Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 18 Update:
The Tackle Box reports that trollers are finding good success in the Potomac River for striped bass. Umbrella rigs with five-inch paddletails and tandem rigs with either soft plastic shads or curly tail baits seem to be working best when trolled along the edges of shallow water. White has seemed to be the best color recently. The Tackle Box also said that the shallows are a good bet and the topwater bite in the early mornings has led to big eats on the surface and screaming drags. The shallow water bite will start to dwindle in November, so get out and take advantage of it now. Most of the stripers have been concentrated from Ragged Point up to Dahlgren. Down towards the mouth of the river, bluefish, red drum, and flounder have been mixed in with the stripers. Light tackle jigging has enticed all these species into the net this week.
The Rappahannock has been fishing well this fall and that pattern held true this week. We had multiple reports that the speckled trout bite turned on with 15 to 20-inch fish being found on grass flats. Water temperatures are in the mid-60s in most places. A boat fishing near Grey’s Point on the Rapp found steady pickings of puppy drum and they quickly boxed a two-man limit of slot fish. Another angler reported that the Whitestone area was productive with four reds up to 25 inches, an 18-inch speckled trout, and a 20-inch striped bass. Lots of jumbo mullet were also in the area. Right now is prime time to hit the shallows for a variety of species. Productive areas to fish will include grass flats, docks, rip-rap shoreline, ledges, and bridge pilings. The bite should stay great into November as long as we don’t have consistent cold fronts that can push fish into deeper water. Once the colder pattern sets in, striped bass should school up and chase bait in open water. Bird shows will help to give away their location, so make sure to have pair of binoculars on board to scan the horizon for signs of life.
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 11 Update:
The fall bite is in full swing for many of our favorite species on the Lower Bay. Several readers report that chopper bluefish continue to strike (like a ton of bricks) near the Target Ship. Breaking fish appear at times and can be cast to with light tackle, and trollers pulling spoons and red hoses are getting more steady action. Captain Chad Koenig of Dog Days Fishing has been running trips on and out of the Potomac recently and reports that the fall bite has been great on most days. A trip last weekend turned out to be a meat haul. He and his crew boxed 18 bluefish, around a dozen blue catfish, and their limit of rockfish. Captain Chad reported that they caught well over 100 bluefish and left them biting to go catch their other fish. The bluefish are thick from the Potomac down through Virginia waters and will be found around ledges anywhere from 15 to 30 feet of water. Trollers have had the best luck consistently catching them using surgical tubes and metal spoons.
An angler fishing on the Potomac River near St. Clements Island reported a steady bite for a mixed bag of species this week. They caught four striped bass, three puppy drum, and half a dozen white perch. All fish were caught using either white paddletails or small silver jigging spoons. Trollers working the lower half of the Potomac are reporting good success for stripers. There hasn’t been one “hot zone,” but working ledges anywhere from the 301 bridge down to the mouth of the river should put you in a good place to potentially hookup. Umbrella rigs and tandems with five-inch baits will be a good imitation for the baitfish the stripers will be feeding on. On the Rappahannock, an angler fishing out of Whitestone found a thick school of puppy drum working grassy shorelines in the shallows that were eager to bite. They quickly caught six slot drum before the fish moved to deeper water. Speckled trout have also been feeding hard in the shallows. The specks have been more concentrated around grassy areas and are feeding on a mix of small baitfish and shrimp. Popping corks will be very effective this time of year.
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 4 Update:
The shallow water bite is starting to get good as we enter the fall transition period where water temperatures start to cool and fish start to feed more aggressively. This is ideal timing for Virginia anglers, as the VA striped bass fall season opens up today! Contributor Eric Packard fished the bayfront near Point Lookout and encountered a mix of redfish up to 25”, speckled trout, stripers, and bluefish. Five-inch chartreuse Jerk Shad and four-inch Gulp! paddletails in purple tiger on 3/8th ounce jigheads were the hot baits. An angler fishing on the Rappahannock reported a good bite for red drum in deeper water. While jigging Stingsilvers in 30 to 40 feet of water, they caught a few slot reds and one 50-inch fish. They also lost another bull red that broke off after a short fight. Another angler fishing in the Whitestone area caught puppy drum up to 25 inches, under-slot striped bass, and speckled trout up to 19 inches. Water temperatures in the area were in the mid-70s.
There are still plenty of bluefish schools around with trollers and jiggers catching them anywhere from Point Lookout south. Most fish are being found in depths of 20 to 40 feet of water and covering lots of ground has been the name of the game as the schools are constantly moving to chase baitfish. The zone around the Target Ship has arguably been the most consistent area with lots of nice fish being caught over the past few weeks. Many of the bluefish are in the 20-to-24-inch range but some fish close to 30 inches have been boxed. Even though cobia season is closed for the year, boats are still picking up a fair number of fish while trolling surgical tubes for bluefish. One boat reported landing a handful last week while trolling for blues just north of the Target Ship. Cobia will be making their southward migration soon if they haven’t already started, so Lower Bay anglers should find better catch and release opportunities the further south they go. Bull red drum will also be moving south soon and the same will be true for them. Better numbers will be found further south in the Bay.