Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, April 28 Update:
Most anglers in the mid Bay region have been occupied with catfish during the rockfish closure. We heard from a couple of anglers targeting catfish this week, one in the Magothy and another in the Patuxent, who said that the steady bite had been interrupted when the last front moved through and the bite was slow. But we also heard from one who tried midweek after the weather had stabilized and caught close to a dozen up to the 12-pound range on cut bunker chunks. The blue cats are in nearly all tidal bodies of water in the mid Bay and are relatively easy to target for some fun action. Anglers Sport Center checked in to let us know that those bank fishing from Sandy Point and Matapeake are still catching plenty of nice sized blue cats on cut bait. We did hear reports of a few big rockfish being caught at Matapeake as well, but of course those fish must be released until the season opens.
The long-awaited trophy rockfish season starts this Monday May first. It was a warm spring and many of the breeder sized rockfish have already spawned and headed south of our area but there should still be a few big fish cruising around the shipping channel ledges. Bloody Point, Stone Rock, and the western side of the shipping channel in front of Chesapeake Beach are popular areas to troll for these fish in the spring. Tandem rigged bucktails and parachutes spread out with planar boards is the most popular way to target the big stripers. It’s a good idea to fish baits at various depths because the fish are scattered throughout the water column. Rain is forecasted this weekend so it will be a good time to go over final checks and prep work before hitting the water on Monday.
White perch are in the deeper channels of the tidal rivers and will soon head to their usual summer hangouts once the water warms up a bit more. You can search for schools of them along channel edges while keeping a close look on the depth finder. Bottom rigs baited with blood worms have been the top producer.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, April 21 Update:
As we eagerly await the return of rockfish season, many anglers are keeping themselves busy with the abundance of catfish in the mid bay waters. Bank anglers fishing at Sandy Point and Matapeake are having good success with the blue catfish. Fresh cut bait on fish finder rigs is catching fish up to 15 pounds but there is always the possibility for much larger fish. Two readers wrote in to report that the catfish were biting good on the Patuxent near Jones Point. They started their day at a public Calvert County pond to catch bluegill for cut bait before heading down to the river to bank fish. In around two hours of fishing, they caught nine blue catfish and four channel catfish. The tide was outgoing, and they noted the bite got better towards the tail end of the tide swing. The biggest blue cat was 14 pounds, but most were in the three-to-five-pound range. All the channel catfish were released while the blue cats went into the cooler.
Anglers Sport Center reports that the perch are exiting their spawning areas in the tidal rivers and heading to the lower sections where they will eventually disperse towards their summer areas. Fishing the deeper channels of these rivers with bottom rigs and bloodworms is a good tactic to target these post-spawn fish. Angler in Chief Lenny Rudow says he didn’t find many perch but the snakeheads were biting in creeks off the Patuxent just below Wayson’s Corner this week, starting off slow but hitting white flukes from about noon on. Largemouth bass were in the mix, too. Water temperatures are heating up with the warmer weather and the snakeheads are moving into their summertime hangouts. Topwater action has picked up around the region for these fish and topwater frogs tend to be their favorite surface lure. The snakeheads can be found in just about any brackish body of water but creeks and swamps near the Patuxent tend to produce well for anglers in this area.
Hickory shad are being caught in the upper Choptank between Greensboro and Goldsboro. Throwing tandem rigged shad darts or small spoons is the best way to target these fish. Remember that the hickory shad are catch and release only.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, April 13 Update:
While we anxiously await the opening of rockfish season there are plenty of other fish to target in the middle Bay regions. The warm spring weather has kickstarted a lot of bites through the early part of spring. The Angler in Chief hit the Western Branch of the Patuxent late this week in search of white perch, but that trip quickly turned into a snakehead endeavor once they spotted fish sunning along the shoreline. He and another angler went three for six while sight casting to the snakes using white flukes. The biggest fish of the day was the biggest snakehead they have ever seen. The fish was landed but wrenched free of the jaw-gripper, hit the bottom of the boat, and flipped back into the water. Talk about heartbreak! They estimated that fish was 34 to 35 inches and said it will be keeping them up at night for the next few weeks. The other two snakes boated came in at 29.5 and 26 inches.
Perch reports from the Patuxent have slowed down this week but there should still be some fish in the areas of the Western Branch, Waysons Corner, and Jug Bay. Since we are nearing the end of their spawning run, these fish are starting to move down the tidal rivers and will see them head towards their normal summer grounds. We received a report from an angler fishing the bayfront near Deale who said that the perch have been biting at night on bottom rigs tipped with grass shrimp. The last half of the incoming and the first half of the outgoing has produced the best bite. An angler checked in from last weekend while fishing near Tuckahoe State Park and reported finding a large school of white perch. They were catching a fish every third cast or so using shad darts tipped with grass shrimp and said most of the fish were medium sized. Once these fish leave the spawning areas they can usually be found in deeper channels of tidal rivers. Pieces of bloodworm on a bottom rig is one of the best ways to target them in the deeper areas of the rivers.
Fishing for catfish has been good in the lower Choptank on cut bait. Channel catfish and blue cats can also be found in the upper Severn, West River, and Kent Island areas. We encourage anglers to fish for blue cats, one because they are invasive and seem to be eating everything that swims in front of them, and two because they taste delicious. Once you fillet the silver skin off the meat, you are left with a beautiful fillet that will make a first-time eater question why they haven’t been targeting these fish sooner.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, April 7 Update:
Now that the rockfish closure is upon us, many anglers are turning their attention to other bites to keep them occupied until trophy season. In many areas the white perch run seems to be just as iffy as the yellow perch run was this spring, likely due to the unsettled weather we’ve been having. We had a reader report of a single perch caught while fishing a shad dart/minnow combo on the upper Pax (though a catfish and a crappie also bit), and another say the salt pond bite was slow but fairly steady with eight keepers in the cooler and a lot of throwbacks while fishing grass shrimp under a bobber at Triton Beach Park. He also noted that new signs are up limiting the number of spots you can fish there, and a couple of good areas are now posted as off-limits “due to shoreline erosion.” One of the more successful perch reports from this week came from an angler who was able to find a few schools of white perch on the upper reaches of the Patuxent’s Western Branch near Upper Marlboro. They had caught around 25 perch but had to pick through the smallies to get around 10 keepers. Shad darts tipped with grass shrimp and minnow both worked well during their trip.
On the western side, the Severn still has a good pickerel bite going on in the smaller creeks off the main body. Spinnerbaits work well to get their attention and hooking on a paddletail is a popular trailer. Another reliable bite in the middle Bay is to target catfish. Blue catfish can be found just about anywhere in tidal waters. They are an invasive species and every year we see bigger fish and an increasing population throughout the Bay. We have even seen pictures of blue cats filled with perch in their stomachs, so removing them from the waterways is a good way to help native species. Channel catfish tend to stay in the rivers but if the salinity gets low enough, we have seen them caught out in the main stem. The Choptank river is a historically great waterway to target catfish, especially around the Dover Bridge area. Fresh cut menhaden is a top option, but cut gizzard shad, bluegill, and chicken liver all work well. This time of year, it’s a good idea to fish with circle hooks just in case a spawning rockfish decides to take your bait.