Tangier and Lower Shore Fishing Report, February 25 Update:
Angler-in-Chief Lenny Rudow reports that the Pocomoke bite is fair but steady, and a midweek trip there resulted in a fine bag of yellow perch plus a handful of crappie and pickerel. Water temp in the river was between 38 and 40 degrees so the fish were still moving quite slow, and minnow on shad darts hovered just off bottom or dragged along bottom in the channel were best for the perch. The bites were light but steady, and tide-wise, the outgoing was significantly better than the incoming. Sea Hawk added that small shad darts are working well, as well as jigs tipped with minnow and minnow under bobbers.
The southern millponds in the Salisbury area. meanwhile, provided a slow bite this past week. But contributor Eric Packard was happy that one of only two bites he got all morning turned out to be a rather massive crappie.
Tangier and Lower Shore Fishing Report, February 19 Update:
Thanks to the awesome weather this week with low winds, sunny skies, and temperatures in the mid-80s, hordes of anglers headed out onto the water and sent us fantastic reports of the action. Not.
Somehow, despite how poor the weather throughout DelMarVa is, the Pocomoke manages to hold its own as a lively area to fish. While reports coming from the river were reduced due to the weather, the catch was not. Sea Hawk let us know that anglers who headed out enjoyed healthy crappie and pickerel bites, as they could be found hanging in creeks. Both species were quick to take minnow, and the crappie preferred them tipped on a shad dart. Yellow perch were also biting small minnows. Blue and channel cats are taking chunks of menhaden on the bottom. When panfish and pickerel are quiet, they’re proving a reliable backup plan — so if you’re heading out, stocking up on chicken breast or menhaden isn’t a bad idea!
Tangier and Lower Shore Fishing Report, February 12 Update:
Sea Hawk checked in to let us know that the yellow perch bite is on! They hit the Pocomoke this week, and were able to rack up yellow perch on 1/16 oz jigheads with two-inch curly tailed grubs and a minnow. They mentioned that the color hasn’t mattered much, and perch are in anywhere from six to 12 feet of water. Alongside them, Sea Hawk reported that there are plenty of crappie and pickerel to go around. The crappie bite hasn’t been excellent by any means, but if you’re catching to put dinner on the table, the numbers suffice. Pickerel numbers also aren’t excellent, but some sizable ones have been caught, including a 25-incher this week.
The Eastern Shore millponds are still producing too; Angler-in-Chief Lenny Rudow, FishTalk kayak sharpie Zach Ditmars, and Contributor Eric Packard all tried the millponds this past week, with pickerel offering up fair to good action and quite a few bass hitting as well. Slow-trolling four-inch paddle tails and drifting minnow under bobbers both proved effective. Rudow noted that for whatever reason, the pond crappie weren’t cooperative and reports that a couple of anglers he spoke with who were fishing specifically for them went home disappointed.
Tangier and Lower Shore Fishing Report, February 5 Update:
So, it’s not looking like many anglers hit the water this week and we don’t blame ‘em! While we enjoyed the sights of the snow, it sure shut down fishing. Paired with high winds, much of this week it was more or less impossible to be on the water. Despite the crazy conditions, FishTalk contributor Eric Packard hit the mill ponds yesterday and found that a few pickerel were biting. Packard caught eight pickerel up to 23.5-inches on four-inch paddletails. Sorry folks - unfortunately, that's about the only solid intel we were able to scrounge this week.
