Middle Chesapeake Bay fishing Report, March 10 Update:
The signs of spring are back, and fishing is improving in the middle Bay areas as winter draws to an end. Many anglers are heading out for catch-and-release fishing for big pre-spawn rockfish as they make their way towards their breeding grounds. Trolling large parachutes and bucktails dressed with sassy shads is popular, but can put a lot of stress on the fish. Jigging is working well right now and is a less stressful tactic for targeting the breeder rocks. Ten-inch BKDs and flutter spoons offer large profiles mimicking baitfish that can get the big ones biting. Anglers should remember that barbs on hooks must be flattened or ground off; when trolling, no more than six lines can be employed, and stinger hooks are prohibited. We had two readers check in after targeting the monster rockfish currently swimming though the Bay waters, and while both had slow fishing overall, both also caught a fish topping 40-inches, in one case on the only bite of the day. Finding bait concentrations and jigging Boss BKDs deep around them was what led to the fish.
On the perch front we had a diversity of reports, starting with a skunk (aside from catfish) noted at Wayson’s Corner on the Pax. FishTalk’s Zach Ditmars visited the Tuckahoe over last weekend and experienced a slow bite, but did catch three large females on minnow, all pre-spawn (and all released) topping 12-inches; another kayak angler had a pair of similar fish, and reports from the shoreline were of little action. Those big females arrive first, so we expect that this area will have only gotten better and better by the day and could provide excellent action for the next week or two. Contributor Eric Packard hit Mason Springs and reported lots of yellows were biting white jigs but the bulk of the fish were small males (which usually marks the run winding down — it seems maybe the weather has the fish confused). We did hear from an angler who reported a steady white perch bite while fishing along the bayfront near the West River at night. Both grass shrimp and night crawler on bottom rigs got the perch biting as two hours of fishing produced around a dozen perch. This angler also reeled in one of the cooler catches of the week with a 30-inch rockfish caught on grass shrimp during his perch endeavors.
Middle Chesapeake Bay fishing Report, March 3 Update:
The yellow perch run has been a difficult fishery to target this year for many anglers in the middle Bay zone. We received multiple skunk reports from perch-searches who went out last weekend. Wayson’s Corner, Red Bridges, and Hillsboro were all mentioned with dismay. The yellow perch should be running through those areas so it is hard to say if they are there and not biting or if they have yet to make it up those tributaries yet. By the middle of the month, white perch will begin moving up the tidal tributaries as well for their spring spawn. Their run is much more consistent and many anglers are patiently awaiting that opportunity to kick off.
An angler fishing near the Benedict bridge from shore reported catching plenty of blue catfish this week. He used frozen alewives and most of the catfish were in the two to five pound range. The upper Patuxent around Jug Bay has also been producing plenty of catfish for anglers targeting them. A kayak angler fishing over the weekend reported catching a 30 pound blue cat just north of Jackson’s Landing.
The rockfish bite in the main stem of Bay has been inconsistent over the past few weeks but guide Pete Dahlberg of Four Seasons Guide Service lucked out with a magical day on the water over the weekend. He and another angler headed out on a flat day and quickly found birds working bait. They even saw large stripers busting menhaden on the top. They caught a few fish over 40 with plenty other nice fish in the mix using 10-inch BKDs. They best fish of the day was a monster 50.5 inch fish weighing in at 55 pounds. The big fish are out there folks, it just takes a combination of skill and luck — lots of luck — to find them.