Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, June 26 Update:
It has been feeling like the dog days of summer recently thanks to temperatures soaring to 100 degrees this week. It is a stark change from the beginning of the month when temperatures were steadily in the 70’s, but it was bound to show up sooner or later. Sea Hawk Sports Center reports that many anglers have been heading out in search of cobia since the season opened up. They said that fresh bunker have been hard to come by, but that it has been the bait of choice for anglers soaking baits from the CBBT up to Watts Island. On days when the sun is out, boats with towers have had some luck finding fish on the surface to cast at with artificial lures and live eels. Bluefish have been found at many of the wrecks in this region of the Bay, and they have also been found breaking on baitfish at the surface occasionally. Most of the bluefish are in the 20” range, but some up to 30” have also been caught. The bluefish have been much more willing to hit surface plugs or shallow diving lures rather than jigs.
A reader wrote in after a trip down to the Tangier Sound last weekend. They spent the morning fishing grass beds near Smith Island and said they caught two keeper speckled trout, a 19” on a popping cork and a 22” on a topwater spook. The specks stopped biting once the sun got up, so they switched gears and started baitfishing with peeler crab. That produced a few giant Atlantic stingrays that put up a big fight but were not a target species. While soaking peelers, they also tossed out a piece of peeler crab under a popping cork. A few minutes later, they were hooked up with a bull red and eventually landed a 45” brute. After some more stingrays, they headed to deeper water to fish some wrecks where they found bluefish willing to hit topwater plugs. On their way back in, they did see a cobia cruising on the surface, but did not get it to eat. Captain C.L. Marshall of Tangier Sound Charters has been running trips and doing his best to keep his clients on fish no matter what the conditions are. On windy days, he has found good luck with rockfish in protected waters near creek mouths and marsh shorelines. White perch have also been willing to bite near the mouths of the lower Eastern Shore tidal rivers. When he has been able to get out on the Bay, soaking peeler crab over grass beds has produced some very big red drum, with a lot of rays and other pickers keeping rods bent. The recent heatwave has sent water temperatures soaring and has made fishing for specks, reds, and rockfish more difficult. The best bite window has been from the hour before sunrise to an hour after sunrise. This is when water temperatures are the coolest and fish are most active. The late evenings and at night can also be productive as well.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, June 19 Update:
The lower Eastern Shore sounds have come to life with just about every fish we can hope to target throughout the year. Sea Hawk Sports Center reports that the cobia are pushing north in the Bay, which is right on time as the season is now open. They have reports of fish being caught around Watts Island and Tangier Island. Fresh bunker chunks have been working well to tempt these fish to bite. The sun has been hiding from us a lot, but it came out enough this week for some sight fishing opportunities that anglers took advantage of. Bluefish have also been on the hunt in open water and some feeding frenzies were found this week. The blues have been willing to hit topwater lures and jigs when put in their vicinity. The shallows have been home to good numbers of rockfish and some speckled trout over the grass flats. We are still waiting for reports of puppy drum to show up, but their appearance should be any week now.
FishTalk contributor David Rudow was out fishing the northern reaches of the Tangier Sound this week and reports that bull redfish are still cruising the shallows. He was out fishing with his brother and each of them caught a bull while kayak fishing over grass flats. They also landed a few speckled trout and about a dozen rockfish while throwing five-inch paddletails. Clean water has been the key to success while fishing over grass beds lately. Contributor Adam Greenberg has also been enjoying a good bull redfish bite in the Tangier Sound, though he has been taking a different approach to targeting them. Adam wrote in and said that he has been fishing from shore for them with good success. Sunset through whenever the tide slacks out has been the best bite window. Once the tide fully switches, the bite shuts off. Peeler crabs are the best bait to use, but be ready to weed through some rays to get to the bull reds.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, June 12 Update:
The Easter Shore of Delmarva is an angler’s paradise, and there have been abundant opportunities lately. Speckled trout are becoming more numerous over the grass flats. Anglers throwing topwater lures in the early mornings and late evenings have enjoyed a good class of fish with some up to 25” being reported. Bull red drum have been found cruising the shallows of the lower Eastern Shore in both the Tangier and Pocomoke Sound. Captain C.L. Marshall of Tangier Sound Charters has been taking full advantage of this bite with his clients. On recent trips they have landed fish up to 50 inches and soaking pieces of fresh peeler crab seems to be the ticket. The bulls have been cruising close to shoreline points along Tangier and Smith Island, and over large grass beds scattered throughout the sounds. C.L. has also found rockfish in the shallows near shoreline points and creek mouths along with plenty of bluefish at some deeper wreck sites. The bluefish at the deeper structure have been aggressively hitting topwater lures, making for some exciting angling with their aerial acrobatics.
A pair of readers wrote in with a report after fishing around Smith and Tangier Island at the beginning of the week. They started their day fishing over grass beds where they caught a 14” speck, a 22” speck, and a 37” red drum. All were caught using popping corks with paddletails underneath in four feet of water. They were also surprised to see a five-foot shark swim right by their boat while they were drifting. After a slow, but productive morning fishing the grass, they ventured out to some open water wrecks where they found plenty of bluefish willing to bite. They hooked around 20 bluefish but only landed a handful thanks to some breaking their line and others spitting the hook. On their run back across the Bay, they ran across a school of breaking bluefish that only frenzied up for a few seconds, but it was enough time to cast out, hook, and land a 31” bluefish that took several drag screaming runs before tiring out. The great thing about this region of the Bay is that you never know what you might come across.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, June 5 Update:
There were a lot of questions about how bad the speckled trout took a hit after the fish kill this winter, but after a slow start to the season, the action is picking up. A reader wrote in and let us know that the speckled trout bite improved on the lower Eastern Shore this week. They said a recent trip produced a half dozen speckled trout all on topwater lures. Most fish were around 20 inches, and they also missed a few bites. Fishing over shallow grass beds with clean water was the ticket to locating fish. Sea Hawk Sports Center let us know that anglers are starting to find more success with speckled trout on paddletails and popping corks after they had taken a liking for peeler crab for most of the spring. The shallow shorelines around the scattered islands in the Tangier and Pocomoke Sound appear to be holding good numbers of rockfish. High tides and clean water have been the biggest component for locating fish. Creek mouths on an outgoing tide have been another popular location to find hungry fish waiting to ambush an easy meal
Captain C.L. Marshall of Tangier Sound Charters enjoyed some good action on the Bay this week. One trip started out with rockfish on topwater early, then he and his crew searched for black drum without any luck. Their next stop was at isolated wreck sites where three-to-five-pound bluefish were happy to hit topwater lures. The crew enjoyed fast action for a while then went searching for redfish, but only found rockfish, Atlantic skate, cownose rays, and a giant southern stingray. Black drum can still be found in areas with oyster bottom and around wrecks, but they are beginning to spread out and become less concentrated. There has also been in influx of less desirable “pickers” that are happy to pick up a piece of peeler crab for an easy meal. The Tackle Box also reported that last week there were good catches of three-pound bluefish south of the Target Ship. Some blues have also been found in open water chasing down schools of bait. Depths of 15’ to 30’ seem to be where they are roaming though there is not one area that has been consistent. It is worth keeping an eye out for surface activity while on the water.