Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, December 26, 2019 Update:
Happy Holidays and Merry Fishmas anglers - we hope your holidays are full of lake trips, bucktails, and winter water wonderland fishing success stories. This week, the below report is going to be a little light due to the hectic nature of the festive season and much-deserved breaks of tackle shop employees, but we still encourage you to get out and finish out 2019 with your last fish(es) of the decade. Next week when everyone’s back from vacation and we can get in touch with all our usual sources again we’ll be back with the first FishTalk fishing report of 2020!
While the striper season has shut down for the year, the white perch bite is providing anglers their last action for 2019. Angler’s Sport Center reported that the bite around the Bay Bridge rock piles and pilings has remained fair in 15 to 20 feet of water, with plenty of chunky perch in the holes. Dropping down minnow on a bottom rig or small spoon has been the ticket to landing them. A few anglers dropping down little spoons are occasionally catching stripers, too – key word, occasionally.
The tribs are holding plenty of holiday season pickerel and white perch for anglers to fill their festive fish boxes with. Cuts and deep holes in the Magothy are holding perch, with hit-or-miss reports of pickerel in the area strewn around.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, December 19, 2019 Update:
The striper season of 2019 has officially come to a close, though the regs do specifically state that catch and release is fair game until December 31. Either way the bite’s more or less done in this neck of the woods, with few reports coming in from the Upper Bay this week. A handful of anglers did catch rockfish around the rockpiles of the Bay Bridge, where jigging tandem rigs weighted down with a two-ounce jigging spoon on the bottom and a streamer or two-inch plastic up top produced those fish mixed in among mostly white perch. Angler’s has also reported some perch are around the bridge pilings, in 15 to 20 feet of water.
In the tribs, pickerel are hitting minnow and swimbaits, while catfish are eating cut fish set on the bottom. The Magothy has been producing steady pickerel reports, plus some perch in the Beechwood area. For those on the other side of the bridge the Chester, well up the river near Chestertown, is usually an excellent bet for catfish even at this time of year.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, December 12, 2019 Update:
Thanks to a combination of bad weather and a seriously reduced bite, this week we received few reports of active anglers catching in the open waters of the Upper Bay. Hard-cores willing to brave the rain and cold were spending hours of jigging to get a bite or three at Podickory or up near the Key Bridge. Fish are still present for sure, but getting them to bite takes some effort. Those who wanted to get in some last licks on fast rockfish action generally trailered to or jumped on a guided boat out of the Point Lookout area.
More verified Upper Bay action came from the Magothy, where pickerel and perch are hitting minnow suspended under bobbers. Angler’s has reported some yellow perch at Beechwood as well, and this is the third week in a row we had readers reporting chains up to 24-inches so the scarcity of this species over the past few years seems to have come to an end. The Chester, Gunpowder, and other Upper Bay tribs should all hold some promise for this species over the winter.
No word on the white perch at the Bay Bridge rockpiles this week, but smart money says they’re present and we just didn’t hear about it because of the lack of angler effort. Tandem rigs with a jigging spoon on bottom and a streamer or other light jig up top should be the ticket.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, December 5, 2019 Update:
Although there aren’t many striped bass to be found right now, anglers hitting Podickory Point and the mouth of the Magothy are enjoying scattered findings. Jigging and trolling these areas has been the most common tactic. Anglers jigging have been using heavy jigs and staying deep in hopes of catching a large striper on their way south. Most of the fleet has found themselves leaving depth finders on and cruising the channel edges in hopes of finding a school of fish - it’s been difficult to locate them, but after finding them, the bite is there. Trollers are opting to pull umbrellas and sassy shads with inline weights along the deep edges. Keeping the rigs close to the bottom has been essential, with very few fish up top.
With the striper bite slow, many boats are choosing to stock up on minnow before heading out. Tochterman’s reported that the white perch bite around the Bay Bridge Pilings has been good, and is working well as a fail-safe for anglers who are determined not to come home skunked. Up the rivers, there are catfish to be found for anglers dropping cut bait and chicken breast on bottom.