Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, August 2018

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/31/2018 Update:

Editor's Note: Mollie Rudow, our intrepid fishing report compiler, started at St. Mary’s College of Maryland last week. As a new student she has prioritized her studies and will no longer be working on our FishTalk fishing reports every week. Moving forward, Parker Martin, our former FishTalk intern who has filled in for Mollie in the past, will be gathering the intel and writing up the reports. Please join us in welcoming Parker to the reports!

The redfish bite was on an absolute tear this week, with several anglers getting their chance to get into some serious bull reds. They’ve been spotted chasing around schools of Spanish mackerel, making them easy pickings if you can get to the bite early in the morning before the prop noise of your competitors drives them out of casting distance. This can be key, however, as we also had reader reports of poor fishing immediately after the weekend when the fish were pounded on by large fleets of boats. The reds were deterred, Spanish didn't bite, and in some cases it took trolling for blues to get a bend in the rods. Treat those reds with respect: go slow, stay on the outside of the school, and use long soft plastic tails get the reds to strike during their feeding frenzy. You may have to pick through some of the smaller Spanish mackerel, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing! The larger reds have also been caught on the troll with larger spoons or shad bodies on jigs. The reds will usually hang around the southern portions of the Bay until mid-October at the latest, so jump on the bite now while it’s hot!
chesapeake red drum
CCA Youth member Hunter Buffington found ‘em BIG, near the Target Ship.

In other news, the bottom fishing has been pretty good, especially for white perch, spot, and also rockfish when using the appropriate sized tackle for each fish respectively. The larger rockfish and redfish bite has been covered in a pretty wide expanse of the Bay, as they’ve been ranging as far north as buoy 76 out of the mouth of the Patuxent and were situated just outside the Targets in Cedar Point Hollow for a couple of weeks feeding on tiny gray trout (weakfish) that schooled up there, according to The Tacklebox.

Stripers continue to munch on live spot, particularly when fished in the 20 foot range off St. George's and in the mouth of the Potomac. The mouth of the Pax has been holding a fair number of stripers, too, and anglers targeting the piers and pilings around Solomons continue to catch good numbers in the 14 to 22 inch range.

If you’re looking into some other species that aren’t around all too often, blues and Spanish mackerel have been out and about in large numbers. Both are being caught with small jigs and spoons, jigged up into the middle/top sections of the water column. Both make for surprisingly good table fare (hint: always eat 'em fresh, never freeze blues or Spanish), so be sure to scope out the best spots for these two when you get a break chasing from all the redfish in the area!

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/23/2018 Update:

The big news in the Lower Bay recently has been the expansion of species variety. Reader Travis Long checked in to let us know he encountered an amazing mix in the vicinity of the Target ships, including bluefish, Spanish mackerel, redfish, and even a cobia. Those reds were big, too, and through the past couple of weeks we’ve had reader photos come in featuring some gorgeous bulls caught on jigs, out from under schools of blues.

fishing lower bay
While fishing north of Point Lookout, Norman Garner hooked into this big red drum – but something bigger decided it wanted the fish, too. Photo courtesy of Kyle Johnson

Trollers, meanwhile, are catching a mix of (mostly small) bluefish and some stripers on red and green hoses, and those who add some small spoons into the mix are picking up Spanish mackerel as well. The bulk of the anglers who choose to troll have been working either the eastern channel edges, or the mouth of the Potomac.

The mouth of the Potomac has also been an excellent area to live line with spot, which are now plentiful and easy to catch on bloodworms throughout the area. The best spots to turn those spot into stripers have been off St. George’s Island down to Point Lookout. There are also still good numbers of stripers in the lower Pax, being found by anglers casting plastics like six-inch BKDs in white and chartreuse, on half-ounce jig heads, around piers and docks.

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/16/2018 Update:

The lower bay has had a consistent striped bass bite, particularly for anglers fishing the Point Lookout area. Although live lining has been bringing the largest fish in the boat, bluefish have began to invade and are plaguing the waters for those in search of stripers, snatching up their spot but rarely ending up on the hook. As a result, in many cases chumming and chunking have been the best bet for landing striped bass. However the Tackle Box reported finding and catching stripers is only half the battle right now, with those pesky blues in the water.
cobia in lower bay
The crew on the Rock Star captured a pair of cobia, as well as Spanish mackerel and bluefish this week.

