Lower Chesapeake Bay fishing report, July 29 Update:
Anglers: with both sorrow and joy, we inform you of the departure of our Fishing Reports Editor Mollie Rudow. Mollie has begun a different chapter in her life with a new full-time job and will no longer be the driving force behind our angling intel. We wish her all the best, and thank her for four years of compiling the FishTalk fishing reports. We do have a new die-hard angler lined up to step in and fill the void – stay tuned for next week’s big announcement!
The Spanish invasion is well underway in the Lower Bay, and though the numbers we heard about weren’t spectacular, we had reader reports come in of success this week at the Targets and just south-east of Windmill Point, with up to five fish in the boat. Trolling spoons behind planers was the ticket, and silver or gold Clarks were fingered as effective. Small blues were in the mix, as one would expect.
We also heard from anglers trolling these same areas who caught plenty of blues up to 14” or 16” but no mackerel, so the macks may be concentrated in a limited number of specific schools as opposed to being more widespread. A reader trolling PLO to the Target Ship reported that chartreuse and green/pink patterned spoons were also very effective on the bluefish. Another who fished Smith Point said much the same, and although he said he spotted mackerel jumping, got only blues on the line.
We hate to say it, but cobia reports were quiet in this zone this week. We heard from a reader who fished eels at the live bottom southwest of the Target Ship but never had a bite… and that was it. We did get one photo-verified report of a bull red, caught on a jigging spoon, presumably under one of the pods of breaking fish.
Lower Chesapeake Bay fishing report, July 21 Update:
Bluefish have moved solidly into this zone and are great fun for anglers trolling small Drones and Clarks spoons. The schools of them are tight and feisty, with lots of good eating fish in the 14-to-16-inch range. Many anglers are reporting good numbers, too. Spanish mackerel are also around, although they aren’t as abundant as the blues as of yet by a longshot in most areas north of Wolf Trap. Fishing for them with Drones and Clarks is getting both species to hit.
We heard from multiple cobia-hunters in this zone who were disappointed last weekend, with a lack of catching at the Target Ship and Windmill Point. Both also reported that while the rays weren’t awful, bluefish in the 12- to 15-inch range were chewing on their baits continuously. Bunker baits were catching them, along with a few rays. Interestingly, one cobia angler also mentioned picking up a sheepshead that saved the day relatively far north in the Lower Bay, at the targets.
A reader also checked in from “just south” of the Potomac with a speck and many more missed strikes, and said he scared up a school of over-slot redfish sighted but not caught. Reds inside the slot were reported from the Poquoson area, where a reader put two legal fish in the box while fishing around rocky structure. Speckled trout fishing has been pretty good on the western and eastern sides. Throwing four-to-six-inch paddle tailed soft plastics for them is common.
White perch are in the shallows of creeks and tribs, where casting small spinners or putting a bottom rig with bloodworms, FishBites, or grass shrimp on bottom for them works. Good numbers but small fish seem to be the norm recently.
Lower Chesapeake Bay fishing report, July 15 Update:
Remember folks, at the end of the day today rockfish are closed in both the Potomac and all Maryland water of the Bay (through August 20 in the Potomac and through the end of July in MD waters). That means the entire Bay from headwaters to mouth is now officially shut down for stripers. Not only can’t ya keep them, you can’t legally target them for catch and release, either.
The cobia bite around the Target Ships and Smith Point remains limited but on the upswing, with better fishing the farther south ones goes. Anglers fishing for them with live eels managed to score a few throughout the week. Reports from further down the Bay in the Way South zone have been excellent, and hopefully more fish will be making their way up this week. Even though cobia anglers have been jostling to hook up on one of the big brown cows, many still had bends in their rods — or half-eels chewed to bits. Rays have been eagerly taking cobia-intended bunker baits, while the steadily increasing population of snapper blues have been responsible for chewing the tails off of eels. Yeah, that's lots of action but little dinner-rewards. Remember to bring extra bait!
