Middle Bay Fishing Reports

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 9 Update:

The Middle Bay has been a little feast-or-famine lately, but when the fish are cooperating, there are some quality rockfish around. Surface action is developing in open water, while the shallows of the South River and surrounding tributaries are producing on topwater and paddletails. Spot and perch are still available, and the cooling water is also starting to bring pickerel into the creeks, setting up some fun mixed-bag opportunities.

The Angler in Chief says that so far it’s been a Rocktober of highs and lows. Some days in the past week, the fish were snapping and quality slot and over-slot rock seem to be all over the place, but others the bite got tough and/or it was all dinks. Thomas Point has had a good share of action recently with fish of all sizes up to around 26” on the shoal hitting white paddletails. The bulk of the fish have been in the 15” to 17” range with every fifth or sixth fish in the slot; there’s also been a small fleet on the hotspot most of the time. Several evenings this week, the shallows of the South River have proved productive casting topwater to structure with some fish hitting 25”, but some other times he’s skunked or nearly skunked, even when conditions appeared to be good. Oddly, he noted he’s been doing better in the shallows on low water than high water the past few trips. Small 12” speckled trout have also showed up inside the river at some of the usual rockfish spots, too, hitting five-inch white paddletails on half-ounce heads. Oyster bars in the South River are still holding fish and an afternoon casting bottom rigs with Fishbites bloodworm flavor produced numerous spot, some silver perch, and a few small weakfish. The croaker either disappeared or weren’t biting this week, and he didn’t see a single one.

A reader checked in after finding some fish feeding in open water between the West River and Chesapeake Beach. They said that birds gave away the location of rockfish feeding on the surface, but the schools were small and moving fast. The action was happening in around 15 feet of water and, rather than chasing the bird shows that were short-lived, getting into the general zone and drifting while jigging was the most productive method. They caught several slot-sized fish and a few under the slow on soft plastic straight tails on half ounce jigheads. Other anglers fishing in that general zone reported that more consistent surface action and bird shows had been popping up right around sunset, but not every day,

A reader fishing the Severn reports that the invasion of small speckled sea trout has extended that far north, and on a recent morning of fishing he caught several 12” specks while out looking for rockfish. He also mentioned that rockfish were breaking water in the mouth of the Severn one evening mid-week. The action only lasted a few minutes but was intense. Temperatures are cooling off, and it is about time for pickerel to start getting active in the tidal creeks of the Severn. Now is a great time to fish the smaller creeks and throw spinners or paddletails for a mixed bag of pickerel, perch, and rockfish. The pickerel tend to hang around docks, fallen trees, and other nearshore cover. The tributaries around Round Bay in the upper portion of the river are good areas to search.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 2 Update:

The storm may have kept boats off the water, but the dramatic change in conditions appears to have done the fishery some favors. Bait is moving, striped bass are feeding more actively, and surface action is becoming a much bigger part of the picture across the Middle Bay. Bottom fishing is still producing a mixed bag, while the crabbing remains surprisingly strong for early October.

The Angler in Chief says the storm last weekend and an accompanying drop in water temps really seemed to light off the fish, at least in the South River/Thomas Point area. Peanut bunker are on the move and were swarming in the creek mouths of the lower South early this week, and several evenings he saw rockfish sporadically break water in them. Some of the rock were big, too, and he pulled one pushing close to 26” out of the frenzies. A small topwater chugger worked well when the fish were visibly attacking, and paddletails worked better when the fish were acting more mellow. Rockfish were also hitting at Thomas Point Shoal, including slots and some over-slot fish, although there have also been a larger number of sublegal fish on the shoal.

Reports Editor Dillon Waters also made it out after the storm and found that water temperatures had dropped around 10 degrees from just a few days prior. The water also seemed to clean up quite a bit. After searching a few shallow water spots without any bites, he found a school of rockfish hanging around a rock jetty that were eager to hit topwater. He pulled around half a dozen slot-sized fish from the area and missed several other fish before the action died out. After that, he ran down towards Herring Bay where he came across a large group of birds working some bait balls. After moving in closer to investigate, rockfish started erupting all around the boat. The meter was lit up with fish and for the next 20 minutes the fish would come up and go down, but the birds gave up their location. After a while, surface activity stopped, but he was able to side scan through the area located the schools in five to 10 feet of water. Most of the fish were slot-sized, but a few were over as well. Topwater lures and three-inch paddletails both caught equally well.

The AIC also tried some “fun fishing” in the river, casting small shad darts tipped with grass shrimp in search of oddball species in the shallows and around Ramsay Lake. Most of the action came from spot, some big enough to eat, and he also caught a rare unicorn South River white perch topping 13”. The Tackle Box reports that the bottom fishing in the lower Patuxent River is still going strong after the storm. Anglers fishing aboard some of the charter boats boxed croaker, spot, small bluefish, and even some keeper weakfish this week. These fish should stick around for a few more weeks, but once water temperatures drop below 60, they will head south for the colder months.

Crabbing Report: The AIC says crabbing is still going strong on the South River, and despite battling extremely windy conditions, he managed to put three dozen chunky crabs in the basket last weekend. They were in 10’ of water and the ratio of throwbacks to keepers was much better than it’s been in recent weeks.