Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 10/26/2018 Update:
The live spot are pretty much gone, so bait anglers are opting for the ol’ chum slick and cut bait combo. It’s looking real hard to beat, too, especially when fished around depths of 25 to 30 feet of water. Fresh! Underline it, bold it, italicize it; fresh alewife is what will get you the most bites (We got some from Angler’s the other day, and it was right out of the pound nets). Swan Point, Podickory, and Love all remain good bets.
The nighttime temps are dropping to mid-40’s with some consistency now, which has had a weird impact on the fishing to say the least. The fish have bit tight-lipped one day and in a frenzy the next, and the hit-or-miss conditions may continue until they’re comfortable with hunting and moving about with the weather moving more towards the classic October feel. We also heard similar details from in the Middle Bay report.
Artificial lures haven’t been as reliable at the moment for the reasons listed above, but a few places during the mornings and afternoon will trigger strikes. The bay bridge pilings are still the best place for light jigging action, ans also near the Sewer Pipe discharge (above the North-eastern part of the bridge). The Pipe also held working birds a couple afternoons this past week. Topwater lures are getting many of the big fish in comparison to other artificial methods, both among the birds and also in the shallows. We’re talking five feet or even less, in depth. The mornings are a great time to find awakening fish in the shallows, and nothing would wake them up for breakfast faster than a popper chugging right above them. Fish have been reported in the shallows of the Chester and Magothy, but we’ve heard of even more coming from the lower Patapsco. Jiggers have also been scoring around the Key bridge.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 10/19/2018 Update:
Water? Chilly. Fishing? Red hot! Lots of cool water was been thrown into the mix the past few weeks, but we’ve just recently seen it dip below the 70 degree mark, finally, and continue dropping. The baitfish are absolutely pouring out of the rivers, with many hungry striped bass ready to stock up before they migrate southbound. Sticking close to the mouths of the upper tributaries will net you a lot of striper action, mostly in the 18 to 20 inch range but with some fish pushing the 30 inch mark.
The Patapsco has been a hotspot recently with live-lining perch and tossing jigs near Francis Scott Key Bridge both popular and successful. Those interested in quality over quantity have been slapping a live eel onto a hook. The eel option has been starting to gain more momentum as the winter approaches.
The Magothy and the Chester are also seeing a spike in action with reader reports (photo verified) of keeper fish coming in from creeks and docks in both rivers this week. Casting jigs and swimbaits to shoreline structure has been the ticket with white reportedly the best color choice.
Live-lining perch has also been a good option by the bridge pilings when the jigging bite gets slow – which, if you’re by the bridge, hasn’t been happening too often. Large plastic tails with one-ounce heads have been getting hit with consistency; white and albino have been top color choices. There was also a bite at the sewer pipe and both rockpiles, on different days early this past week. A top tactic along the bridge as a whole has been to hit each spot briefly and stay on the move, as the fish have been widely distributed all along the bridges and constantly shifting around, as opposed to remaining clumped up in just a hotspot or two.
The topwater bite is tremendous right now when you combine it with the amount of bird activity that’s been occurring this week. Fish are starting to bust water more and more as the temperatures drop, though thus far it’s mostly been throw-backs. Still, the synergy of chasing down feeding flocks and a large plug on the outside of the school is treating anglers very well with a visual spectacle that should be the norm for the next few weeks or so. If light tackle isn’t your thing, there have been great chumming reports continuing to come in for Podickory, Love, and Swan points.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 10/11/2018 Update:
Chummers are still loving life at Swan Point and Podickory, though there are few anglers live-lining at this point. A few ambitious anglers are catching five to seven inch white perch, and using them instead of spot. One interesting thing has been a rise in the effectiveness of trolling lately. However, you’re going to want to have the widest possible spread, and pass over depths of around 40 feet around the mouths of the major tributaries as opposed to trolling around the masses of chummers. Tandems with six-inch shad and small hoses have been doing the job.
While conditions are steadily improving, there’s still a strong flow of relatively turbid water from up north and the unusual amount of flotsam in the water continues to present a bit of a danger. Keep a sharp eye out, if you’re running a boat at cruising speeds on the Upper Bay this weekend. That said, the strong chumming bite hasn’t slacked off. Swan and Podickory Points continue to be prime territory, in the 20 to 25 foot range. Live-lining is becoming less and less common as most of the spot have thinned out in this portion of the Bay, but using small white perch is still an option and in any case, cut bunker chunks fished on a circle hook on bottom will keep your rods bent.
The fall bite has also picked up in the mouth of the Patapsco, including a shallow water bite on topwater at daybreak. Fishing docks and points heading up towards Baltimore has been producing fish up to the low 20s with an occasional larger catch. The Key Bridge, the piers in East Channel, and the rocks at the old Allied site have all come up in recent reports. Anglers casting the shallows of the Magothy are also finding some fish. The vast majority are throw-backs, but a few keeper fish have been caught at the bar at the river’s mouth.
As it has been all year, the Bay Bridge bite continues to be a highlight of the Upper Bay. Live-lining is becoming tougher due to the lack of spot but casting BKDs and similar plastics is effective all along the pilings. White and pearl have been the top color picks recently. At the rockpiles a bit more weight may be needed to get down in the current and jigging spoons have been a good bet; some big white perch are also mixed in there.
-By Parker Martin