October Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/27/2017:
As the weather has changed, striped bass have began moving into their fall feeding patterns. Tochtermans reports that although many short fish are hanging out in the mouths of the rivers, which can make for an exciting evening of fishing, larger migratory fish are staring to gather in the open Bay. This past week, they’ve had reports of many fish in the upper 20s to mid 30s, primarily caught trolling and light tackle jigging. Tochtermans mentioned that from many of the reports they’ve had, anglers have been switching to larger baits over smaller ones around Podickory Point, Swan Point, and the channel edges, hoping to catch bigger fish. Fishbone’s gave us some insight into what the hot colors have been this year, with pearl standing out as the number one for light tackle jigging. In addition to pearl, chartreuse has also been a fairly productive color. For anglers who are trolling, red hoses are still working best.
Coming into the rivers, Tochtermans reports that the mouths of the Patapsco and Magothy have been holding large numbers of smaller fish including plenty of legal stripers. Unlike further south, we didn't have many reports this week of birds working baitfish at the mouths of the river, despite there being a fair amount of fish having around the area. Most anglers have found success casting topwater, especially later in the day towards sunset. In addition we had multiple reader reports from these exact same two areas, the mouth of the Patapsco and the Magothy, including some with pictures of fish just over 30 inches. Another reader working jigs along the docks in the Magothy had fish to 26 inches and another had a pair of fish close to 30 inches jigging with pearl and white BKDs off Podickory (all verified with pics).
October Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/20/2017:
Fishbones reported that although Podickory Point, Love Point, and Swan Point are still hot and holding fish, anglers don't need to travel far from home, wherever that may be, to catch decent striped bass. With warmer water temperatures than in years past for late October, the migration of baitfish out of local river has been slightly delayed. However, this week it took off, and the Magothy and Patapsco Rivers have been alive with action coming from all different size rockfish, birds, and baitfish alike. Tochtermans reported that most rivers on the western shore are experiencing great topwater action right at dusk, as the sun is setting. There has been some talk of an early morning bite, however that was harder to confirm, as most anglers have been running out later in the day after work. In addition, it was hard to confirm this topwater bite being on the eastern shore as well as the western, though one reader did let us know he's been catching good fish up top in the Chester.
Aside from the wicked topwater bite going on in the rivers right now, many anglers are enjoying productive jigging at all of our usual hotspots— Podickory Point, Love Point, and Swan Point. Most larger fish have been lazing around deep, and just meandering around the area until seeing something on bottom with the fish finder has been a popular tactic. Captain Bones reported that quarter- to half-ounce white jig heads with pearl, white, or chartreuse GULP!, BKD, or Bust ‘em Baits have been the number one killers for jiggers working deeper waters.
With mixed reviews on the trolling bite, we can’t say with no doubt that there has been or hasn't been a good bite. One of our sources reported that trolling in the Upper Bay has dropped off, while another swore that trolling channel edges with red hoses and Tsunamis is producing. We'll call the trolling bite a mixed report. If you’d like to fill us in on any of your up-to-date info about what's going on in your corner of the upper bay region, or have your photo in the magazine, don't forget to shoot us an email at [email protected], we would love to hear from you!
In addition to the rockfish bite having been on fire up north, quite a few reports of white perch hanging out in the rivers have surfaced. The whites are typically mixed in with some catfish, which are still around in the Upper Bay in better numbers than most seasons, and provide a very low-effort way to catch dinner. Perch have also been hanging around most local piers, so you really don’t even need to jump onto your boat to go out there and get ‘em.
October Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/12/2017:
The Upper Bay still has many active hotspots, unlike many other areas this week. Tochtermans reports that Podickory Point continues to hold fish, as well as Love Point and Belvidere Shoals. Tochtermans has continued to get reports of anglers catching fish in the upper 20-inch range, all the way to the mid-30s. Jigging and trolling have continued to be the most popular tactics out on the water, however many anglers struggled to get out due to rough weather this past week. Vertical jigging has been productive too, and most successful anglers employing this technique are using GULP! lures or BKDs.
Trolling light tackle along channel ledges has been a popular move in areas including Love and Swan Points, with red Tsunamis, number-one spoons, and small bucktails. Live-liners are still managing to find a few spot here and there, and when they do so, are catching plenty of keeper fish at Podickory, Love Point, and Swan Point. If you want to try to live-line with spot one last time, act fast - those spot aren't likely to hang around much longer. Note that last week, we reported that anglers had been catching Spanish Mackerel north of the bridge. As we’ve gotten some rain this week and a little change in weather, it's not too surprising that we didn't get any solid intel on Spanish Mackerel up north this week.
Perch and catfish are still heavy in local rivers, and are active from sun up to sun down. Fishbone’s reports having some customers report catching enough for dinner in a mere matter of hours, and never venturing out into the open Bay.
October Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report 10/6/2017:
The jigging and trolling bites have continued to stay hot in the upper bay, with both Fishbone’s and Tochtermans reporting rockfish in the upper twenties to mid thirties being caught. Love Point, Belvidere Shoals, the Bay Bridges, and Podickory Point have been hotspots producing the most fish. Podickory Point in particular has been getting lots of action, and reports of anglers limiting out have been daily. Light tackle jigging and trolling have been the most popular tactics for going after the fish at each of these hotspots. Most jiggers have been using soft plastics, the most common being pearl and chartreuse BKD and GULP! lures with half-ounce jig heads. The outgoing tide has been the most popular time to fish, as well.
Light tackle has also been best for trolling, from number-one spoons to tandems (try Tsunamis) and small bucktails. Interestingly, Tochtermans reported that Spanish mackerel have been mixed in with the rockfish catch. Anglers who caught them didn’t do anything special to target them, they just showed up mixed in with the striped bass. It's already rather late in the year for this species, especially this far north, so if you want to take a shot at them get out on the water asap, before the weather turns cold again (which will likely send them swimming south).
Perch and catfish have continued to hang around in most local rivers, and are still taking bloodworm and other cut bait on bottom rigs.
We’ve had mixed reports on the crabbing, with some crabbers coming home with no more than a dozen crabs, while others have had full bushel baskets at the end of the day. Good crabbing seems to depend on location, as well as what kind of bottom baits are set on. Earlier in the year crabbers were reporting success on soft bottoms, however most reports now are coming from hard bottoms.