Maryland and Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
Winter has arrived in the Chesapeake Bay region, but frigid temperatures aren’t keeping anglers from getting out to enjoy the striped bass bite in the Bay. Finding the fish, however, has not always been easy. There are still bass filtering in from the ocean and a few hardy anglers are chasing them out toward the 3-mile line. Meanwhile, inside the Bay, the fish can be found anywhere from shallow flats to deep shipping channels. It all depends on where the bunker are holding.
Utilizing electronics has been crucial to locating deep schools of bait and bass, but at times, diving birds and breaking fish lead the way to the action. Striped bass anglers should keep a mix of presentations at the ready and be prepared to pivot at a moments notice from throwing topwater plugs to heavy jigs and large soft plastics. Do your best to keep fight times to a minimum, and remove the fish from the water only briefly for a photo to release them in good condition.
For now, there are no signs of the striper bite slowing down. The fish continue to arrive in waves and they are more than willing to eat. The number one concern that captains are keeping an eye on is water temperature. Last winter, many marinas and boat launches froze over and made sailing unsafe, leaving winter fishermen to target perch, catfish, and pickerel in the tidal rivers. But until arctic temps take hold, Bay area anglers have some excellent striped bass fishing to enjoy heading into the New Year.
From Ocean City, Taylor Bakke of Always Bent Fishing OC shared that not much has changed since the holidays; colder temperatures as of late have hampered angler participation. That said, there are still stripers being caught out front and, when conditions allow, a handful of local boats are looking for bluefin tuna in anticipation of the commercial season reopening on January 1. The fishermen that are playing catch and release with stripers inside 3 miles, he said, are seeing the best results while trolling Mojos or casting soft plastics and jigs into breaking fish or beneath diving birds. Finding stripers on the surface gets tougher as the winter progresses, but topwater is not out of the question yet. The local striper bite in the coastal bays, however, seems to have cooled off a bit (no pun intended)—whether it be due to the holidays, or a lack of fishermen willing to brave the cold.
From inside the Bay, Captain Jamie Clough of Eastern Shore Light Tackle Charters reported that large schools of big striped bass are closely relating to schools of bunker. The skipper said his charters have been finding fish that are chasing bait in depths as shallow as 5 feet, but at times, they are catching them deep as 100 feet. It can be very difficult to develop a pattern when the fish are on the heels of these bunker pods coupled with the incessant wind keeping them off the water for a day or two. When they have been able to get out though, Captain Jamie said the bite has been terrific. The photo he shared below speaks for itself!
Head to the Eastern Shore Light Tackle Charters Facebook page for trip rates and contact info, and give Jamie a call to inquire about upcoming availability while the bite is hot and the ramps/marinas are still free of ice.
Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
The Anglers Sport Center fishing report is written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
Most anglers are chasing the migratory striped bass that have shown up. Compared to last season, when bass were abundant in the Middle Bay, most of the fish seem to be holding in the southern portion of the Bay, from the Maryland/Virginia line into Virginia waters. Last week, some fished moved in just south of Chesapeake Beach, and most were caught anywhere from 50 feet of water to as shallow as 10 feet. It’s been hard to get out with the heavy winds these past few weeks, leaving anglers only a few days to pattern it all together, so most people are running many miles to find the fish.
One of the safety net spots has alway been the Power Plant just north of the Patuxent River, providing shots at time some big fish and almost always something to catch.
The pickerel fishing should be good, but just like everything else, the high winds and cold temperatures have kept most of us away from the water. At times, we’ve had skim ice on the creeks which, coupled with super low tides, is just making it hard to fish.