Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 18 Update:
The Angler in Chief said evening fishing was in a bit of a lull recently with low tides coinciding with sunset and often gusty conditions. However, even when the water was low and the bite was tough, fishing grass shrimp on shad darts made for some good action on white perch with some small spot and croaker also in the mix. A trip to Poplar last weekend was also on the slow side, with just a couple of dink rockfish and a small flounder willing to bite. We had a reader check in from E-Bay after having an absence of action in the shallows, then picking up a couple slot rock and a puppy drum by light-tackle trolling paddletails and Rattle Traps in six to 10 feet of water. We also had a pair of reports of fish breaking water in Eastern Bay but in both cases the action didn’t crank up until the last few minutes of daylight. At the Bay Bridge, a pair of reports from jiggers indicated slow action with one catching a pair of dinks and the other skunking.
Contributor Eric Packard says casting in the creeks of the lower Patuxent is still producing small redfish on soft plastics, but few rockfish. We had a reader check in who said that fishing at night has produced much better results than fishing when the sun is up. Baitfish have been moving into the shallows in the evening and the rockfish seem to be following them. Fishing from piers along the shoreline from Deale up to Shady Side at night with fresh cut bait has landed them keeper rockfish on most trips. The key conditions have been low winds and a running tide. Other than rockfish, sea bass should start to be on our radars. The wrecks and reefs of the Middle-Bay should be holding sea bass by now. This time last year there were a lot of anglers having great days catching sea bass numbers wise, though there was about one keeper to every 10 caught. Small metal jigging spoons and Fishbites, specifically crab flavored, were working well when dropped to bottom over structure. The Cedarhurst Reef, Tilghman Island Reef, and the Gooses Reef were a few of the productive areas last year. If the fish are there, you can expect a lot of action and possibly a few keepers to take home for a delicious dinner.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 11 Update:
We are in a transition period where the fall pattern is getting in order and while many anglers are looking forward to a great fall bite, it can be tricky to figure out as the fish change over from their summer patterns. Contributor Adam Greenberg says there was an oddball bite in the Choptank early this week, with zero action early and late in the day but a great perch bite plus a small speckled trout mid-morning. Small spinnerbaits proved to be the top offering and rockfish were mysteriously absent. The Angler in Chief says the Little Choptank did have plenty of slot rockfish in it and they were willing to hit last weekend, with most of the fish taking topwater plugs. White and pumpkinseed/chartreuse Gulp! paddletails produced some stripers as well, along with a half-dozen or so puppy drum, a few small flounder, and a couple of small specks. Some areas were churned by the wind and finding clear water led to finding the fish. Contributor Eric Packard reports that casting in the creeks of the lower Pax has been producing mostly redfish, reeling in nine in two short trips from the shoreline this week.
A reader fishing in the West reported that the mornings have been slow and one trip this week only produced two fish. Each hit a topwater Heddon Spook Junior. Another reader also in the West said that the evening bite was good a few days this week and five-inch paddletails produced a handful of slot fish. FishTalk contributor David Rudow reports that the sporadic bite has also been hard to pattern in the South this week and two morning trips turned out to be skunks. A reader fishing out of the Severn reported finding some birds working just south of the river but said all the rockfish pushing bait were dinks. Another ran across to Eastern Bay and located bluefish, then when jigging deep, caught a number of almost-legal black sea bass.
Crabbing report: The crabbing has been much better recently, and a few hours’ work running a trotline in the South put together three quarters of a bushel of good size fall crabs for Rudow. Crabbing reports have also been good in the other west side tributaries of the Middle Bay. There are a lot of crabbers out on the water, but there has also been a good push of crabs now that water temperatures are dropping. If the fishing is slow, try setting a trotline or throwing out some drop pots to take advantage of some of the best crabs of the year.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 4 Update:
Rocktober has arrived, and many anglers are anticipating the exciting transition period where baitfish will exit the rivers and rockfish will school up to chase them. The bite hasn’t turned red hot just yet and recent tides have been very unusual and high, but the end of the month should be great. Reader reports of success on stripers in the upper end of the slot came from the Severn and the South this week. Casting jigs to shallow water structure was the ticket, and white was noted as a good color. FishTalk Contributor Adam Greenberg said the tide was off the charts in the South early this week when he fished the river one evening, which may have affected the bite a bit, and they caught just a handful of fish including a flounder. The Angler in Chief says a short morning spent in the South River midweek (on a low tide that looked like a normal high tide) produced four puppy drum and three rockfish (one in the slot) on pumpkinseed/chartreuse Gulp! paddletails on half-ounce heads. An angler hitting the West River reported a mix of stripers and puppies. Another angler fishing around the West River said that his usually productive perch fishing spots had slim pickings this week and that fish have been hard to pattern.
Another reader fishing in the vicinity of Deale reported that shallow water structure is holding a good number of fish and that the recent flood tides have the fish pushed up along the banks. They hit the water last weekend and found puppy drum up to 17 inches and some slot rockfish holding close to pilings and rock jetties. Soft plastics, peeler crab, and fresh shrimp all worked to get fish in the net. The bite has been inconsistent, however, as very high tides can make the fish act funny. We also heard from one reader who found breaking bluefish up to 21” off Chesapeake Beach, in around 35’ of water. Gold Rain Minnow got them biting and a few rockfish were mixed in as well. Hopefully things get back in order soon because October is famous for being one of the better fishing months on the Chesapeake Bay.