Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 10/26/2018 Update:
The rockfish are out and about, even if the warm air and warm water are receding. The remaining blues are also busy picking off the scraps that striper schools are leaving behind, so keep in mind the occasional toothy blue and if you start losing tails switch to ZMans. The mackerel seem to have finally taken leave of the area, however, with reports of Spanish petering out this past week. Trolling in the deeper parts of the Bay with small spoons and hoses is the way to pick them off, and channel edges (especially in depths of 25-plus feet) are the place to be when trolling for them and the larger stripers. Keep in mind that umbrella rigs are going to be a wonderful tool to have on hand for the spread and have been highly effective recently.
Chumming out by the mouth of the Potomac river has been a great place when combined with a solid chum slick. If you’re around St. Georges Island, still another reliable chumming spot, you’ll most likely run into some blues as well. The ledge off the mouth of the St. Mary’s River remains a good bet, too. But the spot seem to have followed the mackerel out of town and if live-lining was your favorite way to fool fish, try moving eels or white perch into the livewell on your next voyage, as they’ll be the next best thing.
Breaking fish are also out and about, especially in the Point lookout region, with birds being the omniscient telltale sign. As bait heads out of the rivers those birds will be the key to finding where they are and where they’re heading. Many of the breakers are small but chuck your light tackle lure of choice off the side of the main school by 30 feet to maybe find that lurking cow.
There’s also still a solid bite in the shallows for those who like casting light tackle, topwater, swimbaits, and jigs, to pick off individual fish. Most are undersized but plenty of 20-somethings will be encountered along docks and rip-rap. White and off-white patterns have been the top color pick.
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 10/19/2018 Update:
Chumming has been doing great, but who would’ve guessed that? In fact, for bait anglers the Lower Bay chum and live-line bite seems to have been the best out of the three bay regions recently, finally giving the Upper Bay a run for its money. Most of the baitfish are still on their way out of the tributaries as you’re reading this, which may explain things a bit. The lower Potomac off St. George’s and also off the mouth of the St. Mary’s River have been top destinations.
Many anglers will take notice to the amount of avian action taking place around the Bay, which is great to track down the fish while running out to your favorite spot. Birds have started popping up all over the place, marking schools of mostly small rockfish. However, Spanish mackerel and bluefish are still in the area, which is quite a bonus for this time of year. In fact, a few lucky anglers even hooked into an oddball redfish or cobia while trolling the Lower Bay this week. Yes, we know we sound like a broken record at this point, but these species will cruise out of our waters any day now (for real, now that temperatures are finally dropping). So if you have the shot get in your last licks on ‘em while you still can. Trolling small spoons near the lower Potomac, off Point Lookout, and down towards the Target Ship are the areas to hit and keep your eyes peeled for those birds.
In the shallows, as with much of the Bay, topwater at daybreak and sunset is producing excellent striper action. Again we heard about the St. Mary’s for this bite, but also the lower Wicomico and areas around Cobb Island, as well as the lower Patuxent. Piers and rip-rap are the prime targets. When light levels rise, jigs take over as the best lure choice with white, pearl, and albino colors proving effective.
Crabbers, get in your final shots, as well. Trot lines have been covered with crustaceans when run in seven to 10 feet of water, and most of the crabs are coming up heavy and stuffed with meat!
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 10/11/2018 Update:
Jigging has been going well, with birds giving away the fish's location and larger soft-plastics having quite an impact (think quality over quantity) when in moderately deep water. BKD’s and GI Jigs are the norm out there, and are very proven at this point; white has been a top color pick. The birds are wreaking havoc on bait balls out in the bay, so keep some binoculars on board to look for feeding gulls, which are a sure sign to tear up some schoolie stripers.
As water temperatures drop there are still a surprising number of reports of Spanish mackerel in the mix, though we can’t expect this to keep up much longer; a couple of chilly nights will send those guys quickly heading southward. Another surprise has come in the form of more bull red drum, which made an appearance this past week in the Point Lookout region with several readers sending in reports of chunky reds. Several of these fish were picked up by accident, by trollers pulling spoons and small hoses for a mix of stripers, mackerel, and snapper blues. We also heard of at least one cobia reported from the area, but if you happen to luck into one of these few remaining fish remember that they closed in Maryland waters as of September 30.
In the Potomac slightly up-river chumming remains a solid bet off St George’s for anglers working the 20 to 25 foot edges. Live-lining here is still an option, too, though the spot do seem to be getting a bit harder to locate on a regular basis and their numbers are thinning out as the water cools.
Inside the Patuxent and Potomac, the early morning and late evening topwater bite is developing nicely for the fall. The Solomons area, the St. Mary’s River, and near the mouth of Breton Bay and St. Clements all came up in reports this week. Casting to rip-rap and piers has been producing stripers up into the 26 inch range. Those tossing smaller baits like Perch Pounders and tube jigs or twisters are finding plenty of white perch as well. There’s also been an influx of speckled trout, however, they’ve been mostly very small fish in the eight to 12 inch range. Across the board, pearl, white, and silver colors are producing the best.
Crabbing has been excellent but a strong influx of mature females in the region does mean baits are getting chewed up rapidly.
-By Parker Martin