Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, August 2018

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/31/2018 Update:

Editor’s Note: Mollie Rudow, our intrepid fishing report compiler, started at St. Mary’s College of Maryland last week. As a new student she has prioritized her studies and will no longer be working on our FishTalk fishing reports every week. Moving forward, Parker Martin, our former FishTalk intern who has filled in for Mollie in the past, will be gathering the intel and writing up the reports. Please join us in welcoming Parker to the reports!

Topwater is working fabulously in 10’ or less of water during the early morning or at dusk; try Halco or Yo-Zuri plugs for superior casting and action in the water. In many of the same places for using these plugs, switch to chumming and live-lining once the bite slows down due to the heat. Areas like the rock piles near the bridge, in the Narrows and into the Eastern Bay have been producing when live lining spot and fresh alewife. And, as per usual, a ¾ ounce jig head with a BKD tail has been bringing up the schoolies and occasional keeper rockfish around Thomas Point and the bridge pilings. The Eastern bay’s tributaries have been stellar during a heavy tidal change, so be on the lookout for the right time to hit those areas.
mackerel fish
Spanish mackerel are now an option for Middle Bay anglers!

This week we had our first seasonal report of Spanish mackerel caught in Eastern Bay (just one, photo documented) with more reports of them from Chesapeake Beach and the mouth of the Choptank, south. Angler in chief Lenny Rudow reports experiencing a great bite in the shallows in the Thomas Point/mouth of the South area on fish up to 26 inches (mostly 16 to 21 inches, though) on white plastics and topwater plugs. He also ran into breaking fish in the same class in the mouth of the West, in 15 feet of water.

White perch are being caught all over the Eastern Bay on lures like spinners, especially Rooster Tails and Bert’s Perch Pounders. If they’re readily available to you, grass shrimp can offer a huge helping hand when targeting perch. Just use a fine meshed net to catch some then let them drift dead in the current near natural bottom or (preferably) near hard structures, especially riprap and docks/pilings. Other options include bloodworms and razor clams on bottom rigs, but all options will work better than others to a varying degree, so see what is working best in your waters.
 
Lastly, it looks like spot are showing up near the western side of the bridge, usually in 10 to 15’ of water on bottom rigs. Again, thread on some bloodworms and you should be able to tie into a good number of spot, either for bait, or for sandwiches!

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/23/2018 Update:

Post-monsoon, the Middle Bay has come on as a strong option for striper hunters. There’s still a fair amount of flotsam from the bridge down to Chesapeake Beach so keep your eyes open, but the water quality is good and there are a ton of options. The folks at Angler’s Sport Center are reporting that Hacketts has been producing fish up into the low 20’s for chummers and live-liners. Many anglers are catching their spot in 10 or 12 feet of water near the bridge or up on the bar using bloodworms on bottom rigs, and spot have also been plentiful in the Severn, South, and Choptank Rivers, as well as in Eastern Bay. Many anglers have also been drifting live spot back to the rocks at Thomas Point Light, however, this spot has seen an unusual amount of pressure and an unfortunate level of inter-angler ignorance including anchoring snafus and yelling matches, lately. Angler in Chief Lenny Rudow notes that he went by the lighthouse Wednesday evening – Wednesday - and there were three boats at anchor and four adrift in that one small target area.

blue crab
Zach holds up a monstah – one of 15 pulled up in snap-traps, after reading about how to crab with them in FishTalk!

On the bright side, he also said that fish up to 26 inches were breaking water (though up and down quickly) at the mouth of the West River in about 15 feet of water, and good numbers of mostly small fish with some keepers to 26 mixed in were striking topwater and seven-inch white plastics in the shallows of Thomas Point. Plus, crabbing has come on strong and recently it’s been possible to fill your bushel basket right up to the top in a reasonable amount of time. An afternoon of trot-lining in six to eight feet of water in the South produced a bushel in about four hours this past week.

Captain Marcus on the Hot Lick, out of Chesapeake Beach, adds that live bait fishing has been great with beautiful rockfish ranging from 19 to 32 inches. At times it’s been “fast and furious.” Other times he says you have to grind it, but can get it done. Also, bottom fishing for white perch and spot is as good as it gets and that’s a nice way to top off a beautiful catch of striped bass with some icing on the cake.

