Freshwater Fishing Report, April 24 Update:
With travel restrictions still limiting fishing opportunities in many areas, we note that if you’re headed out to fish all the regular regs for the season are still in place and social distancing orders are a go, even if you’re on the water, whether you live in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. Don’t forget that our Social Distancing While Fishing page has links to all the different state authority webpages with the latest info and updates on when, where, and how fishing is allowed. With many businesses still closed, we’d also like to give a big thanks to all you readers who sent in reports and pictures. Please keep them coming to [email protected].
Lakes, ponds, and easily accessed areas across the region are experiencing higher-than-usual traffic from anglers searching for a free meal, or an escape from being bottled up inside the house. As everyone reading this surely knows many areas have been shut down (the latest added to the list is St. Mary’s Lake in southern Maryland, closed for what is being called “scheduled” improvements even though no one heard a thing about this until they announced the immediate closure of the parking lot and boat ramp with no warning whatsoever). While we’re sure that the authorities charged with keeping these areas safe have everyone’s best interest at heart, the unfortunate side effect has been to crowd people into other areas that do remain open. As travel has become less practical many people are fishing close to home and accessible hotspots near populated areas have been, in some cases, packed. We hope that some of the closed areas will re-open soon and help relieve the pressure, but until that happens we remind everyone to look for a different option when they see packed parking lots and fishermen struggling to find a chunk of shoreline sufficiently large for social distancing.
Crappie have become a dinner of choice in recent weeks and can be easily located near shoreline structure from southern PA down through MD and VA, now that the water’s warmed up through the Mid-Atlantic region. Beaver dams and deadfall are prime targets. Small darts, tube jigs, spinners, and minnow fished under bobbers are all effective. Crappie remain a hot target at the mill ponds in particular, and Tailored Tackle reported that Laurel Spillway is still holding crappie that will take neon or highlighter shad darts tipped with a minnow. Bass also remain quite active with many anglers reporting success on swimbaits, chatterbaits, and to a lesser degree chatterbaits. In lakes in the southern areas of the region bass are now mostly in post-spawn mode, but up north and out west where the water’s cooler they haven’t quite reached that point yet thanks to the recent slow-down in our spring warm-up.
Snakehead anglers found it an interesting week on both sides of the Bay as we had few reader reports of good numbers, but reports that did come in were of large fish for the second week in a row. Something about this weather seems to have made the species less active on the whole, while big fish are still on the feed at least to some degree. Swimbaits and other sub-surface lures have been reported as most effective.
Catfish have been, naturally, the surest bet for anglers hitting the Western Shore rivers the past week. The James and Chickahominy stand out in southern areas (and have also been seeing good numbers of shad) and the Rap and Potomac are as good as it gets up north. But—and this is a big but—with all the rainfall late this week we’re likely to see difficult conditions on all these waterways and would expect this weekend to be tougher than in recent days.
Freshwater Fishing Report, April 17 Update:
With travel restrictions still limiting fishing opportunities in many areas, we remind you that if you’re headed out to fish all the regular regs for the season are still in place and social distancing orders are a go, even if you’re on the water, whether you live in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. Don’t forget that our Social Distancing While Fishing page has links to all the different state authority webpages with the latest info and updates on when, where, and how fishing is allowed. With many businesses still closed, we’d also like to give a big thanks to all you readers who sent in reports and pictures. Please keep them coming to [email protected].
With some area fishing grounds closed, it’s been a bit confusing to figure out where you can and cannot fish at times. So be sure to check on locality regs and rules before making a trip anywhere. That said, there are a lot of freshwater options in play right now. Bass, crappie, bluegill, and trout are all very active, but the heavy rains early this week put the kibosh on much of the action. Many rivers have begun clearing up nicely but earlier this week were unfishable in many parts of the region. The Rudow boys fished an Eastern Shore millpond mid-week (while their hapless and fishless dad sat in front of the computer all day) after all the rain hit and even there, they encountered muddy water. Though they tempted a dozen or so crappie plus a few bass into biting using minnow, the tube jigs that had been so productive the week before proved ineffective. We also had some reports from Contributor Eric Packard this week when he ventured out to try for some snakehead sustenance fishing in southern Calvert county, but his catch instead consisted of bass which hit Whopper Ploppers. By the weekend we’d expect most of these area waterways to be back in prime shape—just as long as we don’t get another major dousing.
In the region’s larger reservoirs the influx of rainfall was less debilitating, though the Baltimore area lakes have closed to both foot and boat traffic as of this report (and we heard from a reader who attempted to park on the road and walk in to fish Loch Raven, but was instructed to leave by the authorities). The Tackle Box is reporting that St. Mary’s Lake is still open, and has a great crappie bite in the standing timber, at the spillway, and the cove by the dam, plus good bass fishing. We also got one note from a reader who fished Deep Creek last weekend and caught a decent stringer of yellow perch plus a walleye on small crayfish-pattern jigs. Readers hitting Lake Anna reported that the recent weather did slow the bite down for bass and stripers and riled the water in some up-lake areas, but crappie are still hitting well and are holding near shoreline structure.
Blue catfish hunters hitting the Hopewell area and up the Rappahannock had a similar experience, with the waters quite riled up early in the week. However, we still got a couple of reader reports of fish over 30 pounds being caught mid-week. No word from anyone who got the shad to bite but again, by this weekend clearing conditions should be helping things with the caveat that more rain will quickly stir the water right back up.
