Mid-Atlantic Freshwater Fishing Report, 10/26/2018 Update:
The cold surge this week has been putting the damper on some sorts spots recently, while turning on others. The morning bass bite on topwater will still get you some action, but the real trick is focusing your efforts around structure and live bait is now triggering more temptation. The largemouth are now deciding whether or not to start stocking up for winter and our job as anglers is to tempt them the most, which will be far easier depending on if the bait is real or not. The crappie bite, meanwhile, is phenomenal in the area’s lakes and reservoirs. Live minnows under bobbers are a great option to get a lot of fish in a short amount of time for this month of the year.
Trout stockings have been taking place in Maryland, and there are also stockers available in Delaware’s Clay Creek, leading to banner catches for anglers focused on the event. Those fishing the streams and rivers to our west are also enjoying good action, with water levels finally receding a bit. If you want to try for beastly brookies now’s the chance of a lifetime, as this species has thrived with the high water conditions all summer and many fly anglers have been steadily reporting sizes well above average. Yes, they’re still relatively small fish, but they’re as wild as it gets!
Reservoirs throughout the region continue to provide good options. In both Piney Run and St. Marys’ Lakes we’re hearing about a crappie bite that can’t be beat, with the fish responding to small twisters, tubes, and live minnow fished in five to 15 feet of water near structure. We also heard about more great pickerel action in St. Mary’s this week, for anglers casting spinners and jigs in the weedy backs of coves. Throughout the region, there are still more weeds and growth than usual for this time of year but it is beginning to die back a bit. In deeper waters, meanwhile, walleye are beginning to feed in Liberty on sharp rocky drop-offs, mostly on jumbo shiner and mostly early in the morning.
Reports from Lake Anna and Buggs Island also indicate falling water temperatures and good action. In Anna stripers can be found breaking water, especially in the vicinity of The Splits, and although the fish are often up and down fast once you’re in the right zone they can be spotted on the meter and jigged with spoons or leadheads. Bass anglers report good action on rocky points with drop-offs, indicating that bass are (finally) responding to the cooling waters and a fall pattern is setting in.
Something that has been obvious all year and continues to be a reliable option, the monster catfish are still the prowl in your local waterway, including all the upper Western Shore tribs. Many of the bigger ones are being hauled in with ease on cut bait, like stinky bunker and a circle hook – that’s all you need to nab a giant cat, so grab ‘em while they’re still around… if they ever leave that is.
Mid-Atlantic Freshwater Fishing Report, 10/19/2018 Update:
The largemouth bass are really coming into their autumn patterns for this time of year; topwater baits are the clear winner in this category, with spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, and frog imitations being extremely effective in the morning. Darker colors are the more popular choice in this regard as well. Subsurface jigs are doing pretty good in the afternoon when the fishing gets slow, just be sure to be targeting those submerged structures to get the most out of your excursions. Contributor Jim Gronaw has been getting out and reports that small lakes and ponds throughout the Mason Dixon area are producing bass and panfish as the water temperatures continue to drop. Float-and-fly tactics for big bluegills, crappies and some largemouth bass is working well with the emphasis on quantity rather than quality. Look for good crappie fishing to continue in northern area lakes such as Piney Run and Cunningham Falls in Maryland, and Long Arm and Lake Marburg near Hanover, PA. Those lakes with pickerel are also seeing an up-tick in the action, and the waters have cooled enough for this species to kick into high gear. Many are being caught in shallow flats and coves where there's good weed cover.
The Monocacy Valley region fall smallmouth bite, meanwhile, has suffered a bit due to the late season rains and continued high water, making wading tributary creeks and the mainstream Monocacy difficult and even dangerous. However, clearing waters, though high, will allow for a cautious effort both afoot and in canoes or kayaks. Fish 1/16th ounce hair jigs or small crank baits for smallmouth bass, and various panfish species. In other river news, the upper Potomac is also still overflowing a bit, but smallmouths and walleye are still game for swallowing an odd crankbait or two.
The fall trout stocking programs are well underway, with the pre-existing trout being larger than originally anticipated. New trout are being stocked every week in the put-and-take sections and catch and release portions of the major popular trout rivers in central Maryland, such as the Gunpowder and the Savage. In Southern Maryland the lake bite continues to be excellent, with area ponds and St. Mary’s Lake producing solid bass action (one reader reporting double-digit bass catches in a matter of hours) along with pickerel in the shallow ends of the coves and crappie plus a few yellow perch on beaver dams and deadfall. That lake, like many in the area, had been drawn down previously to make room for the forecast rainfall, but is now again full with stained but not cloudy water.
Another river option, snakeheads are being slammed right now, on many colors and many lures. The tidal Potomac river is a hotspot for snakehead, and they make a great, meal, and lessen the impact on your fishing hole of choice. Anywhere on the lower Eastern shore is also basically a good spot to start going after a mess of snakehead, with the Blackwater complex and virtually every canal and finger of water connected to it holding potential.
