Tangier Sound Fishing Report, 8/31/2018 Update:
Editor’s Note: Mollie Rudow, our intrepid fishing report compiler, started at St. Mary’s College of Maryland last week. As a new student she has prioritized her studies and will no longer be working on our FishTalk fishing reports every week. Moving forward, Parker Martin, our former FishTalk intern who has filled in for Mollie in the past, will be gathering the intel and writing up the reports. Please join us in welcoming Parker to the reports!
Those of you that are bottom fishing will be happy to know that croaker, spot, and white perch are being brought in at surprising amounts when fished in 20-25’ of water with peeler crab, razor clam, bloodworms, and grass shrimp. Breaking blues (mostly small) and Spanish mackerel have been seen recently popping up all over the place in the Sound, so be sure to have some jigs ready to snag the spanish macks and stripers. Be extra prepared with another larger setup, since the bull reds have been reported to trudge in at random times and take many anglers off guard.
Tangier Sound Fishing Report, 8/23/2018 Update:
In the Tangier Sound many anglers are focusing on bottom fishing, which is providing a varied mix of spot, croaker, white perch, snapper blues, plus an occasional (small) weakfish or flounder. Bloodworms and peeler or soft crabs have been the prime baits.
Trollers working the open waters of the Sound with gold and silver spoons have been encountering mostly snapper blues and Spanish mackerel, though there have been some patches of breaking fish with stripers in the mix. As in the open Bay, if you get a jig or a spoon down deep under the breaker, there’s a shot at hooking into a nice redfish.
Crabbing is in full swing in the Sound, with trot-lines stretched at dawn often being wound in by 10:00 due to limit catches. The shallows have been particularly good, early in the morning.
We heard no reports of specks or reds from the shallows of the Sound this week, but considering the recent past you can expect they will be rather few and far between right now. Hopefully we'll get a bit of a boost when the waters cool a bit, in the fall.
Tangier Sound Fishing Report, 8/16/2018 Update:
The Sound has recovered from the monsoons and recently has been chock full of life, providing an excellent and action-packed fishery for anglers venturing into its waters. Croaker and spot have been showing up in great abundance, and are apt to take small cut baits such as squid strips or bloodworm on bottom rigs. J&W reported that the rockfish have been holding in deeper holes, and fishing for them with spoons or jigs is resulting in Spanish mackerel mixed in with the bite as well. Unfortunately, as with most southern waters bluefish have began showing up and invading, stealing baits and eating the spot intended for stripers - that makes using metal spoons that much more attractive an option. Out in the main-stem Bay, some big red drum have been reported under schools of smaller fish, and will hit jigging spoons and heavy jigs dropped deep and worked back towards the surface.
The shallows of the Sound are still a bit on the warm side, and will likely remain fairly quiet until we get through the month and have some cooler nights to allow the temperatures to drop a bit. That said, dawn and dusk will still produce some stripers and an occasional speckled trout for anglers casting jigs and topwater to the marsh island points and cuts.
Tangier Sound Fishing Report, 8/9/2018 Update:
Anglers heading out on the Sound this week enjoyed some stellar croaker and white perch fishing, as they have been holding heavy in the waters of the Tangier. Using a bottom rig with blood worm or grass shrimp has been anglers best bet, and is sure to draw some catfish into the mix. Rockfishing has been so-so, with Sea Hawk Sports Center having few reports of stripers hitting the docks. Crabbing in the Sound has been productive compared to other areas during this slow season.
Tangier Sound Fishing Report, 8/2/2018 Update:
Notice: before digging into the report, such as it is, we have to add the same cautionary information as last week. Due to exceptionally poor water conditions resulting from the Monsoons of 2018, it's still difficult to find people who have been fishing, much less successfully. The Maryland DNR is still recommending that boaters use extreme caution in the sections of the Bay farther north. Reports of massive rafts of garbage, floating logs, and tires are common. See Chesapeake Bay Boating Alert: Yes, it IS Bad Out There, (updated today) for the latest information.
The folks at Seahawk say that sections of the Sound still have a bit of recovering to do but the waters are returning to normal. Fishing for stripers has been fair, but when you can locate them a six-inch BKD in purple or white, rigged to a half-ounce jig head, has been doing the trick. Another option that's picked up the pace recently are Spanish mackerel. They're hit or miss, often mixed in with schools of blues, and can be difficult to locate because while birds sometimes give away their location, they haven't reliably been present. Those who have been able to find a decent school of fish, however, have been able to make big catches. Trolling small gold spoons behind planers is the ticket; check out How to Target Spanish Mackerel to get the low-down on going after this species.
Bottom fishing has also held up in the Sound, with croaker biting on bloodworms and peeler crab on bottom rigs. In the rivers, perch and catfish have been in the mix as well. One other positive note, crabbing seems to have been unaffected by all the rain and is getting better and better all the time.