Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 9/28/2018 Update:
The Lower Bay regions aren’t as prone to the debris that we’re seeing in the Upper and Middle Bay, but there has been some fog in the mornings recently for those dedicated anglers out there, and there is more flotsam than would be normal, so it still pays to keep a sharp lookout. Nonetheless, the fishing has been stellar.
Stripers continue to chase bait all over, and thanks to the fall cool-off they’re now regularly bringing schools to the surface to the point where you can follow bird action throughout the day. Be sure to check out Keepers in the Chaos: How to Catch Big Fish Under Working Birds, if you're being plagued by throw-backs without managing to fill the cooler. Topwater has been good in these situations. Many anglers are starting out by trolling spoons, hoses, and (relatively small) tandem rigs and hoping for a Spanish or two as they search for the birds, but these fish seem to have already responded to the drop in temperatures and may be disappearing fast. Blues in the mix have mostly been shamefully small.
Anglers casting jigs or swimbaits in the Patuxent, St. Mary’s, and Wicomico rivers are landing a surplus of throwback sized rockfish along with a keeper here and there. Casting around docks, pilings and rip-rap earlier in the morning or later in the evening has been the best times, but many fish have been caught in the middle of the day as well. The usual soft plastics and swim baits are doing the trick, with white being the dominant productive color. Casting Perch Pounders in the same areas is producing white perch. We also had a report of some specks being caught by an angler in the shallows, but they were a whopping six or seven inches long.
We didn't get any reports about chummers working the edges off St. George's this week, but that's been a good bet for much of the season and there's no reason to believe it changed in the past week. Catching a few spot and dropping them back in the slick is sure to help, just as long as those pesky snapper blues don't start erasing the spot's tails. Punch a circle hook through a four-inch spot and let her swim; it should be smoked in no time, no less by a keeper.
Crabbers in the region are enjoying a solid fall run, and bushel baskets are reportedly overflowing.
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 9/21/2018 Update:
Anglers casting jigs or swimbaits in the tidal creeks are landing a surplus of throwback sized rockfish plus some keepers into the mid 20s, with the pilings and piers near the mouth of the Pax and around Solomons providing reliable action. The St. Mary's River has also been maintaining a steady bite. Casting around docks, pilings, and rip-rap, earlier in the morning or later in the evening, has been the best.
In open waters, chumming and live-lining spot remains good in the lower Potomac, with the edges off St. George's a prime objective. Many anglers, however, have been running into the open Bay and trolling instead. With multiple schools of breaking fish popping up from 74 down to the Target Ship, small spoons and hoses have been producing a mix of stripers, blues, and Spanish mackerel. Anglers searching for a stronger tug have been jigging in 25 to 30 feet of water over shell bottom in the vicinity of the Target Ship with both plastics and spoons, and hooking into more of those big bull redfish. This bite has definitely slowed in the past couple weeks, however, so it's a safe bet these fish are on their way back down the Bay and those being caught right now are the stragglers. If you want to target them, act soon to get in your final chance. Same goes for the cobia bite, which can still produce when chumming heavily on an outgoing tide, but seems to be more or less done for the season in this neck of the woods.
Bottom fishermen are catching a mix of spot, croaker, and white perch, intermittently, with the best bite being in the Tangier recently. Very small flounder (10 to 12 inches) are also being reported. Peeler crab and bloodworms are both effective baits.
On the crabbing front, the "bite" is finally reliable and the crabs are plentiful right now. Get out early in the morning and use chicken necks or razor clams, we're hearing clams are doing slightly better at the moment but there are lots of reports of full bushel baskets with either bait.
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 9/14/2018 Update:
Editor’s Note: Due to Hurricane Florence, some areas of our region (particularly to the south) will be unfishable this weekend while others may be fishable but with challenges like unusual tides on top of breezy conditions. Please note that while we’ve done out best to gather quality intel, basically, as this storm causes radically changing conditions, all bets are off.
Stripers continue to chase bait all over the Lower Bay, bringing schools to the surface to the point where you can follow most of the action throughout the day. Topwater has really been good in these situations - I recommend the new Chug Norris or a medium sized Halco Roosta. Many anglers are also trolling with spoons and hoses, with small spoons on planers adding some mackerel to the fishbox as well. Small blues are also mixed in, and are quite willing to remove the plastic from the end of your jigs.
Anglers casting jigs or swimbaits in the tidal creeks and tributaries are landing a surplus of throwback sized rockfish plus a few keepers in the mix. Reports from the mouth of the Patuxent have been consistent, with fish up into the mid-20s hitting jigs and plastics in white and chartreuse. Casting around docks, pilings and rip-rap earlier in the morning or later in the evening has been the best times, but many fish have been caught in the middle of the day as well.
The Lower Bay has gotten past the good half of the red drum bite as well, with lots of drum being caught on larger jigs in 25 to 30 feet of water around shellfish beds and also under schools of breaking fish. But these guys are on their way out of the Bay and it's getting tougher to find them by the day.
Lastly, spot, croaker, and white perch are all being caught intermittently at the moment, with spot as the big mystery, popping up or disappearing every now and then. White perch on the other hand have had lots of success in pleasing anglers, but mostly around the tributaries as opposed to in open water.
Crab Alert: Crabbing has been at its strongest yet this year, in five to eight feet of water in recent days. Full bushel catches of fat, heavy crabs are being reported.
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, 9/7/2018:
The Lower Bay seems to be completely oblivious to the damage that’s taken place in the Middle and Upper Bay, which is doing wonders for the fishing down here! There’s a large bag of species to choose as a target, and the conditions have been lining up beautifully for many anglers. Trolling has been in contention with other methods since nice sized rockfish are being hauled in on large spoons and bucktails. The upside to this method is that the occasional cobia and large redfish may strike during the troll, which is why many anglers have opted to go that route when wanting something a bit more than the typical striper. Red and green hoses are doing the trick, with the mouths of the Potomac and the St. Mary’s bringing in the best numbers of fish, both quantity and quality.
The red drum bite near the target ship has been dwindling and it’s hit or miss recently so we don’t exactly recommend targeting these brutes at the moment unless you’re willing to roll the dice. However, the Spanish macks and cobia are swinging about near the mouths of most of the tributaries towards the south. And stripers are on fire when pursued using live spot, around the four inch mark with an 8/0 circle hook right behind the dorsal fin. You’ll need to pick through a few schoolies here and there, but the action certainly is there nevertheless. The steep channel edges near St. Georges Island and St. Clements are good places to live-line, with a depth of 20 feet doing the trick.
The bottom fishing for spot is great, and will probably stay this way for the next week or two. Most are being caught on grass shrimp or bloodworms and bottom rigs. Croaker are bound to be picked up along the way, so get out and put the hurt on these fish before the fall pushes them out.
- By Parker Martin