Freshwater Fishing Report, April 11 Update:
Freshwater fishing continues to move into typical springtime patterns across the region with many of our favorite fish providing more reliable angling opportunities. Contributor Eric Packard hit a local lake and, despite the dipping temperatures, casting a wacky worm produced a couple of bass. Small jigs on a float-n-fly rig triggered bites from a half-dozen crappie and about as many bluegills. FishTalk Production Manager Zach Ditmars went up into the fresh zone of the Severn and said the pickerel were slow to bite and beaten up (as is often the case around spawning season) but a handful were willing to bite. Another reader wrote in after they kayak fished St. Mary’s Lake last weekend and said that the panfish were eager to bite. He drifted live minnows and used panfish jigs to fill a stringer with crappie, bluegill, and two big white perch. He said that the crappie were on the smaller side, but he kept around a dozen that were between nine and 11 inches. The crappie are also biting in the Potomac creeks, and we heard from an angler who fished an undisclosed trib south of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge who said that the crappie were biting in six to 10 feet of water. He caught a limit using live minnows.
Captain Kenny Spicer fished a few eastern shore ponds and said he caught a mess of fish with the biggest around three pounds. The water temperature was 57 degrees, which, according to Kenny, means it is time to fish a spinnerbait. His primary bait was a Big Mouth Lures bluegill spinnerbait, which caught a lot of small male largemouth bass that were pushed into the shallows along the bank. The bass should be moving into prime pre-spawn patterns and the next time we get a few days of warm weather; we may get some on their beds. The snakehead bite was good before the cooldown, and we had reports from several anglers who had luck in emerging spatterdock fields on both eastern and western shore tributaries. The warmest parts of the day had been getting the fish active enough to hit topwater frogs. Inline spinners have also been noted as effective this spring. The recent shot of cold weather has slowed the bite, but minnows are still proving effective, especially in the Blackwater area.
Freshwater Fishing Report, April 4 Update:
The traditional opening day of trout season in Maryland was on March 29th, and thousands of trout have been stocked across the state for anglers to target. The milder temperatures have made it more pleasant to fish and it looks like anglers in all regions are enjoying the put and take opportunities. More stockings will be delivered this month, so make sure to check the Maryland DNR trout stocking website for the most up to dare information. Mossy Creek Fly Fishing reports that the recent rains have bumped flows and the current weather pattern with warm days and overcast conditions should make for great streamer fishing. They report that Quill Gordons and a bunch of caddis have been dominating the mountain stream insect hatches while Caddis, BWO’s and midges are prominent on the spring creeks. Virginia DWR has also been out stocking across the state and anglers can likely find several trout fishing opportunities within a reasonable distance. The Virginia DWR trout stocking website will show to latest stocking information throughout the spring.
Reports of good shad action are coming in from multiple locations and multiple readers. The Angler in Chief and FishTalk’s Zach Ditmars said the fish are in at Mason Springs, hitting small spoons and darts with chartreuse the hottest color. Anglers fishing early in the day reported a much better bite than those fishing late. We also heard from an angler who had good success on them while casting crappie-sized plastics on jigheads. They’re still running strong in all points to the south but have been slow to get going in northern areas like Deer Creek and the Susquehanna. A few schools of fish have shown up in the northern tribs, and a few anglers found success at the Conowingo Dam, Deer Creek, and Octoraro Creek. Chartreuse shad darts were noted as more productive than other lures. FishTalk contributor Adam Greenberg made it out on the upper Potomac River this week and found a steady bite for shad and also picked up a few catfish on the jig. He and his cousin fished the entire incoming tide and caught over 30 shad using tandem rigged shad darts and spoons. His cousin was catching them on the fly using small shad darts. Adam caught two blue catfish and one big flathead that measured 37” while jigging a 1.5-ounce jighead and 7” fluke style soft plastic. He says that anglers looking to jig for catfish should consider adding Pro-Cure or some type of scent attractant to their jigs because his cousin caught zero catfish with the same jig compared to his three fish with the jig slathered in scent.
Snakehead anglers should be eager to get on the water during the warmer days we have been getting. Topwater action has been picking up during the warmest part of the day and other subsurface lures such as inline spinners, chatterbaits, and Rat-L-Traps have been working well too. We had a report rom a kayak angler fishing the Blackwater area who caught a half dozen snakeheads one day this week. A few of the bites came on topwater frogs and he mentioned that a slower presentation was required to get bites. Largemouth bass are also entering prime pre-spawn patterns and now is one of the best times of the year to catch personal bests. An angler fishing a southern Maryland lake reported that both bass and crappie were active last weekend. They caught several of both species while fishing minnow under a bobber and also caught a few bass on Rat-L-Traps. Their biggest bass was four-and-a-half pounds and their biggest crappie was 15 inches. No matter what freshwater species you like to target, it is a great time to be on the water.