Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 29 Update:
Spring fishing opportunities were abundant this week as we prepare to close out March. The shad run is going strong at this point, with readers reporting catches of a dozen-plus on small spoons and darts. One angler reeling hickories in from a creek off the Potomac reported that pink jigs with white twisters rigged in tandem was producing the most hits. FishTalk intern Adam Greenberg mentioned that tandem rigs with darts up top were the ticket at Fletcher’s last week with 30-plus fish caught. The rain this week may have the tidal tributaries running a bit high and muddy, so the bite may be slower until the water cleans up. Once it does the shad fishing should be back to steady action. Shad action on the upper Potomac has also picked up with numerous successful reports from the Fletchers area. Getting out on rock points and casting spoons or shad darts in the current is working well.
Blue catfish are also biting in all the major Western Shore tributaries. With the wet spring we’re having their range may expand farther down the rivers than usual, but the best bites we’ve been hearing about recently are in the Potomac between DC and the 301 bridge, in the Rap from 301 to Tappahannock, and in the James in the Hopewell area. Fresh mud shad has been a prime bait.
More reports of accidental trophy rockfish catches have also come in from the upper Rappahannock in the Fredericksburg area. Anglers soaking cut bait for catfish and/or casting spoons for shad have been picking them up for over a week now and one reeled in a 44-incher this week. Another angler fishing by boat near Fletchers Cove on the Potomac reported catching a trophy sized striper while jigging in the current. There is no doubt that many of the big stripers are staged and ready to go for their spawning run. Conditions are more favorable this year and things are hopefully setting up for a productive spawn after five years of lackluster results. Angler should remember that striped bass season is closed in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia right now, so striper fishing is catch and release only. The striped bass catch-and-release season will close for the entire portion of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland waters starting April 1st. We encourage you to view the striped bass regulation maps on the Maryland Department of Natural Resources website to get familiar with the open and closed areas throughout the year if you fish Maryland waters. It has been an incredible few months of fishing for trophy striped bass on the Bay. Now let’s hope for a successful spawn this spring.
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 22 Update:
Spring is here, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Cold weather returned this week, and it brought some very gusty winds to the region making for less than ideal fishing conditions. The shad run is still getting underway in the Potomac River and more shad have shown up this week, but the bite has varied from day to day. The warm stretch last week offered some very good fishing for anglers at Fletchers Cove. Many anglers found success throwing shad darts and metal spoons, and the fish were big. Fishing early in the day typically yielded better results. If you want to read more detailed shad reports, we encourage you to sign up for the Friends of Fletchers Cove Shad Report. The shad run is still in the early stages and the fishing will continue to get better in the coming weeks. Down in the Rappahannock, shad anglers found mixed results this week. Some days the bite was great, while other days a few hours work resulted in no bites. The colder weather has the bite up and down. That will change as more fish show up and we start to see milder temperatures next week but there is a big rain event expected this weekend, so the rivers may be running high and muddy into next week.
Striped bass are beginning to make their spawning runs into Lower Bay tidal tributaries. We have reports from up the Rappahannock of some very large striped bass being picked up, including at times by catfish anglers fishing cut bait on bottom. As expected, the catfish are still biting as well, with fish up to 30-plus-pounds mentioned this week. Multiple anglers reported catching the big stripers as far up as City Dock in Fredericksburg. The big stripers have also made their way into Washington D.C. on the Potomac. Catfish anglers again reported catching striped bass as bycatch while using chunks of gizzard shad. These fish have been caught anywhere from Hains Point up to Fletchers Cove. The season is still closed for striped bass in our waters, so it is strictly catch and release right now.
In other exciting news, there is a new D.C. record for largemouth bass. Fifteen-year-old angler Kasper Parfomak caught the new D.C. record largemouth bass last weekend. Kasper caught a 5.90 pound largemouth that measured 20.5 inches at the Tidal Basin on March 15 while fishing with a Rat-L-Trap. The very next day, he caught another bass at the Tidal Basin that weighed 5.90 pounds and measured 20.75 inches while fishing with a bladed jig. Both fish qualify for trophy fish awards, and the bigger fish qualifies for the youth and overall angling record for largemouth bass. Congrats to Kasper on two amazing catches! There are 29 different species of fish that are eligible for the Recreational Angling Records Program. The full set of rules and eligible species can be viewed on the Recreational Angling Records Program webpage. Spring is here and the fish are biting, so get out there and catch a big one!
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 15 Update:
It has been a beautiful week to get out and fish and our springtime patterns are starting to shape up. FishTalk intern Adam Greenberg managed to find our first photo-confirmed shad of the year, which was caught at Fletcher’s on the Potomac. We had a second reader report also from the area confirming the beginning of the run, but in both cases only a single lone fish was landed. Later in the week, contributor Eric Packard ventured down to the upper Mattawoman and found that hickory shad had arrived. Packard caught around 20 fish on small shad darts. We didn’t have any confirmed shad catches from the James or Rap this week but since we know they’re beginning to show to the north it’s a solid bet that they can now be targeted in all the Western Shore rivers to the south, too. We also had a report this week from a reader who tried visiting some of the Potomac River creeks for yellow perch after the rainfall, but said the water was super high and super cold. Other anglers were spotted catching two yellows and a catfish jumped on the line, but conditions did not put the fish in a biting mood.
