Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 29 Update:
The Angler in Chief says he’s been finding some decent fish among the countless micro-rock in the vicinity of Poplar Island. There were dozens of flocks of birds working from 84A all the way down to “The Hook” just southwest of the island in 15 to 50 feet of water this week, but it takes hitting school after school to find the one holding keepers up into the 26- to 27-inch range. He recommends fishing deep down below the frenzy to escape the ankle-biters and says he found his best fish in 20 feet of water dead on bottom. Five-inch white and pearl paddletails on one-ounce heads were the best offering. He says there were also fish in the shallows of the West River and in the South along the channel edges, but again most of the stripers churning water or marked by birds are tiny and getting a jig down to the bottom was what produced keeper-sized fish. Another evening this week he also found some fish to 26” under birds in 22’ south of the Green 1 marker, yet again down deep under sporadic bird action.
We had two nifty reader reports of weakfish this week, both from the mouth of the Choptank in deep (40-plus-foot) water. The fish weren’t large, but several keepers were reported. As with the areas to the north, there were also flocks of birds off the Choptank which were again over mostly sadly small rockfish. As true elsewhere, the keeper-sized fish being reported came from down deep under the frenzy.
Trollers hitting the open Bay in the Thomas Point to Bloody Point zone reported hauling in some decent catches this week including two limit catches for two different boats each with seven anglers aboard. Alltackle in Annapolis and Anglers Sport Center both confirmed that this area has been a hotspot. Over last weekend one angler reported filling the fishbox trolling the ship anchorage off the Severn, and another report of good trolling came from outside of Chesapeake Beach with several fish in the 20s and one hitting the 32-inch mark. Contributor Eric Packard says that kayak trolling the lower Pax this week produced only dinky rockfish.
Crabbing Report: Crabbers! Get out before winter hits! Angler-in-Chief Lenny Rudow ditched land for his crabbing skiff and brought in a full basket of crabs on Thursday. He reported that the crabbing is still (!!!) great. Fresh fowl necks in 10 to 12 feet of water did the trick.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 23 Update:
Angler-in-Chief Lenny Rudow reports that there are still hordes of throwbacks off the West River, but some of the keepers have grown in size with some mid-20-inch fish pulled up this week and FishTalk Contributor Ryan Gullang landing a 28-incher. White five-inch paddletails proved the top offering, with bare plastics commonly out-catching skirted jigs this week. Rudow also said that trollers pulling light tandem rigs with bucktail/paddletail combos looked to be doing quite well. When birds are spotted in the area, unfortunately, most are marking fish between small and microscopic. He also mentions that there are fish on the shallows of Thomas Point, but even on weekdays the pressure there is often heavy and you’ll have to deal with a crowd. Angler’s and Alltackle in Annapolis both confirmed these reports— there were plenty of birds to cruise to, but little of substance coming out from under them.
There were some reader reports this week of a better grade of fish showing up sporadically under birds in the 20- to 30-foot zone off Franklin Manor. The action was said to be short-lived, but productive while it lasted. Birds have also been doing some diving in the mouth of the Choptank, and off Parker’s Creek. Anglers hitting them report mixed levels of success in finding keepers among all the dinks.
Alltackle and Angler’s also suggested hitting the rivers right now. Rockfish are being caught in the shallows and off piers, and white perch are still available from shore before they move deeper for the winter. Both cited bloodworms and FishBites on bottom rigs as great baits for the perch.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 16 Update:
Angler in Chief Lenny Rudow reports that although unsettled weather has changed things up a bit this week the bite in the tributary mouths is still going strong, mostly on 16- to 25-inch fish and sometimes under birds in the late afternoon. Both jiggers and trollers are catching 10 to 15 throwbacks as they sort through them for a keeper, with white, chartreuse, and white/chartreuse combinations continuing to make the grade. Five- and six-inch soft plastics are a good bet, and we’ve also heard from some readers who are having good success using lipped diving plugs of the same size, and medium-sized Rat-L-Traps.
Shallow structure and channel edges are the places to try according to both Rudow (fishing the South/West) and readers hitting the Severn, Choptank, and Patuxent, where just about everyone gave very similar reports for size, numbers, and tactics. One glitch: Rudow did say that right after the front pushed through early in the week some hotspots had gone dry while others that had been barren turned hot, so the changing weather has shuffled the deck a bit from last week. If the spot you had success at previously suddenly doesn’t produce, he recommends being quick to pull up stakes and search elsewhere.
