It’s been a long, cold winter, with freezing temperatures lingering into mid-March, but the striped bass follow more cues than just the water temperature to begin their migrations. With today being the first official day of spring, what better time for the first 2026 Striper Migration Map!
Slowly, but surely, the spring run is getting underway with big fish seeking out the creeks and rivers in the Chesapeake, and anglers finding active schoolies and slots in the bays of New Jersey. Common folk wisdom among fishermen is that a very cold, snowy winter often precedes an exceptional fishing season. It’s too early to tell if that’s true, but we’ll be able to make a good assessment of that by our final 2026 Map in a few month. So even though the fishing is off to a slower start north of Maryland, it’s officially spring, and the bass are on the move.
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Maryland/Chesapeake Bay Striper Fishing Report
Catch-and-release fishing is allowed in the Chesapeake right now. Big bass are migrating along steep channel edges as they head toward their spawning rivers. Anglers are encouraged to handle the fish as minimally as possible, even leaving them in the water to unhook and release. Fish are holding over flats in the bay outside the rivers and creeks, and should be setting up as far up the bay as the Susquehanna Flats.
Unlike last year, when the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake closed to all striper fishing, this year, anglers will be allowed to catch-and-release striped bass through the month of April, while the spawning tributaries will be closed to fishing. Here’s a map that explains where anglers can striper fish next month:
New Jersey Striper Fishing Report
The waters are cold in New Jersey, but the back bays of Southern New Jersey are showing signs of life with slot-sized bass feeding around the sod banks and bridges, mainly during the outgoing tide. In Raritan Bay, there are fish in the rivers and tidal creeks, where the water is a little warmer, but there’s been little action in the open bay just yet.
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New York Striper Report
Western Long Island Sound and some of the bays are seeing a trickle of schoolies move in, joining the fish that held over in these waters.
Connecticut/Rhode Island Striper Report
Holdover fishing has improved as the ice is off the rivers and the waters have warmed marginally, making the stripers more active.
Cape Cod/Massachusetts Striper Report
The biggest encouragement for Massachusetts striper fishermen this week has been the return of the ospreys and herring in some of the runs in the southeastern part of the state.