Way North Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, November 7 Update:
The blue catfish bite is going strong in the Way North region of the Chesapeake Bay. Now is a great time to get out on the water and target them, as they are feeding heavily to fatten up for winter. The big blues will be prowling the deeper channels and holes in the lower Susquehanna River and other surrounding tidal tributaries. There has been a hot bite at the Conowingo Dam this fall, and we saw some excellent reports from there this week. The water has been flowing low and slow thanks to the lack of rainfall, and thus not much water is being released from the dam. This makes it a lot easier to fish without getting your rigs snagged on the rocky bottom. One angler fishing there this week caught several blue catfish in the 20-pound range, with a few over 30.
There should still be some striped bass, smallmouth bass, and walleye around the dam. When the water is flowing slowly, anglers can usually get away with two ounces for casting into the wash. When more gates are open, it often requires four to eight ounces of weight to effectively cast and retrieve lures in the wash. A three-way rig or drop shot style setup is popular for this style of fishing. In the Northeast River, Elk River, and Bohemia River, largemouth bass will be holding close to fallen wood and docks this time of year. The grasses have mostly broken up on the Susquehanna Flats, so the bass will be retreating to hard cover.