Freshwater Fishing Report, August 30, 2019 Update:
Cooler and overcast weather this week certainly hasn’t hurt the bass fishery. In many area reservoirs and lakes water temps dropped noticeably and the bass shifted shallow for longer periods of the day, eagerly taking topwater lures, plastic frogs, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits during extended morning and evening bites. We had a couple reader reports from the Baltimore-area reservoirs of good bass fishing from shore (and for crappie on minnow in Loch Raven), from Lake Anna of solid bass action (plus some stripers for those trolling diving plugs in the main lake from the Splits down and of crappie at the bridges), and Tim sent in this pic of a nice bass caught on fly gear, in an undisclosed VA lake. All of that said, however, anglers should probably plan to see a quick return to summer patterns and fish moving deeper for most of the day, as temperatures start creeping back up.
Reports coming in from The Tackle Box put crappie fishing at St. Mary’s Lake in prime form. Deep structure such as the spillway has been holding very good numbers of fish, which will hit minnow, two- to three-inch tubes, and similar soft plastics on jigheads. We also had a couple of successful southern Maryland western side snakehead-hunting reports from Contributor Eric Packard, who dragged his snakes out of very thick cover with weedless topwater. Despite that success, whether it was the front’s chill, the pressure change, or the abnormal tides we’ve been having lately, many snakehead hunters in the blackwater region and the VA/MD rivers and creeks on the western shore reported mostly disappointing results this week. Catch averages seemed to run between one and three fish with a few folks getting up to six or seven. Chatterbaits and minnow did much of the catching.
Trout fishing has been fair this week, with overcast days and cool weather. Water levels in most rivers through the region have returned to normal or are close to normal for this time of year, so standard late summer tactics apply. Wooly buggers and terrestrials are good bets.
Although this appeared in the Way North report, it bleeds over into freshwater so we wanted to mention it here, too: catfish in the Susquehanna and the far upper Bay tribs have been utterly on fire. The bite has also been red hot in ponds and lakes that support channel catfish populations, and Contributor Jim Gronaw has been enjoying some excellent action in the Monocacy. He’s also found some rather massive carp willing to play tug-of-war. If you’d like to take aim at battling some of these bruisers stay tuned – Jim has a feature on how to catch ‘em, coming up in a fall edition of FishTalk.
Freshwater Fishing Report, August 23, 2019 Update:
Freshwater fishing has been stellar recently, from the rivers and lakes to mountain streams. Tochterman's let us know that anglers looking for good fishing in the Baltimore area should head over to Loch Raven, where the bass fishery is picking up. Bass have been in the shallows throughout the day, hiding from oppressive heat under shade. Even where heavily shaded, the fish are often lethargic during daylight hours, and are most prone to biting during dusk and dawn. Topwater lures and plastic frogs have been great options. Crappie have also been abundant though deep around structure and will take small minnows. The same is true at St Mary’s Lake, Lake Anna, Bugg’s Island, and Deep Creek Lake. Deep Creek Outfitters mentioned in specific that in their waters, heading out early isn’t the best move solely because of the fishing, but also because the lake gets so crowded. As schools start back up in the coming days, however, traffic in all our area waters will drop off significantly. Then after a few cold fronts move through, watch out – some seriously hot fall freshwater fishing is just around the corner. Meanwhile, another option is to try fishing at night. In waterways accessible after the sun goes down, until we see a cool-off night fishing will be an excellent option for beating the heat.
Freshwater Correspondent Eric Packard hit up multiple ponds throughout southern Maryland this week, including the ponds at Calvert Cliffs State Park, where he landed numerous bass and crappie. He reported using a topwater ninja mouse, Ned rigs, and topwater frogs. In addition to catching bass, he also got into some snakeheads. We heard more snakish reports from readers this week coming from the Blackwater complex, the Potomac creeks, and the Anacostia. It’s been a hit-or-miss bite, however, with several anglers reporting empty coolers or more bass than snakes. For quite some time now lures have often been out-catching bait, so look for the new issue of FishTalk that just hit the streets this week – it has a feature on how to target snakheads with topwater lures, in specific.
Most of the rivers in the western part of our region are now running clear and relatively low, often below average. There are a few wash-outs due to slow-moving thunderstorms this week, but they’re few and far between. (Some areas of the Gunpowder, for example, were well below average until yesterday – but today are well above average). As a general rule trout anglers will have to expect spooky fish, and terrestrials should be a good bet.
Freshwater Fishing Report, August 16, 2019 Update:
Let’s start our freshwater tour of the region with snakeheads this week, since we do have an interesting tale to relate: Contributor Eric Packard enjoyed an active snakehead bite in both western and eastern short spots with topwater working the best, specifically a small sized Ninja Mouse. He also said they are also catching bass in the mix. More interesting, however, this week he filmed a swarm of baby snakes travelling between marsh ponds by wriggling through inch-deep water and over exposed muck. Meanwhile, reports of mass fry balls have come in from just about all the known areas. Anglers should note, however, that in some areas (we heard this specifically from Blackwater) fry balls have been picked over and it’s getting harder to find any that still have parents guarding them. Assorted reader reports of snake success came in this week from the Susquehanna, the Bush, the Potomac, and the Rappahannock on the Western Shore, and the Blackwater complex and the Chickamacomico on the Eastern Shore. Most of the action was reported to be on topwater frogs and lures like that Ninja that Packard mentioned pulled through thick cover, but we also heard of some fish caught on chatterbaits.
