Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 3 Update:
“Rocktober” is here, and the striped bass bite should really pick up this month throughout the Bay. Rockfish are beginning to school up and feed more regularly as we have now entered the fall. Reader reports from the Upper Bay were mixed, with a reader catching a great mix of slot rockfish and jumbo white perch above Pooles Island on eels and peeler crab. Another reader said the Patapsco bite had grown erratic recently, with one evening trip producing action along piers and bulkheads on 4” plastics, but two days later the fish displaying lockjaw. Another angler fishing the Patapsco reported that ledges and lumps in the 20’ to 30’ range were productive this week. Jigging straight tail soft plastics on skirted jigs produced a good class of slot and over slot fish, especially on the overcast days. Anglers fishing around Love Point had been catching some rockfish and a few scattered bluefish last week, but the bite varied greatly from day to day.
The Bay Bridge has been a hotspot for striped bass recently. Fish have been holding around the pilings and rock islands, but a lot of boats have been fishing in the area, especially on weekends. The bridge has been less crowded during the week, so that’s the time to get out if you can. Light tackle anglers and live liners are both finding success. The best bite has occurred during a moving tide. Small bluefish in the 12” to 15” range have also been found around the bridge, especially near the rock islands. They are hard to catch while live lining as they often bite a spot in half before getting hooked. Unfortunately, they have been more willing to hit a live bait than artificial, so they can be a nuisance at times. White perch fishing has also been good around the Bay Bridge pilings recently. The perch are very picky and seem to only want to hit fresh grass shrimp. Small jigs and spoons are not getting much interest. Even Fishbites and bloodworms aren’t working all that well. The good news is that grass shrimp are still abundant in the shallows. Scooping a minnow net along docks or marshy shorelines will often produce plenty to use as bait.