We also had reader reports of some good live-line catches at the Hill and up inside Eastern Bay this week.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/16/2018 Update:

Anglers fishing the Middle Bay have excellent opportunities to bring home dinner, with schools of fish located both north and south. Running north to Love Point, Swan Point, or Podickory Point has proven to be reliable for a good day of fishing. Schools of fish have gathered around Hacketts, where most anglers are live lining spot or chumming. Anglers reported that Thomas Point Light has had good numbers of decent sized stripers, however, it's also been packed in the afternoon and evening with boats both live lining and casting jigs. Alltackle reported that birds have been up and working the mouth of the West and inside the South during the afternoon, and flipping jigs under them has steadily been producing fish of decent size. Island Tackle Outfitters reported that the mouth of the Choptank is also holding fish, with the False Channel being the main hotspot. Chumming and livening have continued to be the main method of bringing fish onto the boat, and spot have been readily available around the Bay Bridge, inside the South River, up the Choptank, and at the mouth of the Magothy. 
striper in middle chesapeake
Dan caught his first striper - and then his second, third, and more, fishing south of Thomas Point earlier this week.

Angler in chief Lenny Rudow reports an excellent bite with fish breaking water about a mile south of Thomas Point shoal, in 15 to 25 feet of water. Many of the fish were undersized but there were stripers up to 24 inches mixed in, chasing small bunker clear out of the water. Some fish were also up top a bit farther west, in the area usually considered the mouth of the South/West Rivers. The frenzies were an evening thing, starting up by 6:00 or so and lasting until close to dusk. White and chartreuse skirted jigs were the hot lures.

White perch are still abundant in the rivers, and heading out to a local dock or your community pier can be a great way to get in on some quick and easy action, as well as bring home a fish dinner. Using a bottom rig with bloodworm or grass shrimp has been the best bet.
 
Crabbing reports are decent considering how poor the season has been, with most trot-liners reporting catches of a half to three quarter bushels and a few filling the baskets all the way.
 
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/9/2018 Update:

Fishing on the middle bay has been tough for the past few weeks, with most catches up North of the Bridge, and fishing nearly shut down due to poor water quality and floating debris that have made it unsafe to venture out on the water. Anglers, AllTackle, and Island Tackle Outfitters all suggested running north to Love or Swan Point to bring home rockfish for dinner, however also noted that some schools of smaller fish have gathered around channel edges and ledges. Most of the fish in these schools have been smaller in size, however there have been some keeper fish mixed in with the catch. AllTackle suggested chumming, as it has been the most productive means of catching fish, as long as you’re willing to wade through the throwbacks for a keeper. Bloody Point and Hacketts have also been good for jigging, and livelining with spot has been a good way to catch large fish north of the bridge and around the Bay Bridge pilings. Spot can now be found on hard bottom at the mouth of the West, around Hacketts Bar, and in the Choptank.

White perch fishing has been absolutely stellar in tidal rivers, and all it takes to get them out of the water is a bottom rig with grass shrimp or blood worm on bottom.

striped bass
This past week, Eric Packard caught several keeper sized rockfish from the docks, casting a 1/4-ounce jig with a 4-inch white paddletail.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/2/2018 Update:

Notice: before digging into the report, such as it is, we have to add the same cautionary information as last week. Due to exceptionally poor water conditions resulting from the Monsoons of 2018, it's still difficult to find people who have been fishing, much less successfully. The Maryland DNR is still recommending that boaters use extreme caution in the northern sections of the Bay. Reports of massive rafts of garbage, floating logs, and tires are common. See Chesapeake Bay Boating Alert: Yes, it IS Bad Out There, (updated today) for the latest information.

The folks at Angler's Sport Center were quick to point out that it can be dangerous to be out on the water right now, it's difficult to navigate around all the garbage, and lots of caution is in order. That said, most anglers have still been heading north. Chumming at Podickory, Love, and Swan Points remains the most reliable option. However most of the fish have been small, and you have to work for them. Perch are another option, in the rivers and also in Eastern Bay. However, at the Kent Island Fishermen's Club meeting last night, several people reported that there were mass amounts of debris and dead fish moving through the narrows on an outgoing tide.

live lining for stripers
12 year old Darin rigs up for live lining at Thomas Point, right at sunrise.

Bay Country mentioned that there were a few fish, though only a few, reported from around Thomas Point. Overall, however, fishing has been slow since the rain storms and despite running into worse debris as you head north, many anglers are still heading up that way to find fish. The reports from Alltackle are similar, with most of the anglers they've spoken with who have had success having headed north of the Bay Bridge. Unfortunately most of the fish caught recently have been of a smaller grade, and the largest they've heard of since the storms was a 28-inch rockfish chummed up at Love Point.

From the Choptank south we're hearing a lot less about debris, with reports of a log here or there but mostly clear water. There are some spot in the Choptank which live-liners have been shuffling over to the Diamonds and the edges of False Channel. Bluefish are also being encountered from these areas south, but most have been very small.