Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, November 25 Update:
The Angler in Chief reports that pop-up rockfish have been sporadically generating bird action from the green number-one buoy down to Chesapeake Beach, and although the birds only give you a minute or two to ID the fish’s location, if you can get there quick enough to mill around and find them on the meter you can get in a drift or maybe two with very solid action on decent sized fish. He noted that his crew has been boating a 29- to 26-inch fish regularly, all of which are hitting white or white and chartreuse jigs or a one-ounce silver Li’l Bunker spoon. He also said the fish range from 20 to 40 feet of water and in the deeper water, up-sizing to at least an ounce and keeping the bait near bottom is a must.
We heard from three different readers who hit the mouth of Eastern Bay, one catching several unders and a pair of legal fish to 22-inches, another who skunked jigging but said he saw trollers pulling in a few fish, and one who said he jigged up two smalls on a one-ounce green spoon. One also mentioned, however, that early topwater at Poplar produced three blow-ups and a 22-incher in the boat. A popular tactic for rockfish this time of year is trolling umbrella rigs along the steep channel edges of the shipping channel. It is important to use heavier inline weights to get baits down to where the fish are suspended. We did hear from one of the guys on a charter, who said trolling umbrellas from Bloody Point down to Sharps Island Flats produced a limit catch with fish up to 29-inches. Chunky white perch can be found out in the deeper waters as well.
The rock piles at the Bay Bridge, channel edges, and oyster bars should be holding white perch willing to bite. One boat reported finding a school on a steep ledge that was eager to bite metal jigs. When on a school of perch, dropping down bottom rigs baited with bloodworm or night crawler will get the job done too. This season, let’s remember to be thankful for every opportunity we get to go fishing. Regardless of our successes, it is a blessing to enjoy the beauty and bounties in the outdoors of Delmarva. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, November 18 Update:
The Middle Bay has been the place to be this week if you want to get in on some great rockfish action. Large schools of rockfish are cruising around areas from Tolly Point to the mouth of the Choptank with sporadic bird action and some breaking fish popping up all over. The AIC says the fish were back up top and at it in good concentrations from TPL to Herring Bay in the past week, under birds in 20 to 30 feet of water. White is a consistent winner and many of the rockfish are nice ones pushing 30 inches, but they don't stay up top long and using the meter to locate the fish after the birds break up is a must.
A reader checking in from the mouth of the Choptank found excellent action on rockfish under sporadic but thick bird action. Angler Beth Versak fished with her father and a friend this week on the Wye River, catching around 25 striped bass with one keeper at 22 inches. Most of the rocks were in the 14-inch range but a few 10 to 11-inch white perch rounded out a fun day of fishing. All their fish were caught on dark colored paddletails and crankbaits. The Tackle Box reported that large schools of rockfish are in the mouth of the Patuxent from Little Cove Point to Cedar Point. They recommend cast netting some peanut bunker which are in abundance in the creeks on the river and using them to drift on live line rigs. If you are unable to get live bait, trolling is a good bet along channel edges using tandem or single rigged bucktails. Adding a twister-tail or sassy shad to the bucktails and pulling them behind inline weights to get them down to the schools of fish is working best for trollers.
White perch, for the most part, have moved out to their deeper water wintering grounds around shoals and oyster bars. The rock piles at the Bay Bridge, channels off Matapeake, and bottom near Holland Point have been holding perch. Traditional bottom rigs baited with blood worms is the best way to reach them in deeper water.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, November 11 Update:
It's still that magical time of year during the fall where schools of rockfish can pop up at any moment while out on the water. Anglers fishing the middle Bay have enjoyed an abundance of fish in many locations this past week. The Angler in Chief reports that with the warm weather the bite in the shallows had seemed to pick up a bit, with solid numbers of fish into the upper-mid 20s hitting jigs off the mouth of the West and white being the hands-down favorite color. However, he also said the schools of fish that were breaking in deeper water seem to have thinned out for the time being. Tolly and Thomas Points have also been holding some rockfish, mostly in the upper teens and low 20s, and we did have one reader check in after finding birds working south of Thomas Point early in the week. Another noted catching fish into the low- to mid-20s while trolling tandems and umbrellas in 30 feet of water between Franklin Manor and Herring Bay.
A reader reported catching small rockfish under birds in Eastern Bay this week, jigging metal. What was more interesting, however, was the small flounder he pulled up from underneath the frenzy. FishTalk Contributor Wayne Young fished slightly to the south of there along the west and south sides of Poplar this week, and reported that jigging a three-ounce chartreuse Lil Bunker spoon produced a good catch rate on 20-somethings. He noted that the birds were “pop-ups” that didn’t stay up for long, and using the meter to search for where they were and checking nearby edges and ledges was mandatory.
The lower Patuxent and areas out to Cedar Point are providing good fishing for rockfish both in the shallows and out along channel ledges. The Tackle Box reports that the rocks at the old lighthouse and Little Cove Point are holding quality rockfish into the mid 20s. Paddletails and jerkbaits work well in the shallows while boats cruising the channel ledges are jigging on schools marked by the depth finder. Contributor Eric Packard fished upriver from the Pax Rec Center late this week and reported catching undersized rockfish, sometimes under birds.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, November 4 Update:
Rocktober has come to an end but the action on the Bay doesn’t show much sign of slowing down. The Angler in Chief reports that a decent fall bite is in progress on the west side, with breaking fish popping up from Tolly Point clear down to Herring Bay. The (mostly 18- to 25-inch) stripers are on the move and it takes some running and gunning to locate them any given day. Once you find them, they only break for a moment, so casting at the surface is mostly ineffective. The trick is to nail down their general vicinity via birds then meander around until seeing good marks on the meter, and jig down near bottom. Just about any white, pearl, or chartreuse five- to seven-inch plastic is getting slammed.
One reader reported plenty of bird action out of Deale in 20-to-25 foot of water last weekend. They noted that again the schools of fish would break for a short period and then go down. There were also lots of boats chasing the birds but idling around until finding fish on the depth finder was the most efficient technique. Most fish were schoolies but a few in the low 20s were in the mix. Bigger fish were holding very close to the bottom. We had a couple reader check-ins from the east side, Eastern Bay in particular, with one noting a fast-action jigging bite and the other reporting good action but also crowded conditions at times, and trolling weighted umbrellas pulled near bottom doing the trick. The Patuxent has also been productive for the rock this week and fish are being caught from marker five to Cedar Point. Trollers are doing well using small umbrella rigs and tandem rigs in both rivers. Most of the rockfish seem to be schooling deeper and the open water fishery should continue to improve.
White perch have made their way into deeper water at the mouths of rivers and the main Bay. Hacketts Point and Thomas Point lighthouse have had good bites for perch. Anglers can drop down bottom rigs baited with bloodworms or Fishbites but jigging small soft plastics on jigheads is a popular option too. Occasionally the perch can be caught below schools of breaking rockfish, so for those wanting to put some in the boat, it’s a good idea to try deep water jigging.