Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, April 24 Update:
With travel restrictions still limiting fishing opportunities in many areas, we note that if you’re headed out to fish all the regular regs for the season are still in place and social distancing orders are a go, even if you’re on the water, whether you live in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. Don’t forget that our Social Distancing While Fishing page has links to all the different state authority webpages with the latest info and updates on when, where, and how fishing is allowed. With many businesses still closed, we’d also like to give a big thanks to all you readers who sent in reports and pictures. Please keep them coming to [email protected].
The Tackle Box reported that large catfish are abundant at Bushwood Wharf right now, feeding on cut alewife. The Potomac, Rappahannock, Chickahominy, and James are all full of them, accessible from both shoreline and by boat. Unfortunately, we’d expect the recent rain to roil many areas and in the coming days, mid- to lower-river areas will likely be a better bet than heading up-river. Same goes for snakehead-hunting, which has been relatively slow numbers-wise on the Western Shore tribs this week with the stall in our spring warm-up but has also produced a few reports of large fish. Seems the bigger snakes are less deterred from feeding with the cool weather, and they have been hitting sub-surface lures like swimbaits and chatterbaits.
With striper season opening on May first in Maryland (trophy) and May 16 in Virginia (slot), The Tackle Box was excited to let us know that pound netters are catching in greater numbers than previous years, with some seriously large fish in the nets. There were also a dozen spot, perch, and a 15-pound black drum in the nets of one commercial fisherman working in the Potomac.
Shad have been present in good numbers in the upper Rap and near Richmond, but again, the rainfall may make that bite more difficult in the coming days. However, the bite farther south in the Lower Bay is beginning to pick up steam, with drum (both big ones and puppies), specks, and flounder all increasing in numbers this week; see the Way South report for more details.
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, April 17 Update:
With travel restrictions still limiting fishing opportunities in some areas, we remind you that if you’re headed out to fish all the regular regs for the season are still in place and social distancing orders are a go, even if you’re on the water, whether you live in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. Don’t forget that our Social Distancing While Fishing page has links to all the different state authority webpages with the latest info and updates on when, where, and how fishing is allowed. With many businesses still closed, we’d also like to give a big thanks to all you readers who sent in reports and pictures. Please keep them coming to [email protected].
The Tackle Box let us know that many guys who are out fishing for dinner have been headed to freshwater options, including St Mary’s Lake where the crappie bite has remained pretty awesome. Shoreline and boat anglers have been hitting the stump fields, the cove near the dam, and spillway. Bright marabou and shad darts are the ticket right now, and are working best when tipped with minnow. If you’ve gotta stock up on supplies before heading out, the Tackle Box is still open from 9AM to 5PM and is allowing 10 people in the store at a time to maintain social distancing measures. Machadoc Creek Marina checked in to let everyone know that despite a spate of crummy weather keeping a lot of people off the water this week, these are some freshwater species biting up the creek and “cats, cats, cats,” for anglers fishing in the Potomac River.
Reader reports also came in from anglers hunting blue catfish in the upper Rap and tribs, and the James, however, the rainfall caused turbulent water for several days early this week. That put a damper on things and also sent a lot of branches and logs heading down the rivers, as well as stifling the shad bite in up-river areas where they can be targeted, with the latest reports (coming in yesterday) that it’s cleared up some but the water is still a bit off-color in many places. By the weekend it could be back in reasonable shape, if we don’t get another dousing. Readers targeting the cats in the usual hot zones did report a couple of big ones, including one over 30 pounds and a second fish over 50 (from the James).
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, April 10 Update:
Hey, anglers! With fishing in many parts of our turf limited to sustenance only, we remind you that if you’re headed out to fish all the regular regs for the season are still in place and social distancing orders are a go, even if you’re on the water, whether you live in Delaware, Maryland, or Virginia. Don’t forget that our Social Distancing While Fishing page has links to all the different state authority webpages with the latest info and updates on when, where, and how fishing is allowed. That said, in light of the current circumstances many of our local, well-loved tackle shops have closed their doors for the time being. Every week since FishTalk’s founding they’ve contributed much of the information for this report, which we’re immensely thankful for. As many of them are shuttered for now, we’d like to thank you readers for the reports you sent in via email this week. You’re all helping us keep the reports going during these unprecedented times, and we hope that they help everyone – especially those who have a real need for harvesting their own dinners – hone in on their fishing plans for the weekend. Again, a big thanks to everyone who’s chimed in, and please send future pictures, reports, and updates to [email protected].
Anglers who headed out this week to catch dinner oftentimes found themselves returning with coolers full of white perch and catfish. These two species have been the primary targets throughout the Bay tributaries, as the striper fishery is completely shut down and the catch and release shad fishery north of the MD/VA boarder is also a no-go according to the rules currently in place. Up the Virginia tribs, however, shad fishing has been improving (near Richmond has been a good bet) with some perch and (accidental) stripers being caught in the same areas. Hitting shorelines and creeks, guys dropping down bottom rigs with grass shrimp, bloodworms, and small soft plastics were fairly successful locating perch. Machodoc Creek Marina checked in and let us know that while strong winds put a damper on things at times this week, when boats got out on the Potomac, those coming in with fish had white perch and catfish.
Catfish have been easiest to locate – they’ve been all over the tributaries and we had some reports from the James of 30-plus-pound blue cats caught (at night) in the Hopewell area. Offering them cut gizzard shad, menhaden, and chicken breast gives you a good bet of getting them on the line.
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, April 3 Update:
Fellow FishTalkers: We know you’re all rearing to get out of the house and on the water like we are. We live and breathe fishing, and are quite bummed about the limits placed upon being on the water right now. With limits regarding who can be out and about right now, as well as reduced hours and customer contact in most tackle shops, we’d like to forewarn you that the reports are going to be a bit thin this week and probably will remain so until this blows over. We also know there’s been a lot of confusion over exactly what the current regulations are regarding who can and cannot fish, when and where. We can’t tell you the regs in this report because they differ by the area and are changing by the day, but visit our Social Distancing While Fishing page, and in the fourth paragraph you’ll find links to the different state and federal agency websites and announcements regarding the legalities.
In the Potomac, white perch and the blue cats are hanging out and ready to bite. Machodoc Creek Marina says they're open for fuel, the ramp is open, and they're seeing catfish, catfish, and more catfish coming in including one at 38 pounds last weekend. The perch are just now showing up along the shorelines and are being caught on night crawlers but they also note that the waters were a bit riled up early this week from the rains. The Tackle Box (which as of today was open from 9 to 5 with limited entry policies in effect) reported that blood worms with a bottom rig have been the bait of choice for the perch. We also had a reader report of white perch in the Rap. (Yellows seem to have done their thing and pulled their disappearing act). Shad have begun to run in upriver portions of the Virginia Lower Bay tribs as well, and although many upriver areas were muddied up last weekend, the past few days have allowed the water to clear up a fair amount so we'd expect this to be a good bet in the immediate future, where and when it's permitted and social distancing is possible.