October Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/27/2017 Update:
As fall continues, we look to see more and more large migratory fish moving into the region and the residents working hard to pack on the fat before winter sets in. A warm start to fall has stunted this, however, we’re hoping that in the next week or so we’ll start to see consistently larger fish. Last weeks' action has more or less continued, and despite a mid-week slow-down the last few chilly nights have kicked the fish back into high gear and many angers fishing the Middle Bay have found great success in the mouths of the rivers. Lenny Rudow was out two evenings and two mornings this week and reported that the morning bite does seem more consistent. Yesterday morning he was on a boat filming for BoatUS Magazine and was only able to stop long enough for a couple of casts that produced a pair of 18-inchers, but said there were pockets of birds working from the mouth of the South to the mouth of the West all the way up to noon. ("It was torture!" he said. "You try focusing on work when there are 200 birds diving a quarter mile to your north, and 200 more to your south!") In the evenings the birds weren't up much but casting topwater and pearl jigs along the docks produced several fish at sunset. We also had multiple confirmed reader reports of good fishing in the mouth of the Severn.
Alltackle in Annapolis reports that with the weather cooling off, many baitfish have started their migration out of tidal rivers, and are now schooling at the river mouths. With these baitfish has come schools of smaller rockfish, and angers are taking advantage of the exciting catch. Casting topwater has been the most productive tactic for catching rockfish this week, and many fish being caught are in the 19 to 25 inch class. Although most fish have been smaller in size, Marty’s did report that some larger fish are starting to show up, primarily in the upper 20s, however some fish in the mid 30s have been reported. Readers Kevin Thomas and Nick Long sent in some pics of absolutely beautiful fish they picked up when the water erupted with boiling fish in the open Bay, in the Thomas Point region.
On the eastern side, the area of Eastern Bay near Parsons Island is holding plenty of fish and they're often marked by birds. But many of the schools are very small juveniles in the 12 to 16 inch range and finding bigger fish (that are around) requires moving from school to school until you locate some better fish. As we've heard throughout the region lately, pearl plastics are a top producer and topwater is also doing the trick.
The False Channel and Diamonds areas near the Choptank still hold fish, but live-lining isn't much of an option anymore as the spot seem to have become difficult or impossible to find in good numbers. Trollers using red hoses, Tsunamis, and tandem rigs are doing best on these fish. A bit farther up into the river's mouth there have been birds over school of stripers but the bulk of them have been on the smaller side. We also had a reader report (unconfirmed) of stripers on structure in the river's shallows and along rip-rap, hitting Badonk-a-Donks.
Perch fishing has stayed steady throughout the area, and most anglers have simply been dropping down a bottom rig with blood worm to get their catch. Crabs are deeper, in 10 to 15 feet of water (though one reader said he still caught some keeper males on the shallow end of the line in six feet), but as of last weekend were still being caught in surprisingly good numbers. The tough thing now is finding bait, as many places have run out of necks and aren't re-upping until next year. The grocery store may be your best bet, if you want to try one last time.
October Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/20/2017 Update:
In addition to all of our sources having great reports for the Middle Bay this week, Angler-in-Chief Lenny Rudow and I can personally attest to the awesome fishing going on in river mouths this week. Baitfish are finally running out of the rivers in massive numbers, attracting schools and schools of what we and other anglers found to be highly active (and delicious) 18 to 28 inch fish. Alltackle in Annapolis, Bay Country Crabbing Supply, and Island Tackle Outfitters all had awesome reports of schools of fish in the Severn, South, Rhode, and West rivers, plus Eastern Bay close to the Narrows (though the fish we caught in Eastern Bay were smaller). The general trend has been at daybreak and at dusk fish are coming up to feed on little baitfish in the mouths of these rivers, and anglers have been chasing birds to find them. Mid-day fishing is tougher.
