Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, May 28 Update:
The AIC reports that there was some awesome fishing just north of Gum Thickets and along the 16’ to 24’ drop-offs along Kent Island late last week, but the schools appeared to get broken up to a large degree with the crowds Saturday, and fishing went from hot to tough overnight for the 19” to 26” rockfish. Reader reports mid-week were of seeing fish on the finder but still having a tough time getting them to bite. White paddle tails with chartreuse skirts bounced along bottom were doing the trick, when they would cooperate. Many of the area charters have already begun live-lining. Spot have been reported in bait-catchable numbers in bars at the river mouths in eight to 14 feet of water, on bloodworms. Spots mentioned in specific for the spot were the mouth of the South and the Point No Point reef area. We’ve also been hearing about a fair measure of success chumming on fish up to 30 inches in 15 to 25 feet of water. Gum Thickets, Tolley Point, and Cedar Haven all got mentions.
Tired of chasing rockfish already? We had a number of very cool alternate-species reports in the Middle Bay this week. Black drum have been caught at the Stone Rock, and Contributor Eric Packard discovered a surprisingly good speck bite in the lower Pax already, with most of the fish nice in the 18” to 21” size range. The numbers haven’t been huge but he’s picking up a couple-few most outings. Lots of schoolie rock have been mixed in, many above the 19” size limit. Four-inch pink and Electric Chicken plastics were doing the trick.
Meanwhile, white perch have moved in around the docks and shoreline structure on the western shore, and many readers are reporting getting them on grass shrimp on bottom rigs and small twisters and spinnerbaits. Packard mentioned they were also thick at St. George’s Island this week and were striking small blue jigging spoons.
Crabbing report: We’ve heard from dock owners on the South, West, and Choptank rivers that the crabs have come on in the past week. Dock owners with pots have been getting up to a dozen leaving the pots soaking for a couple days. No reports from trot-liners as of yet.
Late Breaking Update:
The AIC says he ran over to the southern end of Kent Island this evening and there were very nice pods of 19" to 25" rockfish slightly NE of Gum Thickets. 16 to 22 feet was the hot depth, and white five-inch paddletails with chartreuse skirts bounced along the bottom got the fish biting.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, May 21 Update:
AIC Lenny Rudow says there was some very dirty looking (quite possibly algae bloom) water blanketing much of the western shore over the weekend and early in the week, and the bite at Thomas Point and in the shallows near the West River more or less shut down going from awesome to just a few dinks remaining in the territory practically overnight. Reports from the eastern side were better, with fish up to 25-inches hitting white and chartreuse jigs cast to shallow water structure off the main Bay and some fish up to 28 being reported by jiggers and trollers in 15 to 20 feet of water. Poplar and Kent Island were fingered as good bets. We also had reports of chummers catching keeper rockfish up into the mid-20s off of Cedarhurst, and a mix of stripers and catfish off Hackett’s.
Despite the funky water, anglers who chummed deeper areas around Thomas Point or trolled the channel edges this week did find some decent fish as well. Trollers enjoyed fairly steady catches. Angler’s Sports Center and Alltackle in Annapolis both recommended the 40-foot channel edges around Tolly Point, Thomas Point, and Bloody Point. There were a few reports of fish that exceeded the trophy mark this week. Most fish on the troll, however, were in the 20-inch range.
Snakeheads continue popping up in the western side mid-Bay tribs, mostly in the Severn and the West. This week, however, we also had a photo-verified snakehead pulled up (in a crab pot) in Ramsey Lake on the South River. If you’re hoping to amp-up your snakehead game, check out our article “Fishing for Snakehead for Beginners”. Or, for a real challenge: get some tips on fly fishing for snakehead.
We also had our first report of a speckled trout in the Middle Bay this week(!!!), with credit going to Contributor Eric Packard, who reeled up a keeper-sized fish and lost a second one right at the boat just yesterday casting pink plastics into the waters of the lower Pax from his kayak. He also caught several stripers in the 21-inch range on the same morning foray.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, May 14 Update:
Our favorite traditional hotspots are once again proving worthy of having their names in the books — Thomas Point, Bloody Point to below Poplar, Buoy 83, and the CP Buoy are all producing fish. While the trophy season has been slow overall, these places have proved the most reliable so far. Multiple, but not extraordinary, reports of keeper fish came in from all of them this week. Angler’s Sports Center and Alltackle in Annapolis confirmed this, echoing that while the season hasn’t been a hot one, these areas are your best shot right now. Angler’s also mentioned that the channel edges are producing fish. Alltackle suggested trolling tandems or umbrellas and rigging up with whites and chartreuse. White has been dominating this season.
Undersized fish are around and waiting for the limit to drop. Our Angler-in-Chief hit up Thomas Point Light early in the week, where he found plenty of small fish willing to hit. The shallows around structure were also holding good numbers, and he found that five-inch white paddle tails were working best. The shallows produced some decent fish, as well as plenty that will still be throwbacks come summer.
Angler’s Sports Center also let us know that white perch are now hanging out in the tribs, and are fine with grass shrimp on a bottom rig. Bloodworms are working as well, plus FishBites. Shad darts and other small jigs are a popular offering too. We also had a reader report of perch at Hackett’s, along with some rockfish and blue cats.
For those who tried to tune in to Live With Lenny last night we apologize for the technical difficulties, evidently we broke the internets. The show has been rescheduled for next Wednesday evening at 5:00 p.m. when we'll have a striper season update and discuss targeting invasive species like snakeheads and blue cats with David Sikorski from the CCA.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, May 7 Update:
From the ship anchorage to the Thomas Point area was definitely a hot zone opening weekend, with many of the reports of success coming from that area in 35 to 45 feet of water. White tandems were stand-out baits. There were also some reader reports of success off Bloody Point, and in the deep water to the west-southwest of Poplar Island. Many anglers were complaining of thick jellies fouling their lures in this zone, so be sure to pull ‘em often and keep them clean if you troll here — jellified lures do not catch fish.
AIC Lenny Rudow said Sunday morning around 10:00 there was a fleet stretching from west of Bloody Point clear down to two or three miles south of Poplar, but he didn’t see any bent rods and most anglers who did catch reported catching their fish very early or very late. He also noted that there are schoolies around, and tossing jigs to structure in four to 10 feet of water produced a handful of fish in the 16- to 25-inch class over the weekend and dozens mid-week at sunset. He also said that soaking bunker chunks near TPL in 28 feet of water produced some nice catfish. Mid-week reports also indicated an early and/or late bite with less midday action for most anglers. Alltackle in Annapolis confirmed this, adding that the CP Buoy and Hacketts produced some fish, and confirming that the bite around Thomas Point was better than most. They heard of a couple 40-plus inch fish this week, although they mentioned that the season is off to a slow start.
If you struck out on trophies last weekend during the Maryland Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River rockfish season openers, don’t feel bad — you weren’t alone, and not by a longshot. We ran an informal poll in multiple Facebook groups to find out the ratio of boats that came home with versus without fish (though we note that several anglers did report releasing trophy-sized fish, and for that folks, you have our kudos). After asking folks to report on the number of keepers they caught including skunk trips, waiting for the posts to remain up for 24 hours, and counting keeper fish only (multiple boats did report undersized fish), here are the results: 18 boats reported catching two or more trophies, 44 boats reported catching one trophy, and 113 boats reported a skunk in the box.