Maryland and Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report
Captain Jamie Clough of Eastern Shore Light Tackle Charters reported an excellent topwater bite on Wednesday in crystal-clear water. The 1-ounce, white Lonely Angler Zipster—a walk-the-dog style topwater—was on point as always, he said. The skipper noted that a very fast, aggressive retrieve was the key to getting bites in order to keep the fish from getting a good look at the bait since water clarity is the best it has been in over a decade! They’ll continue to approach shallow-water stripers using this method as long as the conditions align. If sight-casting and topwater eats sound exciting to you, give Capt. Jamie or Capt. Mike a call to get a date on the books while the bite is on. Head to the ES Light Tackle Charters Facebook page for contact info and trip rates.
From Ocean City, Taylor Bakke of Always Bent Fishing OC reported a nice mix of fish in the back bays this week including gator bluefish, big flounder, and plenty of striped bass. He caught a 34-inch blue from the bridge during a night shift earlier this week, accompanied by a 22-inch flounder that he kept for the table. The channels from the inlet to the back bays tend to be very productive for flounder this time of year. However, most of the bluefish, he said, are running the beaches or setting up just outside the inlet. In addition to blues, the surf is still offering a solid mix of black drum and striper, and a few more red drum than were present last week. The striped bass bite, he added, really picked up around the recent new moon with good numbers of slot- and over-slot fish moving into the area, from the beaches to the marshes and backwater channels. On top of all that, the tautog bite has been steady from the inlet jetties to the piers and area bridges for folks baiting their hooks with green crabs and sand fleas. But, keep in mind that tautog fishing is currently catch-and-release only until the season reopens on July 1 with a daily limit of 2 fish per angler. Heading into the long weekend, there is no shortage of options for anglers in and around Ocean City.
Captain Monty Hawkins of Morning Star Fishing out of West Ocean City had a decent week of fishing on the sea bass grounds with plenty of fish coming up, but not always plenty of keepers. Sunday’s high hook had nine fish, but everyone on board still managed to go home with dinner. Monday’s trip had a light rail—which worked out because the skipper was in the process of deploying a new reef—and they bounced around to different pieces of bottom for a decent bite from some bigger keepers. The high hook, again, had nine fish on the day, but even the “low hand” had 7 fish, so the action was fairly balanced around the rail. The Morning Star was back out there on Wednesday and they were able to box a few nice sea bass, but building southwest winds and seas forced the skipper to point the bow toward port after a few productive drops. They’ll continue sailing for sea bass as conditions permit, so head to morningstarfishing.com for contact info to inquire about open dates and reserve your spot at the rail.
Anglers Sport Center Fishing Report – Annapolis, MD
Written by Anglers Fishing Manager & OTW Columnist, Alex Gallardo-Perez.
The striped bass are in full early-summer patterns with fish moving around the shallows in the mornings and evenings and holding on structure that has a good amount of current. The Bay Bridge was good this week; most anglers were live-lining spot or casting jigs to the pilings. The Patapsco River started to show signs of life with a few fish being caught around the old Key Bridge area. And Eastern Bay had some good topwater action in the evenings around shoreline structure.
The bottom fishing is still picking up; most people are looking for spot and there’s been a bycatch of perch and catfish. Hopefully, the spot will show up in full force after these next few days of warmer weather. Shoreline perch fishing is also just staring to pick up with a few anglers catching perch on small inline spinners.
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
Striped bass anglers have been anchoring up-current of the Bay Bridge piers and drifting various cut baits, soft crab and small live white perch back to the pier bases with good success this week. Most of the striped bass activity has been occurring on the east side of the bridge. Other anglers are drifting close to the piers and casting soft plastic jigs and paddletails to the pier bases. Anglers on the west side of the Bay Bridge in the shallower waters are fishing for white perch with good results.
Striped bass are being found in numerous locations along the Bay shores, Eastern Bay, and the mouths of the Choptank and western shore tidal rivers. Casting soft plastic jigs in the five-inch size range have been a popular way to fish along channel edges. Shallower locations with shoreline structure are producing good catches for anglers casting paddletails. The rocks at Poplar Island, Thomas Point and other favored structure are excellent places to fish during the morning and evening hours.
Anglers are spotting striped bass suspended along channel edges in the main part of the Bay, Eastern Bay and at the mouth of the Choptank. Jigging with soft plastic jigs is very popular once fish can be located. Trolling is another option and a great way to search for fish that may be thinly spread out. Umbrella rigs tend to be the most popular way to get down to the fish. In shallower channels in Eastern Bay or places like the False Channel at the mouth of the Choptank tandem rigged bucktails outfitted with twistertails or sassy shads work well.
Lower Bay
The lower Bay region is an exciting place to fish this week, as newly arrived red drum and bluefish are creating more opportunities for anglers. There are also reports of the first spot and croakers being found in the past week. Fishing for striped bass and black drum continues to be good.
Red drum are being found on the eastern side of the Bay in Tangier Sound, above the Middle Grounds, and the Target Ship. They are being caught by dropping soft crab baits to them when located on depth finders much the same way the black drum are being targeted. The red drum can also be caught by jigging with large soft plastics, when marked on depth finders or trolling with large spoons for some exciting catch and release action.
Jigging soft plastics along channel edges has been an effective way to catch striped bass and the bluefish that are moving into the region. The channel edges out in the bay, in the lower Potomac and Patuxent rivers are good places to find suspended striped bass. The bluefish are reported to be out in the Bay near the Target Ship area, the mouth of the Patuxent and off Point Lookout.
The shallow water fishery for striped bass is providing a lot of fun and exciting fishing this week from Tangier Sound to the Potomac and Patuxent rivers. During the morning and evening hours, casting poppers and paddletails are popular ways to work the shallows for striped bass; with a little luck anglers may start to see some speckled trout.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
Surf anglers that are fishing with large cut baits of mullet and menhaden are catching and releasing striped bass that are above the slot, some large bluefish and a few inshore sharks. Those fishing with sand fleas or clams are catching black drum, and there were a few recent reports of red drum in the surf.
At the inlet and Route 50 Bridge area, anglers casting soft plastic jigs are catching striped bass, but most must be released due to failing to measure up to the minimum 28 inches. Anglers drifting cut baits in the inlet area at night have been catching and releasing striped bass that are outside the 28-inch to 31-inch slot. Flounder can always be found in the inlet area. The tautog season is now closed until July 1.
The back bay channels leading from the inlet is the place to be if drifting for flounder is in your plans. The boat traffic is not too bad, even on weekends. That will all change as the summer months progress.
The boats taking anglers out to the wreck and reef sites are finding good catches of black sea bass for their anglers. Limit catches are common and flounder and ling or red hake can also be in the mix. Farther offshore in the canyons, anglers are finding excellent numbers of dolphin and a few yellowfin tuna. Deep drop anglers are finding good numbers of golden and blueline tilefish.
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.