Virginian anglers headed to Lake Anna have found high water there, too (where around here hasn’t it been high, this season, even after draw-downs??) However, bass anglers working the shoreline structure have been scoring and striper anglers chasing birds have been as well. They’ve been on the surface early and late in the day, while jigging spoons or fishing live bait at mid-depth produces when the sun is high in the sky (or boats have caused the fish to sound).
Most of the western shore rivers in VA, meanwhile, are high and dirty or at least stained. As the water begins clearing we’d expect to see some weedbed die-off due to the dropping temps and working the edges of remaining weeds should become a good tactic, but for the moment, the most reliable shot at bent rods in this zone is to plant some cut fish or chicken livers on the bottom and tug on catfish.
Mid-Atlantic Freshwater Fishing Report, 10/11/2018 Update:
In the upper reaches of the tributaries where water levels are still high, the main bite is catfish, catfish, and some more catfish. This has been a banner year for cats and it shows no signs of slowing up with the Potomac in the DC area down to the 301 bridge, the Rap to Tappahannock, and the James to Hopewell all providing non-stop action for anglers sinking cut baits.
The Savage River and upper Potomac/Bear Creek have been near flooded at the moment, but the trout fishing seems to be the only sector that has seen a recent decline in the fishing. The fall stocking program has really been in full force for Maryland and Virginia freshwater areas, with many streams and lakes receiving their fair share of fish. Check out the Maryland stocking schedule and Virginia trout stocking schedule, for more info. The western trout streams have gotten their stock of trout fingerlings, as staff stocked 10,000 rainbow trout fingerlings and 4,800 brown trout fingerlings into the North Branch Potomac River Zero Creel Limit Trout Fishing Area earlier this summer. An additional 20,000 rainbow trout fingerlings were stocked in the river a few weeks later. However, the weekend rains may put a hiccup in the fishing as the water levels are already a bit high to begin with. In Virginia, anglers hitting the Shenandoah valley rivers have been putting the hurt on the smallmouth bass. They’ve been hitting a variety of flies in the 10 to four size range. As for the trout in those waters, expect them to still take nymphs and attractor patterns, but terrestrials have been performing well. Mossy Creek Fly Shop has reported that the brookies in the area are still being reported in large sizes (above 10 inches), so tie on some baitfish patterns or good-sized streamers. The brook trout in western Maryland are also still running larger than usual. Thanks to conditions this is a great time to hunt for trophy sized brookies.
The freshwater bite is hitting its fall stride, throughout the region. Largemouth bass are blasting topwater fished along the shoreline during low-light periods in virtually all the regions lakes and ponds, while crappie can be found near deadfall, beaver dams, standing timber, and other structure. With the cooling temperatures and recent cloudy days, the fish have been staying shallower and feeding harder than previously and we received at least three reports of fish pushing five pounds this past week coming from unidentified southern Pennsylvania and central Maryland lakes. Reports from St. Mary’s Lake in Maryland had strong bass fishing at the points along with an excellent crappie bite going on last week, in five to 15 feet of water anywhere there were trees and branches, on white three-inch tubes and twisters.
Virginia anglers hitting Lake Anna have enjoyed a steady striped bass bite on fish mostly in the low to mid 20s, with the best action near The Splits. There’s been a good bit of surface action but the fish have tended to break and then sound quickly, making a sharp eye on the fishfinder and jigging spoons in the tacklebox two important tools. Fishing livies is also highly effective. Other area reservoirs and ponds are providing steady bass action along the shorelines on topwater, especially at daybreak, and crappie around structure in 10 or more feet of water. As water temperatures continue to cool, the freshwater bite in these areas should only get better and better!
Many western shore anglers closer to the Bay, meanwhile, have been enjoying steady catfish action. The tremendous amounts of freshwater flow have extended the catfish’s range significantly, and anywhere there’s a hole, channel, or bridge there’s a good chance of finding catfish. In the Potomac the blues are filling stringers clear down to Colonial Beach, and in the James, all the way down to Clairmont. Both rivers are still running high (as are virtually all the rivers in our region) but are no longer flooding and clarity is improving, though still significantly off. Hopefully, a break in the never-ending rain of 2018 will allow conditions to improve as we move into the best fishing of the fall season.
Trout anglers will be happy to hear that trout stocking continues in western portions of Maryland, but more impressive through the region is a good brook trout bite with above-average sized fish. True, brookies are still small fish, but the high water has kept them well-fed thus far this fall and readers have sent in some picture of real “whoppers” that will be showing up in FishTalk’s Reader Photos section in the coming months. And if you want to try trout fishing in the Baltimore area, be sure to check out our where-to feature Wild Trout of the Gunpowder.
-By Parker Martin