Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, November 26 Update:
Happy Thanksgiving, anglers! The leaves are finally falling to winter’s grasp, and so are many of the fish… but there are still stripers to be caught. As with other areas of the Bay, the clear winners here are trolling and jigging. Anglers are towing their weighted umbrellas and bucktails off along the deep channel edges and getting into some fish. We had good reports on quality but not quantity from the trollers, who generally weren’t headed home with sore wrists and arms from reeling in fish after fish. Still, when we were hearing of big fish this week, trollers were doin’ it. Chartreuse, white, pearl, and pink have been the most popular colors for enticing the remaining stripers to chomp down recently. Jiggers are hooking up way more, but encountering tons of schoolies generally of a lower grade. Jiggers are finding that covering ground has allowed them to locate pockets of fish. Towards the east of Kedges straits over towards the mouth of the Manokin, where there are plenty of deep water edges to work, has been a good zone. Anglers fishing under working birds are primarily finding smaller fish.
Unfortunately, we got nada on specks nor reds this week. That doesn't mean they're 100-percent done for the season but nor can we confirm that they're presence remains. If you plan to take a poke at 'em, note that for several weeks now the farther south one went along the ESVA, the better the chances had been for success. We'd certainly expect that remains the case.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, November 19 Update:
An anonymous but reliable source told us speckled trout are still throughout the Pocomoke Sound’s waters and the lower Shore, and are available to anglers hitting creek mouths, points with rips, submerged grass beds, and stumps. North of the state line they're sparse at best, though. The specks have been taking swim shads, topwater lures, and an assortment of green, chartreuse, and white soft plastics cast throughout the areas. Targeting them also has the added bonus of possibility for landing stripers, which have been hitting soft plastic lures.
Jigging for striped bass is producing a range of sizes, and the bass have been throughout the Tangier as well. The cold means the availability of specks in southern areas and fish of all sorts in the shallows throughout the zone will likely be limited in the near future. Also, no word of reds this week, though a few stragglers are surely still around in southern areas.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, November 12 Update:
The warm weather we had midweek is benefiting anglers fishing the Sounds, big time. Sea Hawk Sports Center checked in to let us know that although the specks have thinned out, they can still be located in the Sounds with better catches reported the farther south you go. Some reds are still in town, too, more so in the Pocomoke and points south than the Tangier. For those who are still interested in catching specks and reds before winter takes hold, many have for the most part moved into Virginia waters. Casting four-to five-inch sparkly and bright paddle tails is getting them to bite. Anglers targeting them in these areas are finding that stripers aren’t biting as much, however, as you move north in the Tangier the numbers of rockfish in the shallows improves.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, November 5 Update:
As the waters have started to settle after last week’s foul weather, the bite in the Sounds is reviving. Anglers headed out late this week enjoyed some good topwater fishing, scoring striped bass and a few specks in the shallows. The speck bite was especially good in the southern end of this stretch along the ESVA, while in the northern end of the Tangier rockfish are ruling the roost. Topwater lures, jerkbaits, and soft plastics are all working in the morning. White, Electric Chicken, pink, and pearl paddle-tails have been favorites. Some slot redfish are still being caught as well, again mostly in the southern portion of this range. Reports of the big drum have tapered off. The channel edges are also holding striped bass, which have usually ranged from upper-teens to mid-20s. Most fish under working birds have been on the smaller side, but anglers jigging under the school have been managing to land the occasional big one.
