Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 27 Update:
It is looking to be a great weekend to be out on the water as summer-like temperatures make their way back into our region. Fishing for rockfish has been good for anglers chasing them in open water and the recent warm up should make for good conditions. It is still important to fish around a moving tide and it seems like the outgoing has been best for many. Anglers Sport Center says that the mouth of the Patapsco and areas around the Key Bridge are good places to target the rockfish right now. Spot are thinning and many boats are switching over to jigging or trolling tandem rigs and umbrellas with small six-inch shad baits. One angler reported that there are still “plenty of fish” in the Patapsco upriver from the Key Bridge. He had to weed through the smaller schoolie-sized fish but persistence paid off and he was able to catch fish up to 22 inches while jigging and throwing topwater baits. Most of his fish caught on recent trips have been in depths of around the 20 foot range.
Fishing for white perch is still good this week in the upper Bay. The fish are still hanging close to shoreline docks and rock jetties, but more and more are starting to move to deeper water around oyster bottom. Boats bottom fishing are catching them at the Six Foot Knoll and Seven Foot Knolls as well as deeper water in the 20- to 25-foot range. Dropping down soft crab or bloodworms on bottom rigs will usually get the perch biting if you find a school of them. The Fishbites counterparts of these baits work excellent too and often stay on the hook better than live bait. If you want to catch them in the shallows while they are still around, small spinners work great. You can also float minnows under a bobber near the structure.
The catfish bite is really taking off in the upper Bay and its tidal rivers. Colder water temperatures are spurring the fish to feed up before winter. Fresh cut bunker on fish finder rigs is the popular way to target them. The blue cats can be found in just about any tidal body of water but the more productive areas are around Sandy Point, the Magothy River, and in the Patapsco. Enjoy the warm weekend while we have it because next week is forecasted to bring a major cooldown.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 20 Update:
Plenty of rockfish are still around in many areas of the upper Bay. The cooling water temperatures have the fish in a transition where many are schooling up along channel edges to chase the mass exodus of baitfish from the smaller tributaries. This can make them easier or harder to locate depending on the day and weather conditions. Any sign of bird action is usually a good indication you should check out that zone and look for marks on the fish finder. Reader reports of solid action came in from Love point and the Sewer Pipe. We did have a report from one reader that finding fish inside the Chester had been tougher than usually lately, and a second fishing the river mouth said he was marking a lot of fish last weekend but they seemed to have lock jaw. Another angler was still livelining with success at the bridge but said the spot were getting tougher to locate as of late last week, and one found trolling along the drop from Love to the Pipe with six-inch Tsunami shad tandems did the trick. One other reader fishing the upper Bay said that after some searching, they located some birds and a few marks but jigs with five-inch twisty tails didn’t get any bites so they switched to weighted spoons and had a great action for an hour catching keeper sized rockfish in 22 feet of water.
While the rockfish are getting active feeding on bait, the cooler weather has the blue catfish feeding up too. They can be found in just about all the upper Bay tributaries. The Magothy and Patapsco are usually the more productive rivers, but the catfish are caught all over the main stem of the Bay too. There was a report from a boat who was fishing for rockfish near Pooles Island this week who struck out on the rockfish, but did manage to catch a 41-inch, 43-pound blue catfish. Blue cats will eat just about any bait, but soft crab, bunker chunks, and chicken baits are all very effective. Fishing near channel edges in the rivers or out on the Bay with any of these baits should get them biting.
White perch fishing is great this time of year, but the window to catch them in the shallows is shrinking. Cooling water temperatures will soon push them out to deeper water near oyster bottom. Anglers fishing in the rivers noted live minnows under bobbers as productive this week for big perch. Spinners and jigs thrown around riprap is also working well. It’s a good time of year to be on the water, so get out there and catch them up.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 13 Update:
Blitzes of breaking fish have been popping up sporadically at the mouths of the tidal rivers and along the shipping channel edge. Most of this action has been short lived and the fish are going down just as quick as they pop up. When this is the pattern, it is usually best to drift or troll through the area where the birds are hanging out rather than running to every little bit of action that pops up. Hot spots for rockfish in the upper Bay have included the Patapsco, Key Bridge, Love Point, Chester River, and the Bay Bridge. Live lining is still a good option with plenty of spot around. These fish are starting to move into deeper water now and will begin to leave as temperatures continue to drop, but for now, you can catch them using Fishbites on bottom rigs or Chesapeake sabiki rigs. We heard from an angler who launched out of Sandy Point looking to live line for rockfish. They found spot north of the Bay Bridge in 17 feet of along with a few small croaker mixed in. They put some spot in the live well and headed to the bridge to cast them to the pilings. It didn’t take long before they had a 22- and-24-inch fish in the cooler. After catching their limit of rockfish, they went in shallow to search for white perch. Small strips of spot were sent down which gave them a slow picking at white perch and a few toadfish. All in all, a good trip out on the Bay. Many boats are transitioning to trolling for them, though. Umbrella rigs with sassy shads or spoons as teasers with trailers of a swimshad or small spoon are a popular fall tactic when pulled behind heavy inline weights.
Anglers Sport Center let us know that fishing for white perch in the tidal rivers is still good this week. The fish are starting to school up around slightly deeper structure in the form of docks and rip rap. Throwing around small spinners or jigs has proved effective for many light tackle anglers. Using live minnows under a bobber is also a great way to catch a lot of fish when you find a school of the perch. Throwing big minnows tends to catch larger perch, so if you are looking for quality over quantity, take this approach.
Carbbing report: Though its getting chilly out we had a report from a reader crabbing the Magothy that grinding it out did produce better than two dozen nice jimmies. He said 10' to 12' of water was the zone.
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 5 Update:
The cooler weather got put on hold this week as warm temperatures made a brief return. Most of the rockfish action in the upper Bay is still around the Patapsco, Pooles Island, and the Key Bridge, though the bite seems to have slowed down some this week. Part of it could be the warmer air temperatures, but boat pressure seems to be another big factor. Live-lining spot or eels is working when the fish are biting. The best chance at getting on a good bite is to avoid weekends and get on the water during low light hours if possible. We got a report from a few kayak anglers fishing in the upper Patapsco last weekend who caught plenty of rockfish while trolling paddletails. Unfortunately, most of the fish were under slot and only a handful of keepers made their way into the net.
Several readers have reported success on stripers near Love Point and in the mouth of the Chester. Schoolies from 18” to 22” have been roving the area in pods and occasionally coming up top to break water. Drop-offs in the 15-to-25-foot range were also reported to be a good bet, when the fish aren’t actively breaking. Jigging is coming into its own as the fall pattern begins to shape up. Cooler temperatures returning this weekend should steadily drop water temperatures and push more baitfish out of the rivers. Rockfish will begin gathering along steeper edges.
Anglers Sport Center says that bottom fishing is still good at the mouths of the tidal rivers and at areas with oyster bottom. White perch, spot, and croaker are all on the table still but look for them to start moving to deeper water with the falling water temperatures. A bottom rig or Chesapeake sabiki rig tipped with Fishbites usually gets these fish biting. There have even been some keeper-sized sea bass showing up around the Bay Bridge pilings. Undersize fish have been caught as far north as the Patapsco, but now is the time of year where the possibility of catching bigger fish increases. Areas with hard bottom structure are popular hangouts for the sea bass, so check out wrecks, reefs, or bridge pilings when searching for them.