Middle 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!
More Middle Bay mackerel are on the move! We had reader reports of ‘em from just south of Poplar Island, the mouth of the Choptank, and off of Solomons this week, with the best action in the Choptank-to-Solomons zone. They still aren’t thick and the Poplar reports were single fish mixed in with the numerous 12- to 16-inch snapper bluefish now prowling the area, but the Solomons report includes three nice sized Spanish captured while throwing metal and in the Choptank up to a half-dozen fish at a time have been verified caught. Anglers headed for Poplar should note that some of the schools of breaking fish have been mostly rock and should thus be avoided, and some others have had a few rockfish mixed in with the blues. Uber-fast retrieves and bumping trolling speed up to six mph or over will help keep the striped critters off the line until Monday when the season reopens in the Maryland portion of the Bay.
Additional but limited bluefish reports came from Thomas Point (one 14-incher) and Gum Thickets. We also had a pair of specks noted by readers casting four-inch paddle-tails, one on the west side of Poplar and the other in the Choptank, though both fish were singles. As can happen in the heat of summer the specks may have shifted a bit deeper, and working near structure in eight or 10 feet of water is a good move if you want to hunt for them.
Quick Little Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 21 Update:
The Angler in Chief says some rockfish finally showed up close to home right in time for the shutdown, off Poplar. In the final hours before the closure fish up into the mid-20s were pulled from the north, west, and south-side on white paddle-tails. Two readers filed similar reports, one noting that they hit the 34-inch mark on the north side. More pertinent to this week’s conversation, however, he says several schools of snapper blues popped up chasing anchovies on the south side and provided a non-rock catch of small but keeper-sized fish up to 16 inches. He noted catching more snappers in the mouth of the Choptank, as well. Several readers checked in mid-week with similar reports of hefty bluefish catches while trolling Clark spoons, and we also had a report of one mackerel caught in the same area mixed in with ‘em. Throughout the week reports of bluefish have picked up— it seems like they’ve moved into this zone in a big way... and just in time!
Some perch anglers are still singing the blues or at least noting a slower than usual bite. We heard from readers in the South who worked all morning to amass a whopping half-dozen perch, and another who fished multiple open-Bay spots dropping Chesapeake Sabikis with Fishbites bits and caught about a dozen an hour.
Crabbing Report: As of last weekend, we had strong reports from the South and Rhode Rivers with a nice mix in sizes but lots of undersized crabs plus females to sort through and lots of white-bellies as well. A reader checked in from the South saying he plugged his bushel basket by 9 a.m. and the AIC also reported excellent crabbing in the South with necks on the trot line last weekend.
Quick Little Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 16 Update:
AIC Lenny Rudow reports that large numbers of snapper blues in the 12- to 16-inch range are breaking water south of Poplar and feeding on bay anchovies from there down to the mouth of the Choptank. They aren't huge, but they are tasty and providing some current non-rockfish action.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 15 Update:
Rockfish Alert: Remember folks, at the end of the day today rockfish are closed in all Maryland water of the Bay through the end of the month. That means the entire Bay from headwaters to mouth is officially shut down for stripers. Not only can’t ya keep them, you can’t legally target them for catch and release, either.
The Angler in Chief says he fished Poplar and the mouth of the South with only dinks to show for it, for his final trip (edit to "second last trip," see above!!) before the closure. A reader checked in after following a similar gameplan, with similar results. Both noted that there’s a good amount of bait in the mouth of Eastern Bay around The Hill, but not much chasing it. Better reports came in from the shallows of the Choptank, where rock into the mid-20s were pouncing on jigs. A few snapper blues have popped up, however, and begun nipping the tails off the plastics.
With stripers out for the count, perch, spot, and catfish are sure to be taking up fishing days. Perch have been tougher than usual to find in the tribs, but once you locate some fish the numbers tend to be decent. Several readers have reported better luck fishing open water with shell bottom between eight and 12 feet of water using bloodworms, FishBites, or grass shrimp on bottom rigs.
