Maryland and Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
Captain Jamie Clough of Eastern Shore Light Tackle Charters shared that with all the strong wind lately, he’s only been able to get out once in the last six days. However, he found that the striped bass have moved even shallower than they were before the blow. While topwater plugs had been the ticket for his charters before the nor’easter, the skipper is now finding that stripers are showing preference for low-profile soft plastics—specifically, 4-inch paddletails on light jigheads. As sea and weather conditions settle and Bay waters clean up, he’ll be back to light-tackle striper fishing. Head to Capt. Jamie’s Facebook page for contact information and reach out to book a date. The striped bass bite should only improve from here as the fall migration brings them back to the Bay.
Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Anglers Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
After all the wind the past few days, we finally had a break in the weather and the striped bass are biting. We are still seeing fish in shallow water, but the bird show has increased in open water around the mouths of the rivers in the middle Bay area. The mouth of Eastern Bay, Choptank River, and the western shipping channel ledge in front of Chesapeake Beach are the areas with the most bird activity as striped bass feed on peanut bunker.
During the days when it’s been blowing, anglers have been targeting pickerel in the tidal creeks and rivers in the middle Bay Area. The Patapsco, Magothy and Severn rivers have been producing great pickerel fishing in their shallow creeks, especially around grass beds and docks.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Read the full DNR report here.
Middle Bay
The Bay Bridge piers continue to be a worthwhile stop for anglers in the area. Drifting live spot or eels back to the pier bases, where the striped bass are holding close, is a good way to make a catch. Other anglers are casting soft plastic jigs at the pier bases and enjoying good action. As always, a moving tide is very important to success.
Striped bass and bluefish can be found in numerous locations in the middle Bay and steep channel edges are often the key. The channel edge from Bloody Point past Buoy 83 and south to the False Channel has been an excellent place to troll with umbrella rigs for a mix of striped bass and bluefish.
Water temperatures in the tidal rivers are dipping into the lower 60s, which is causing juvenile menhaden and bay anchovies to exit. Striped bass are beginning to suspend along steep channel edges in the lower Choptank River and main channel edges in the Bay. Jigging and trolling with umbrella rigs will be a major focus for anglers and at times the striped bass will push bait to the surface where gulls will join in. Spot are also feeling the urge to move out of the region as water temperatures cool.
Anglers are still finding some fun shallow-water fishing by casting topwater lures, jerkbaits, and paddletails. The Poplar Island rocks, Eastern Bay, Thomas Point, the lower Choptank, and the mouth of the Little Choptank are just a few locations that show promise. The lower sections of the tidal rivers are becoming good places to look for white perch that are schooling up on oyster reef lumps.
Lower Bay
Bluefish remain a major focus for anglers in the lower Bay, where the waters around the Target Ship and the main channel edges in the Bay and lower Potomac River are providing good fishing. Soon the bluefish will be a memory since it will not take much convincing for them to head south. Trolling along channel edges with umbrella rigs is a popular way to fish for them and jigging when breaking fish can be found is always fun.
The shallow-water fishing for a mix of striped bass, sea trout, red drum and bluefish is good this week in the lower Potomac and Patuxent rivers, Tangier Sound and near Hoopers Island. Casting poppers and paddletails has been a good choice and when fishing over grass in the Tangier Sound area, a popping cork, and trailing plastic shrimp is a good tactic for speckled trout and red drum. Large red drum are being found in the shallow waters this week on the eastern side of the Bay.
Fishing for spot and croakers remains good this week but the fishery is showing signs of thinning out. Fishing for blue catfish remains very good this week in the tidal Potomac, Patuxent and Nanticoke rivers.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
The Ocean City area is in the process of recovering from the recent nor’easter this past week, so the ocean and bay waters will still be stirred up. The ocean is calming down so boats should be able to clear port for offshore fishing by the weekend. The bay waters will take some time to clear up.
In less than two weeks there have been two new state records set in the offshore waters of the Ocean City area. Marc Spagnola set the new state record for longfin albacore with an impressive 78-pound catch. James L. Frazetti Jr. set a new state record for pompano dolphin and also achieved FishMaryland Master Angler status in the same week. Surf conditions are calming down, and anglers can expect some action with bluefish and catch and release opportunities with large red drum that are migrating south along the beaches. There are flounder in the surf and the occasional black drum.
At the inlet fishing for sheepshead has been excellent and anglers are catching them on fiddler crabs, pieces of green crab or sand fleas, tautog are also in the mix. Striped bass and bluefish are also being caught. Flounder are starting to leave the back bay areas, so the inlet is a passageway for them as are the channels leading to the inlet. Larger baits of live spot, finger mullet or Gulp baits will often account for larger flounder.
The black sea bass season is open, as is the tautog season so anglers headed out to the wreck and reef sites should experience good fishing. The fall flounder migration is underway so targeting flounder at lumps, and wreck and reef sites is a good tactic to intercept flounder headed out to the offshore waters.
The fishing at the canyons should show promise as yellowfin tuna, longfin albacore and bigeye tuna move south from more northern waters. Time will tell to see what changes the Nor’easter brought to the offshore waters.
Maryland DNR Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Read the full DNR report here.