Reports of B-I-G blue cats continue rolling in from the Western Shore rivers, including a 43-pounder caught in the Potomac this week. Cut gizzard shad was the hot bait. The hot catfish bite is also kicking off in the Rappahannock where big fish are being caught in the Tappahannock area. One angler reported in after a stellar day catching 35 blue cats ranging from 10 to 40 pounds. Crappie fishing is also picking up significantly in the rivers. An angler fishing out of D.C. let us know that a lot of fish are schooling up near Blue Plains and District Wharf. On the Rapp, an angler fishing at Little Falls found some slab crappie biting, catching on a small jigs. As water temperatures rise, fish activity should continue to trend up. More opportunities are on the way, but there is plenty to catch right now!
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 8 Update:
Fishing the perch runs can be very sporadic in the Spring with the inconsistent weather patterns. This year is no different and readers targeting the perch on creeks off the Potomac had some disappointing trips in the past week, with high and muddy water reported from several locations. However, The Tackle Box reports that all the usual lower trib creek and feeder perch grounds do have fish on them now. White perch should be moving into these areas soon too. If you can get live minnows, they usually outperform artificial lures, but make sure you are using circle hooks. If fishing in Maryland waters, note that Natural Resources police officers have been enforcing the striped bass circle hook restrictions on perch anglers, interpreting fishing with minnow as “live lining.” This means that the normal j-hooks, jigheads, and shad darts that just about everyone uses for perch would not be allowed in the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. It is okay to use j-hooks if you are fishing in non-tidal waters or are using bait other than live finfish. You can read the circle hook regulations here; we are hoping to get more clarification on this matter in the future.
The Tackle Box also mentioned reports of some surface action that has been happening in the lower Potomac for rockfish catch-and-release action. Birds have been indicating the zones of activity. If you have trouble finding bird action, searching for bait along major channel edges is a good way to locate fish. Water temperatures are almost prime for the striped bass spawn to bust loose, so fish will be moving up the tidal rivers towards their spawning grounds this month. March is the last month to target striped bass for catch and release in Maryland waters before the April and May closures, but the Potomac and Virginia waters will remain open through the spring for catch and release.
If you want to keep some fish to eat, fresh cut bunker is producing excellent catches of catfish in the rivers and the recent rains should allow them to extend their range all the way down the rivers close to the Bay. This goes for the Potomac, the Rappahannock River, and the James, where big blue catfish are known to hang out. Many of the Spring fishing opportunities are starting to shape up, so it is time to hit the water!
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 1 Update:
RED ALERT for MD Perch Anglers: We have received multiple phone calls and emails this week about anglers perch fishing with minnow on bottom rigs (in tidal areas) being issued warnings by the NRP for not “live lining” with circle hooks. Please spread the word, if you fish minnow for perch this weekend with shad darts or standard bottom rigs you are at risk of being cited!!! Even more important, when we reached out to the DNR about this we were told large numbers of floating/dead perch were spotted when and where this occurred. Since this is certainly not the norm we worry something else may be amiss - if you are out there fishing this weekend and see a fish kill occurring it should be reported to the Maryland Department of the Environment hotline, 800/285-8195.
Spring is approaching and fish are starting to bite more. Now is a great time to it the water, especially if we get some warm days that can turn on the bite. Big blue catfish are getting more active, and the big fish are feeding hard. Captain Mike from Apex Predators guide service sent us an impressive catch from the Potomac. He had an angler catch a 60-pound blue catfish this week. They have been catching plenty of other big fish on their guided trips too. The upper Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers are well known for producing big catfish, but the blues aren’t the only one’s biting. Dog Days Fishing took a trip to the upper Potomac in D.C. and jigged up some very nice flathead catfish. Most fish were around 10 pounds, but a few were in the 20s. All fish were caught jigging while using BKD’s.
We had a report from an angler who was fishing at the Blue Plains Advanced Water Treatment Plant in D.C. who found schoolie sized stripers biting near the warm water discharge. The stripers were biting on hardbaits which also snagged a few gizzard shad. They then went searching for crappie and found some in the Oxon Cove area while using spider rigs. Catch and release striped bass fishing regulations are getting stricter as we head into March. The main stem of the Bay is still open for catch and release fishing, but many of the rivers will be closed to targeting striped bass. In the lower Bay, the tidal creeks that extend off the Potomac on the Maryland side of the river will be closed to targeting. The main stem of the Bay will remain open to catch and release fishing from the Brewerton Channel to the Virginia line, including the Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds. Maps of the open and closed areas can be found on the Maryland DNR website.