Crabbing Report: The AIC said the crabbing is FINALLY decent in the South, and he got a pile of very nice jimmies last weekend in 10 feet of water. A reminder, the new regs say you can only keep one bushel per boat regardless of how many licensed anglers are aboard a boat.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 8 Update:
Readers checked in with keeper rock from the Choptank, casting jigs in the shallows with reports of solid action, and also a few trolled up in the Chesapeake Beach vicinity. A few specks are also being reported in the region, although one reader (who we know to be a good angler) hunted for them one day early this week and caught small stripers, only, in the shallows.
Angler in Chief Lenny Rudow says Thomas Point is just one big dink-fest and he’s stopped fishing the area since fish over 15 inches simply don’t seem to be present at the moment and the little guys are getting too much of a workout as the temperatures rise and chances of release mortality go up. However, he did mention that a neighbor caught a 23-incher at the lighthouse, while weaving his jig through the lines of a half-dozen other boats tossing at the same target. Angler’s had similar reports from the area, noting that many of the fish caught across the board right now are undersized. The Bay Bridge pilings are providing some good (but crowded) livelining action. Small white perch and spot are available off Sandy Point State Park.
Trollers are faring well on the channel edges, although they also aren’t able to escape the throwback bite. The trollers are generally pulling umbrellas rigged with bucktails or sassy shads to follow. With fish deep, save in the mornings, keeping spreads close to the bottom has been essential if you’re hoping for a tug.
Contributor Eric Packard reported a good bite in the lower Pax, with mostly cutlass fish hitting his paddle-tails, spinnerbaits, and plugs. However, he’s been picking up some rockfish, including some keepers, with regularity. Don’t forget, this is your last week to keep ‘em for a while!
Perch remain extremely hit-or-miss, with mostly misses being reported. One angler reported finding a dozen or so up to 10 inches in the South (mixed in with some smallish spot), another reported catching just one casting to the piers and pilings, and a third who fished the Rhode River also reported a lone perch taking his Perch Pounder. Another pair of anglers fishing the West did quite well though, catching about 30 in a morning of fishing while using spinners. The AIC also mentioned he spent about an hour probing some new places in search of them sine they aren’t at many of the usual spots and seem to be clustered in unusual areas, but came up blank.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 1 Update:
The cutlassfish are back in the lower Pax and in force — Contributor Eric Packard reported catching 12 in a morning on his kayak (and a couple of keeper-sized rockfish plus dinks) on a lipped crankbait and white paddle-tails. Meanwhile, the AIC says evening trips to Thomas Point and the mouth of the West have been producing only dinks for him (mirroring two reader reports from Thomas Point), and there are some rockfish bordering on legal size but just under, inside the river now (the South). All were hitting white paddle-tails and white or chartreuse spinnerbaits. Casting to docks at sunset has been the ticket inside the river. White perch still seem to be in relatively short supply inside the river but he says he saw a boat fishing on hard bottom in open water reeling them up one after the next.
A reader let us know that there are some fish in Eastern Bay and said that Hollicutt’s produced a couple of keepers among many more throwbacks, but he also said several of the fish including one that should have gone into the cooler were sick and showing sores. Another reader reported finding lots of undersized rock with a few hitting the 20-inch mark, plus a couple of bluefish, in the mouth of Eastern Bay. Both he and Angler’s Sport Center are reporting that bluefish have now showed up in the Middle Bay zone. No big numbers as of yet, but the reader got two mixed in with rockfish.
Crabbing Report: REMEMBER: New DNR regs limit recreational anglers to one bushel per boat per day, regardless of how many licensed crabbers are aboard. Current regs can be found here. The Angler in Chief says he evening crabbed the South River in 10 feet of water during the extreme low tide early this week, and had his best trip yet (though still not spectacular by any means). Three dozen jimmies hit the basket, and about a third of them were jumbos. We also heard from a reader crabbing Eastern Bay and going home with a half-bushel.