Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, June 28 Update:
Oh, if only work didn’t get in the way of fishing time. If I’d had the opportunity, I would’ve been up bright and early trying to beat the fleet (instead of traffic) to the Bay Bridge, which remains the epicenter of attention in the Upper Bay. If you’re going to head that way, that insane 4 a.m. wake-up is worth it. Tochterman's reported that the area around the Bay Bridge, from the sewer pipe to the pilings themselves has been absolutely packed – with both fish and anglers. That said, the bite did slack off a bit at times mid-week compared to what it had been. Angler In Chief Lenny Rudow reports hitting the pilings for the last bit of daylight mid-week, and while they caught a few stripers, he also said there were more boats than fish. A pink skirt over a white tail and a white skirt over a chartreuse tail were both effective. Clydes' Sport Shop noted that drifting soft crab or cut menhaden is still a good move, though Gulp! lures and BKDs are also doing well. Many anglers are opting for using larger lures in hopes of catching a high-grade fish, with many over 30 inches being reported recently.
It does seem as though the fish have begun to spread out a bit, though, and hitting up Swan Point and Love Point has become a good option too – plenty of fish are being caught in the area, using these same tactics. While we also had some reports of guys chumming in the Upper Bay, it seems as though many have tired of it. Maybe it’s slowed down a bit or maybe the fleet is just sick of their houses smelling like blackened catfish. The world will never know.
White perch fishing, meanwhile, has shifted from so-so to pretty stellar. They've shifted shallow in many tribs so if you haven’t got dinner plans and the sun is setting, take a drive to your local dock or pier. Catch a few grass shrimp or whip out some blood worms, stick ‘em on your bottom rig, and drop it down. Or along shoreline structure, try tossing a Perch Pounder in yellow and pink. Boom, fish dinner.
Crabbing Report: Haul south! The gas money is definitely less than the cost of a bushel right now. Going down to the Patuxent/Choptank or farther down might make the drive worthwhile.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, June 21 Update:
Clydes Sport Shop noted that the Bay Bridges remain the epicenter of action for Upper Bay anglers, and told us that drifting a piece of soft crab back in between the pilings of the Eastern side of the Bay Bridge has been a key to success. Jiggers have also scored their fair share of fish, and chummers are catching as well. Some of the fish have been extremely nice, with about 10 different reader reports coming in this week of fish over 30 inches (the biggest being 39). But with dozens of boats per piling Saturday morning fighting for the best spots, doing whatever kind of fishing you enjoy may be a struggle. Chumming along the channel edges at Swan Point has also been a move, where people have been catching a mix of striped bass and catfish. Unfortunately there tends to be a high number of sub-legal fish here with reports of most keepers being barely-legals.
Fort Smallwood has been producing plenty of white perch and catfish plus some undersized rockfish, mainly being caught on fresh soft crab or bloodworms. The Southwest Park on the Patapsco has also generated reports of mostly catfish along with some white perch and undersized rockfish being thrown in there, too. Fishbone’s adds that soft shells are the go-to bait right now just about everywhere, and seem to be out-performing fresh bunker the past week. They also let us know southern Podickory has been a good spot to pitch bait at, but Love Point has been out of the picture this week. Last but not least, they also let us know of multiple snakehead reports out of the Magothy River this week.
Crabbing report: we haven’t heard of any decent crabbing north of the Bridge, as of yet.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, June 14 Update:
Anglers: we apologize for the technical difficulties experienced last week. Unfortunately it caused our website to crash multiple times over multiple days, but the computer wizards assure us that it’s now completely fixed. We sure hope they’re right!
Much for the best action going on in Maryland’s Chesapeake waters are centered around the Upper Bay region, where Podickory Point, Swan Point, the sewer pipe, and Love Point continue to hold some fish – however a massive fleet of boats is consistently gathering around the Bay Bridge Pilings, which is holding more fish and more boats than any one other location. Many boats are clustered around the eastern-side pilings and chumming for fish up into the upper-20s. Jigging has also been producing fish when you can find enough boat-less water to cast in, and white, pearl, or chartreuse BKD’s or other soft plastics have been the best bet for landing fish. Jiggers do seem to be finding a better grade of fish.
A reminder: if you plan to chum, bring plenty of bait. There are still catfish everywhere in the Upper Bay and if you want to weed through all the bites to get stripers, you’ll be re-baiting often. We also want to note that there are certainly fish in other places in the Upper Bay; the Bridge has been getting so much attention that it’s sucking all the air out of the room. We literally lost count of how many people reported fishing there in the past week. If you don’t enjoy combat fishing, our suggestion is to prospect different areas and strike out to find greener pastures.
Meanwhile, white perch are the only panfish being reported in the Upper Bay rivers (we did also hear about a few carp being caught from Back River), but have been tough to find casting lures in the shallows thus far. Taking blood worms or grass shrimp and fishing deeper over hard bottom with a bottom rig has been a better bet.
Crabbing report: we haven't heard of good action north of the Bridges yet, but from the Middle Bay down crabbers are doing much better now.
Fishing the Upper Bay has been productive recently, with the plenty of rockfish caught by Maryland’s Chesapeake anglers at its hotspots. Chumming and chunking around Podickory Point, Love Point, and around the Bridge and Sewer Pipe has been good, with a healthy mix of schoolie and some slightly larger fish caught. Tochterman’s noted that the catfish are an ongoing issue, and are putting a damper on bait fishing because of the sheer frequency at which anglers are getting baits stolen.
Chummers and chunkers are best off sticking to the channel edges, as are trollers. Most anglers have been trolling umbrella rigs, spoons, and large bucktail. Right outside the Magothy has been another good spot. Anglers willing to put up with a crowd are heading to the Bay Bridge pilings are enjoying a lively fishery driven by schoolie sized rocks hitting soft plastics, with a few fish breaking the 30-inch mark in the mix. Six-inch white, pearl, and chartreuse BKD lures and Bust ‘em Baits have been standard, however some anglers have been using dark colors as well. While there are plenty of fish in the area, expect you’ll have to stay on your toes when running the boat because recently there have been a half-dozen or so boats cramped around each piling, trying to find room to cast.