Contributor Eric Packard spent more than one day on the lower Pax this week, fishing Mill Creek and near the Route 4 bridge both by kayak and by boat. The striper catch was mostly small fish but bluefish and specks were both in the mix, so these species haven’t cleared out of town just yet, either. Reader reports coming from those who are casting smaller lures in the shallows for perch continue have success and the catch continues to include puppy drum, usually in the 14- to 16-inch class. Pups were checked in from the Severn, South, and the Pax this past week.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 9 Update:
The Angler in Chief reports a steady bite on stripers up to 25” with lots and lots of throwbacks mixed in, in the shallows in and around the South and West Rivers. Skirted BKDs and 5” paddle-tails on half-ounce heads have been doing the trick, with white and white over chartreuse proving to be the most effective color patters. Bird shows have been popping up sporadically in the same general vicinity but out a bit deeper, though the fish found in the frenzies tend to be all 12- to 14-inchers and he says he hasn't seen a keeper come out from under the birds yet this fall.
Several readers also chimed in after fishing the Bay Bridges this week, but their reports weren’t much more encouraging than the traffic reports coming from up above them. We heard of dink rock and some snapper blues in the 12” range under birds near the main span, but that was it. David Rudow headed out to the pilings this week in hopes of catching on his kayak, but reported that an eight-mile paddle proved fruitless after hitting multiple pilings and the rockpiles.
Reader reports came in from multiple tribs (the Severn, South, and Choptank) that LTT Trolling with paddle-tail and twister-tail plastics was producing stripers along the channel edges. In all cases the bulk of the catch was throwbacks but also in all cases multiple keepers were reported with most being in the low 20-something range. In the open Bay, Spoonbrellas have been getting a thumbs-up by some larger fish up to 27 inches. Angler’s and Alltackle backed this up, with multiple reports of trollers hitting the dinks hard and landing a few keepers along the way. They also mentioned that searching for working birds has been an effective strategy to get in some action if you’ve had a slow day, but not to count on them for keepers.
Contributor Eric Packard hit the waters of the Pax near the Route 4 bridge this week, and reported a nice mix of species including rock, blues, and specks, hitting jigs. Most of the fish, however, were small. We also had a Patuxent report regarding bottom fishing, from The Tackle Box, with large numbers of spot still being hauled up. They noted that there have been striper blitzes near the naval station this week, and said that while it's mostly small fish, there were some larger rockfish prowling deeper down below which trollers found when they weighted down their lures.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 2 Update:
Several readers checked in after fishing the Bay Bridge last weekend and this week, reporting that schoolie rock with some decent keepers mixed in were hitting jigs and Hopkins jigging spoons. Jigging with different metals and soft plastics has been common. One bait angler also reeled up a black sea bass in the shadow of the Bridge this week, and we even had a keeper weakfish reported. Angler’s Sport Center is reporting that soft crab and eels are working at the Bridge, too. Angler in Chief Lenny Rudow says he visited the bridge this week as well, but it was blowing 20 and the conditions were not conducive to fishing; all they managed to bring up were a few dinks and small bluefish which were under birds near the main channel spans.
Angler-in-Chief Lenny Rudow reports that there are good numbers of keeper stripers off the West River, however, you have to weed through a lot of dinks to get to them and over the weekend he encountered a 15-to-one throwback-to-keeper ratio. The keeper fish ranged from 19 to 24 inches. Paddle-tail jigs in white and pink on half-ounce jigheads did the catching. A reader fishing the same area reported good success with Electric Chicken color patterns. A small chumming fleet including three to five charters was also present in the same general vicinity early in the week. Birds are popping up as well, though the AIC reports that all he found under them were the smaller fish.
A reader reported hit Eastern Bay, where he found good numbers of fish but all unfortunately too small for the cooler. Birds have been working on the north side of Poplar with some regularity but most of the rock are 10 to 14 inches and we have yet to hear of a keeper fish coming out from under the birds there. On the western side between Chesapeake Beach and Franklin Manor, another reader checked in to let us know he found good numbers of box-sized fish up to 26 inches mid-week.
Contributor Eric Packard has been doing his usual gig (read: going fishing every day) and spent some time kayak fishing the Patuxent and Mill Creek this week, where he caught a mix of stripers up to 20 inches, white perch, and weakfish up to 13 inches. A four-inch pink and orange paddle-tail and a Beetle Spin did the catching.
Crabbing Report: They’re still going strong — get out there and catch some fat fall crabs while you still can! They're moving to slightly deeper water right now, but are still quick to latch onto the chicken necks.