Bottom fishermen (and those in search of live baits) have been pleased to find that the Patuxent and Potomac have been full of spot, and mixed in with them has been a healthy supply of croaker. Reader and daily angler Eric Packard reported catching Spanish mackerel trolling south of the 72 buoy this week, and the boat also landed a pair of cobia - which have been a rarity in Maryland waters this year, but the catch is proof that there is still hope for those who are focused in on this species.

Big bull red drum have been showing up under schools of smaller fish recently, falling to spoons jigged in waters 25 feet deep or deeper. Some anglers tossing jigs and allowing them to sink down just below the main body of fish have also been hooking them up. And those aren't the only big fish around... you've probably seen the pictures circulating on Facebook of the big bull shark pulled from a lower Bay pound net this week, and Norman Garner was pulling up a big redfish this week north of Point Lookout, when something chomped it clean in half. Another bull shark in the area, perhaps? Who's got the chum bucket and the shark rigs?!

Crabbing reports have been sparse, but better than up north. Those willing to bait and stretch a trot line can expect a half bushel or better, and hope for a full basket.

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/9/2018 Update:

With water quality far better than up north, heading onto the waters of the lower bay has been anglers best bet at bringing home dinner. Rockfish can be found throughout the lower Potomac, and are being caught live-lining and on jigs off bottom. Sea Hawk Sports Center reported that chartreuse and white GULP! Lures on a half-ounce jig head jigged just off bottom have been producing some rockfish in the 22 to 26 inch range. Trolling has also been a popular option, as the channel edges are holding larger fish in deeper water. The steep channel edge in the Potomac has been a hotspot, and the Tackle Box suggested using large spoons or red and green hoses. The Potomac is also holding large numbers of croaker and white perch, which are being caught on bottom rigs and bloodworm. The Patuxent and Pokomoke are also holding large numbers of fish. 

bluefish
In the past few weeks, we've been getting more reports of bluefish coming up the Bay. Photo courtesy of Travis Long.

 

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 8/2/2018 Update:

Notice: before digging into the report, such as it is, we have to add the same cautionary information as last week. Due to exceptionally poor water conditions resulting from the Monsoons of 2018, it's still difficult to find people who have been fishing, much less successfully. The Maryland DNR is still recommending that boaters use extreme caution in the northern sections of the Bay. Reports of massive rafts of garbage, floating logs, and tires are common. See Chesapeake Bay Boating Alert: Yes, it IS Bad Out There, (updated today) for the latest information. Fortunately the lower Bay has remained in better shape, but shifting winds and currents make for an unpredictable week ahead.

The Tackle Box is reporting that water conditions are fair, and not nearly as bad as up north, and as a result the bite is holding up. The mouth of the Potomac and the drops along St George's and near Point Lookout remain the most consistent areas to target, with chumming proving much more reliable than trolling this past week. Many of the fish have been on the small side, but the numbers are good. They also mentioned that blues are now making up a larger portion of the catch. For the most part they haven't been very big either, but enough eating sized fish are around to make it interesting. Croaker are biting well, too, mostly on bloodworms on bottom rigs fished over hard shell bottom. Croaker have also started showing up with more reliability in the mouth of the Patuxent. Again, bloodworms on bottom rigs are the best way to get 'em.

fishing for rockfish in chesapeake bay
In between the summer monsoons, the Sporting Wood found some nice fish live-lining, on light tackle.

Reports from J & W mirror those above, plus a mention of perch and catfish fishing holding up in the rivers thus far. They also mentioned that croaker had become more reliably recently, and that those bottom fishing and putting some spot into the livewell prior to going to work on the stripers do seem to be catching a better grade of fish.

Unfortunately, it looks like cobia might be a no-show in Maryland waters this year. We still have no verified reports from this far north. See the Way South and VA report, if you want to target this species and you're up for a cruise.