Casting topwater has been the most productive tactic all of the above sources mentioned, however, these fish are hitting white, pearl, and chartreuse jigs without hesitation. Skirted heads seem to do better at times but when the bite is on, the fish are eating pretty much everything you throw at them. Alltackle suggested throwing quarter-ounce jig heads with pearl or chartreuse soft plastics right up top, as the stripers are boiling on the surface of the water. A lighter jig head won't sink as deep as a heavier one when you throw it, so when the fish are right up top, opting for that small leadhead is more than likely a good idea. On Tuesday and Thursday when Lenny and I went fishing, we found that a fast retrieve up top was best for catching them. For anglers planning to head out a little earlier, remember that the bite has been right at sunset and it might be a little while until the fish become active and you start to see birds gather - a friend fished the exact same areas up until 5:00 without much success, and ten went home with an empty fishbox. But it wasn't until 5:30 or so that the fish really came on and sticking around up until the last minutes of daylight was the key.
As well as a stellar topwater bite, jigging near 83 and Thomas Point have brought anglers a fair amount of success according to Bay Country Crabbing Supply. Most larger fish have been on bottom, and we’ve seen some action with smaller schooling fish up top. Although spot are few and far between, an angler looking to roll the dice can try to find them on hard bottom. Alltackle had a few reports of guys still livelining, with some success.
As mentioned earlier the fish we encountered up Eastern Bay were small, but there was plenty of bird action and we later heard from a boat fishing nearby that they had three in the box, fishing jigs near Parsons. Another good bet on the eastern side has been Poplar, which is holding fish including keepers on the south end eastern sides. Watch out for the construction, on the north end. There are also still fish near the False Channel and the Diamonds, but as spot get harder to come by these fish are getting harder to catch.
Bluefish have started to head back south, and are no longer the issue that they were earlier this season. Some can still be found out around the ships but a 14-incher is big. A few mostly undersized sea trout have also been reported from around the ships.
Perch are still in the rivers, deeper than in previous weeks. 12 to 16 feet of water seems to be a good depth. Blood worms on a bottom rig are the tactic of choice.
Everyone's gone silent when it comes to crabbing, though last weekend a few were caught and we suspect running a trot line deep could still produce a last few dozen jimmies to cap off the season.
October Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/16/2017 Update:
The rivers are on, people! In the past two days we've received reports of (and/or experienced first-hand) good striper bites at the mouths of virtually all the western shore tributaries in the Middle Bay area. Well, nope - make that all of them. There's been a mix of birds and no birds and hordes of bait all over the place, but however you cut it the folks fishing in the mouths of the Severn, South, and West seem to have done at least as well as and often better than their cohorts working out in the open water. Both topwater and jigs (white was hot over the weekend) are doing the trick.
One more tidbit of info to share: we also received a couple reports of weakfish under the ships. If you find yourself out there, you might want to try tying on some heavy metal and going deep, to see if you can find a keeper or two of this long-lost species.
October Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/13/2017 Update:
Fishing the Middle Bay region seems to have been hit-or-miss this week, as we got mixed reports of small but plentiful stripers, and some keepers. Island Tackle Outfitters, Alltackle Annapolis, and Anglers have all reported that the best bite is up to the north around Podickory Point (see the Upper Bay report), although some anglers sticking south have still been fishing the mouth of the West. We discussed the best tactics for fishing Podickory Point in our Upper Bay report, and these tactics are holding true for anglers fishing the West as well. Jigging and light tackle trolling have been popular tactics, as well as casting topwater. Most anglers have been finding the early morning and dusk to be the most productive time.
We had a reader report of good action around the Severn River this week, with birds working near the mouth of the river, and rockfish been hanging all through out the water column but most of the larger fish in shallow water - including some up to 28 inches. Two more reader reports then confirmed that the better-sized fish were shallow, and just north of the river mouth, often in just five or six feet of water. The fish were biting on one ounce G-eye jigs with six-inch white and chartreuse BKD’s laced in Spike It’s garlic.
