but there were still plenty of the 20- to 30-inch-class fish around deep ledges and shipping channels anywhere from 30 to 60 feet of water.
The big fished seem to be moving north right before it slowed down. Anglers around us were catching them as far north as The Hill right at the mouth of Eastern Bay and just south of Poplar Island. That could mean that the first wave of big fish is moving north, or they just spread out in the Middle Bay area.
Most other anglers have been staying inside the tidal rivers like the Severn and Magothy, where there’s good fishing for chain pickerel and yellow perch. Using live bullhead minnows under a bobber is the key, at least for now, since the water temperatures keep dropping. Casting them to any shoreline structure will work. If you’re not into using live bait, a Mepps spinner will always get the job done, especially a #3 with a gold blade.