In the tidal tribs and creeks, specks and reds both produced less chatter this week than in the recent past. We did hear from one reader who caught a couple of under-slot reds and a smattering of small specks in a lower Potomac creek, and another who caught three specks, all undersized, on the Rap. White perch and spot have been giving more action under docks and piers, as well as underneath structure like fallen trees. Casting for them with a small spinner or letting a bottom rig down with FishBites, bloodworms, or grass shrimp works, too. We also heard this week, however, that snapper blues have become problematic in the rivers, too. Most are barely big enough for the frying pan or smaller than that, and have been chopping up everything other than metal just about anywhere you may cast.
Catfish are all over this zone in the tribs; dropping cut baits like menhaden, spot, white perch, or chicken liver on bottom is the way to get them on your line and this week we heard of blue cats pushing up into the 40-inch range.
Lower Chesapeake Bay fishing report, July 8 Update:
Note that in the Potomac striped bass are now OUT of season, with the closure here running through August 21 in the river. This means the oft-fished areas around Piney Point and St. George’s Island are shut down. Still, there was some good and diverse alternate activity reported from the Potomac this week; bottom fishers encountered good numbers of white perch in the Piney Point zone, and a FishTalk crew including kayak sharpie Zach Ditmars and contributor Eric Packard plus Brooks and Isaac enjoyed a fruitful jug fishing adventure in Mallows Bay which produced one blue catfish after the next. Bluecat fishing has been off the hook with many large blues reported from the Potomac, Rappahannock, and James. Setting cut baits down on the bottom has been drawing whopper cats reaching into the 40-pound range, with one reported 33-inch cat (unweighed) photo-confirmed this week.
We heard fewer reader reports of cobia success than one would have expected over the July Fourth weekend, but catches were reported near Stingray Point (two, including fish to 45-inches) and one at Smith Point (a 48-incher), with chumming bunker and dropping eels in the slick the favored method. We also heard unverified scuttlebutt of a decent bite on Windmill Point.
White perch catches in the tidal rivers are currently picking up. Creeks and coves have lively bites, and though they can be tougher than usual to locate when anglers are getting into the fish they’re finding them big time. One reader who checked in with us this week reported a dozen white perch during the morning bite in the Potomac, and another let us know that she found spot and white perch fishing bait on bottom in the Rap.
Lower Chesapeake Bay fishing report, July 1 Update:
Cobia hunters: this week brought slightly improved reports, with live eels cast to sighted fish producing plenty of action. The northernmost area we have confirmation for this week is the Target Ship zone (one reader plus Angler’s mentioned it), with multi-fish catches reported from Rappahannock Spit and Wolf Trap. The Tackle Box also reported Smith Point as a spot to try. Chumming is doing the trick, with many anglers favoring eels over bunker chunks to reduce the possible ray interference. As often is the case, we advise bringing way more bait than you think you’ll be needing when dropping bunker down. With the non-target species biting, it’s easy to go through twice what you’d normally anticipate in a morning.
In the Potomac boats that have hooked into stripers are reporting good results, including one angler we checked in with who found a 33-incher; note that the Potomac shuts down for rockfish July 6 and remains closed through August 21. The Tackle Box noted that trollers are faring a bit better than others as the fish are somewhat scattered. Striped bass are loving white spreads of umbrellas, sassy shads, and bucktails. Light tackle casters are also enjoying some spectacular mornings around Point Lookout and in the Potomac and we heard from quite a few who hooked up on multiple fish during the dawn hours. Topwater was productive, although throwing white, chartreuse, and pink soft plastics was more so.
Speckled trout and puppy drum are in the weedy shallows of the Western Shore rivers and biting with enthusiasm, though he drum we heard about this week were mini-sized in the 12- to 14-inch range. Casting curly or paddle tail soft plastics is doing it. They’ve been preferring sparkly baits, giving preference to anything with white or pink. Electric chicken seems to be a religious favorite for the specks, too. The Piankatank got a thumbs-up from two readers this week, and another said he encountered a couple schools of roving bluefish including one up to four pounds working their way north outside of Stingray Point.
Bottom fishermen are picking up spot of various sizes (no jumbos reported though) plus some small croaker. One reader checked in to let us know he also had a palm-sized flounder in the mix along with mostly spot and a few little croaker.