Anglers who enjoy fishing the rivers will want to know that Mossy Creek was delighted to say the smallmouth fishing is about at its peak in the Shenandoah. They said that over the last week it has been the best fishery and anglers are getting them in quality and quantity. There has also been a decent bite in the early morning and late evening in the spring creeks. Fishing has been good with terrestrial tackle like grasshoppers. Unfortunately, with this good news also comes bad, with little rain over the past week they need more for the mountain streams to stay up and flowing in order to search for the brook trout.
Deep Creek Outfitters told us this week it's actually been hard to fish due to so much boat traffic – they mentioned that on a busy Saturday there can be as many as 1,200 boats on the lake, and that makes it hard to fish the open waters aside from right at first light. Some anglers are heading back into the coves to find either yellow perch or bass. Live minnow under a bobber is best for the yellow perch, and they said there have been some BIG perch recently. Topwater frogs have been fooling the early morning bass.
We didn’t hear any current reports from the other area reservoirs this week, but that’s more likely because freshwater anglers have so many options right now than any lack of fishing. Both bass and crappie have been in the same summer pattern for some time now and we don’t expect that to change in the next few weeks; it’s mostly a matter of fishing shallow at daybreak and dusk but moving to deep structure after that.
Freshwater Fishing Report, August 9, 2019 Update:
With river and stream water levels returning to normal in most (most) areas, flyfishers are doing excellent and enjoying a steady bite on nymphs, elk hair caddis, beetles, and wooly buggers. Brown trout have been incredibly active, and most river’s waters are holding at steady levels with clear conditions. Rain earlier this week muddied some areas, however, the storms have been very localized and water clarity quickly returns to normal in affected areas. When we last spoke with District Angling, they noted that terrestrials had been doing the trick.
As has been the case recently, the snakehead bite has been sporadic in most locations. On one trip anglers catch them hand over fist, the next they get a couple of hits and go home with a skunk in the box. There doesn’t seem to be a heck of a lot of rhyme or reason. That said, we did hear from anglers on creeks off both the Potomac and Rappahannock this week that topwater frogs dragged through heavy cover were drawing the most strikes. But we also heard from a pair of anglers who hit Blackwater and caught zero snakes, just a few largemouth bass by “accident.” On the other hand, contributor Eric Packard got into some snakeheads in a Western shore tributary marsh. The word for the week is “unpredictable” but Western Shore spots do seem to be out-performing those on the Eastern side at the moment.
In the lakes, bass fishing remains solid. The Tackle Box let us know that some large fish were pulled out of St Mary’s Lake this week. Bass are still in their typical summer mode of behavior, a bit sluggish during the day but highly active during mornings and dusk. Buzzbaits and plastic frogs have been doing great. Overcast days have been providing good fishing, as the fish aren’t boiling under the water. Deep Creek, the Baltimore reservoirs, and Lake Anna are all experiencing similar trends. In those lakes where it’s allowed, night fishing is now out-performing fishing in daylight for many anglers. Yellow perch, crappie, and pickerel have also been active in the lakes, but again are slowing down and moving deep once the sun is high in the sky. Crappie are reportedly deep over structure.
Freshwater Fishing Report, August 2, 2019 Update:
Freshwater fishing has continued to roll along in typical summer modes. In local lakes and reservoirs, largemouth bass continue to operate within their normal summer pattern, active during morning hours before settling down when the sun is beating down from above. They’ve been picking back up at dusk, but Deep Creek Outfitters let us know that even out west they’ve oftentimes been a bit sluggish. Imitation frogs have been great bait, as have topwater plugs. The same is holding true in the Baltimore-area reservoirs, especially Loch Raven, which Herb’s mentioned is also experiencing a great crappie bite but fish do become lethargic and head deep when the sun is high in the sky. Similar reports have come in from St. Mary’s Lake where Contributor Eric Packard noted that the crappie move to the deepest structure around, after the sun is up. Blue/gray was the hot color pattern. Reports are similar at Anna, where the daybreak to 8:00 a.m. time-frame has included some nice stripers breaking water and bass hitting topwater. However, as soon as the mercury rises the fish disappear and head deep where it’s been tough to tempt them to bite.
For mountain and stream flyfishers, water levels are mostly stable and normal. Nymphs and wooly buggers remain the go-to flies.
Snakehead reports tapered off a bit this week, as the effects of the short-lived cool-down quickly dissipated and the fish seem to have moved back up into extremely weedy, shallow, inaccessible areas that are difficult to fish. Topwater frogs remain the best bet. However, we did head from one angler fishing in an undisclosed Western Shore waterway which has snakes and fishable lily pads, and he had an excellent bite. Still, a topwater frog was the offering that did the trick.