Snakehead anglers also saw a bit of a slow-down this week thanks to the weather, however, we did hear from a few kayak anglers who hit the Eastern Shore and came back with real dragons; two over 12-pounds were reported (with photo evidence) this week. The anglers said the topwater bite was off but swimbaits and chatterbaits did the trick. We heard from a handful of readers who tried for them on the Western side this week but picked up bass instead, maybe because of the drop in temps and rainfall.
Freshwater Fishing Report, April 10 Update:
Hey, anglers! With fishing in many parts of our turf limited to sustenance only, we remind you that if you’re headed out to fish all the regular regs for the season are still in place and social distancing orders are a go, even if you’re on the water, whether you live in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. Don’t forget that our Social Distancing While Fishing page has links to all the different state authority webpages with the latest info and updates on when, where, and how fishing is allowed. That said, in light of the current circumstances many of our local, well-loved tackle shops have closed their doors for the time being. Every week since FishTalk’s founding they’ve contributed much of the information for this report, which we’re immensely thankful for. As many of them are shuttered for now, we’d like to thank you readers for the reports you sent in via email this week. You’re all helping us keep the reports going during these unprecedented times, and we hope that they help everyone – especially those who have a real need for harvesting their own dinners – hone in on their fishing plans for the weekend. Again, a big thanks to everyone who’s chimed in, and please send future pictures, reports, and updates to [email protected].
While some lakes and access points have been shut off to the public, many others are still open and ready for action. Trout anglers looking for stockers throughout the region have found them willing to eat, especially trout Powerbaits, but many of the usual areas have been crowded enough to make social distancing difficult so now’s the right time to try exploring alternate spots you might not normally go to.
Angler-in-Chief Lenny Rudow headed out early one day mid-week to try catching dinner (he normally has to leave early anyway, because it takes him so long to find fish), and got into ‘em thick at the Eastern Shore millponds. Rudow reported that crappie, bluegills, and bass are chomping in the ponds, and have moved up into the shallows and along shoreline structure in a big way. Water temps at Wye Mills were all the way up around 70 degrees mid-week and the fish were acting like it, hitting two-inch tube jigs (red/whites and blue/whites were best) at a faster pace than they were taking minnow. Fishing right up against the deadfall was a key to catching ‘em.
Reports from other area reservoirs that are open are similar, with the crappie having moved shallow for spawning season and rarin’ to bite small lures and/or minnow. Bass have also moved shallow, and are hitting plastic worms and unweighted jerkbaits.
Snakehead hunters reported up and down action this week with some days being very hot – catches of over a dozen fish were in a couple of the Eastern Shore reports – but some others resulting in skunks, possibly the result of the multiple fronts moving through. Topwater, chatterbaits, and minnow were all reported “best” by different anglers at different times. However, crowds are forming in some of the better-known areas and social distancing may be difficult at times; when a large number of vehicles is parked alongside the road, your best move is to keep going and fish elsewhere. By all accounts the authorities in the area have remained reasonable, firmly requesting that people abide by social distancing rules and enforcing parking regulations (make sure your vehicle is 100-percent off the roadway) when encountering people who are sustenance fishing. On the Western Shore, some of the better reports included catches of four to eight in an afternoon with the Gunpowder and the Potomac creeks being stand-out locations.
Freshwater Fishing Report, April 3 Update:
Fellow FishTalkers: We know you’re all rearing to get out of the house and on the water like we are. We live and breathe fishing, and are quite bummed about the limits placed upon being on the water right now. With limits regarding who can be out and about right now, as well as reduced hours and customer contact in most tackle shops, we’d like to forewarn you that the reports are going to be a bit thin this week and probably will remain so until this blows over. We also know there’s been a lot of confusion over exactly what the current regulations are regarding who can and cannot fish. We can’t tell you the regs in this report because they differ by the area and are changing by the day, but visit our Social Distancing While Fishing page, and in the fourth paragraph you’ll find links to the different state and federal agency websites and announcements regarding the legalities.
Multiple freshwater species remain abundant and willing to strike in many of DelMarVa’s lakes, reservoirs, and lochs, and as you can see from the pic above, the bass are hitting in Lake Anna. Crappie are being caught close to shore throughout the region, where they’re now hanging around structure with the warming temperatures. They’ve been excited to hit chartreuse and neon shad darts tipped with small minnows. Pickerel are still popping up for anglers fishing minnows suspended by a bobber over grassy weed beds. Angler in Chief Lenny Rudow tried hitting Unicorn Lake last weekend, and reports a very strong pickerel bite and a so-so crappie bite there with the fish split between weedbeds and shoreline structure. Both reader reports and the word from The Tackle Box is that St. Mary’s Lake is still providing strong numbers of crappie for anglers fishing the area. They’re hanging around round the stumps, submerged trees, and other structures.
Although the warming trend has slowed a bit there are reader reports coming from the snakehead anglers hitting the Blackwater area. However, these same readers have said that on nice weekend days socially distancing is virtually impossible in some areas due to crowds. If you come to a spot and see too many people to safely socially distance, PLEASE LEAVE and try going somewhere else. It’s a sure bet that if crowds form these areas will be officially closed, no one will be able to fish them at all, and we risk even sustenance fishing being shut down.
With the current situation being what it is, we didn’t manage to gather any intel on the trout fishing and many of the usual access areas on freshwater bodies run by different agencies have been closing up. We're not printing a list here because we have received contradictory information regarding some area closures. However, this solid spring action should be reliable throughout our region and where appropriate, freshwater anglers ought to be able to get some bites.