We've heard mixed reports on action at Thomas point, with some of our sources reporting heavy topwater action while others are reporting that the Point has stagnated, and few fish are being caught. It all seems to depend on when you arrive there and how hard it's been hit, as at times, the area has been a bit over-crowded. Eastern Bay is becoming another hot-spot for fishing the shallows, and topwater has been effective in five to eight feet of water in low light conditions. If the sun is high in the sky, switch over to jigs or start trolling. Take a look at Fishing in Eastern Bay to get a read on some of the hotspots to check out.
Alltackle also reported some light perch action in the rivers. There's better perch action to be found in the river mouth channels, in 20-plus feet of water over hard bottom. Bloodworms remain the best bait.
The ships are still holding some fish though it's mostly small blues. And a bit farther south, the Diamonds remains the place to try for live-lining. We also had one report that the False Channel held stripers for live-liners. Spot are still available in the region, though they're getting harder to find by the day.
October Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/8/2017 Update:
Team FishTalk spent all day yesterday fishing in the Rod and Reef Slam tournament, trying to catch the biggest diversity of species possible (not the largest fish possible). Limited to the Tilghman reef, the Cook Point Reef, and Harris Creek (all in or near the Choptank) we caught eight species (enough for second place). From a reports perspective, there were two interesting things to note. First off, if you want to catch puffer fish there are quite a few around these reef areas. We caught five (including a couple whoppers) and certainly could have caught more if we hadn't shifted focus to look for different species. Bloodworms were the hot bait, and there were plenty of spot mixed in when fishing in the 16' to 25' depth range. Second, there are plenty of flounder around. We boated a half-dozen or so, mostly on small GULP twisters, in the 20' to 25 range. The biggest was 11 inches so they were nowhere near keeper-size, but let's hope the same fish return to these water next season, when they're a bit chunkier.
We also observed a charter fleet live-lining at the Diamonds, and though we couldn't partake as it was outside the tournament fishing areas, while running past we did see bent rods and nets coming out.
BTW, those reef ball reefs are pretty darn great at creating habitat. If you haven't watched it yet,check out or reef ball building video.
October Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/6/2017:
As fish move into their fall feeding patterns, topwater is becoming a more and more common tactic among anglers fishing the Middle Bay. Island Tackle Outfitters reports that some rock have been caught around Thomas Point on topwater, as well as throughout Eastern Bay. A reader also reported a good topwater bite way up in Eastern Bay, in eight to 10 feet of water, in the evening on Badonk-a-Donks. (He didn't reveal the exact location, but look for hot-spot #4 in our Fishing Eastern Bay article. We have a sneaky suspicion this is the right zone.)
Angler in Chief Lenny Rudow tried casting the shallows two evenings this week (including last night) and reports that stripers have been hitting inside the South, including some keepers. But the best bite is limited to right at dusk. White BKDs with a red-skirted jig head and chartreuse/white Yum paddle tails on bare heads were the top producers. Many boats were hitting the shallows at Thomas Point the past few nights, but no catches were observed and a dozen casts produced just one short bite.
Light tackle trolling with four-inch paddle tails, chartreuse and white, also produced (mostly small) stripers along the South River channel edges when the sun was higher in the sky.
Thomas Point has been the most notable hotspot this week, and many anglers are trolling the area as well as chasing birds. Fishing seems to have slowed down, however, especially in comparison to all the activity we saw last week. The fish are still there, frustratingly clear on the meter, but are only feeding in short bursts, often early in the morning and then again at sunset. Marty's mentioned that anglers running to the ships are encountering some stripers, but also a lot of very small blues that are trimming the ends off all tails except Z-Mans.
For some other species the incoming cold weather had changed things up prior to the current warm spell, and although some sources are still reporting Spanish mackerel, they seem to be few and far between. Bay Country reports that some have been caught have been around Tolly’s, on gold and silver spoons, and on one ounce silver skirts.
Crabbing has been great in quantity, but not in keepers. Most crabs being caught are female, depending on the location.