Freshwater Fishing Reports

Freshwater Fishing Report, July 10 Update:

Freshwater fishing remains strong across the region, with snakehead fry balls creating outstanding sight-fishing opportunities and largemouth bass holding around grass beds, shaded banks, and downed timber. The regions lakes continue to produce impressive mixed-species catches, while western rivers are offering excellent smallmouth bass action for both wading and fly anglers. Summer conditions are creating productive fishing from mountain streams to tidal backwaters.

Subscribers targeting snakeheads are reporting that the fish have begun defending fry balls. FishTalk’s Zach Ditmars took a nice one in a creek near the Severn last weekend and said it was a female bursting with eggs, and the male had been staking her out. A report from an angler hitting the northern Eastern Shore rivers had fry balls visible and snakes smashing topwater sent to harass the fry. Five different ones were spotted during a day of fishing with two big snakes over the 30” mark in the box and three misses. Down on the Potomac, a reader checked in and said that the snakehead bite has been much more productive in recent weeks than earlier in the summer. Fry balls are becoming more abundant, which has made for plenty of sight casting opportunities. Most of the parent snakehead guarding the fry balls have been reacting to topwater frogs cast in their vicinity. On a recent trip to an unspecified Potomac River tributary, they caught six snakehead and eight largemouth bass. The largest snakehead was 30” and the largest bass was 21”. Most of the action has been over the thick grass beds. Kayak fishing has allowed them to stealthily sneak into these zones and cast to fish without spooking them.

FishTalk contributor Eric Packard checked in after an excellent day kayak fishing on St. Mary’s Lake. Packard was casting and trolling beetle spins and a Yo-Zuri 3D Inshore Fingerling 70SP jerkbait. He also cast around a Yum Dinger five-inch wacky worm in watermelon pearl on a Spearpoint number one finesse hook and a 6th Sense “The Abstract 18mm” dice, which he rigged on a 1/8th ounce belly weighted swimbait hook. He caught 35 largemouth bass, one snakehead, one yellow perch, four pickerel, three bluegill, and 13 crappie. Packard said that the fish appeared to have moved out of the three-to-five-foot zone, and most of his fish were caught in six to eight feet of water. Points and downfalls in the shaded shorelines were the most productive areas.

Mossy Creek Fly Fishing reports that the mountain brook trout streams can become more productive if we continue to get rounds of summer thunderstorms to help with creek flows. Tricos, ants, and beetles are prevalent on the spring creeks, but anglers should also be equipped with streamers for areas with higher flows. They also mentioned that the bass fishing has been good on the larger rivers despite the major heat wave last week. Bass anglers could have some great topwater action on clear days, but on rainy and overcast days, larger crayfish and baitfish patterns should produce bites. Now that we are in the heart of summer, it is a great time to do some wet wading in the shallow rocky areas of rivers. Getting out in the rivers and streams can allow you to access areas that are hard to get to in boats. If the water is clear enough, it is often possible to sight fish smallmouth bass from a distance, so try to use a stealthy approach when wading to pools and runs.

Freshwater Fishing Report, July 2 Update:

Freshwater anglers are enjoying excellent summertime action, with snakehead fry balls creating prime sight-fishing opportunities across Chesapeake Bay tributaries. Largemouth bass continue to feed around grass beds, fallen timber, and shaded cover, while western rivers are providing quality topwater action for smallmouth bass. Whether targeting bass, snakehead, or panfish, anglers are finding productive fishing across a wide variety of freshwater habitats.

FishTalk contributor Eric Packard sent us a few reports from his freshwater trips to St. Mary’s Lake this week. One day, he took his fly rod to cast poppers and streamers into the shade around downfalls. He caught 27 bluegill and four largemouth bass in three to five feet of water. Two of the bass were caught in five to seven feet of water over grass while casting streamers. The other trip to the lake was with his son-in-law Dale, on kayaks. They caught a total of 28 largemouth bass, five yellow perch, eight crappie, four pickerel, and one bluegill. Dale caught the biggest bass of the day, which was a 22.5” fish. They caught fish on a variety of baits, including four-inch white swimbaits, wacky rigs, beetlespins, jerkbaits, and ned rigs. Their day started slow fishing the middle of the lake, then they headed to the upper end of the lake where they had a good bite in six to eight feet of water over grass.

Mossy Creek Fly Fishing checked in with a report before the heat wave. Many anglers are focused on smallmouth bass fishing, but they had some good news from the spring creeks. Japanese beetles have emerged, and it looks like it is going to be a good season as there a lot of them on the vegetation. Tricos, beetles, and hopper patterns are going to be the most productive until fall. Streamer fishing will be limited to overcast days or until we get some more rain. The bass fishing can stay good during the hot weather, so there is still a reason to get out on the larger rivers. When the water is low, bass tend to move into deeper holes and shady areas. The conditions this week shaped up to offer some excellent topwater conditions.

We are moving into the heart of fry ball season for snakehead fishing. The fry balls are popping up all over the Chesapeake Bay tributaries from the Susquehanna Flats down to the Potomac River and over to the Eastern Shore. Snakehead are spawning and guarding fry balls, which is mostly concentrated around areas with thick vegetation. The SAV grasses are the perfect areas to cast topwater frogs for snakehead and largemouth bass. On clear sunny days, sight fishing is a great way to locate snakeheads guarding fry balls or just hanging out in the vegetation, as they will often times sit just below the surface of the water. In ponds and lakes, bass are in their typical summer pattern of hanging out around fallen trees and shade lines to get some relief from the hot temperatures. Banks with overhanging brush and dead falls will likely be holding some fish. On the tidal Potomac, we did see a report from an angler who caught a bass slam, catching a smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and striped bass which fishing at the Tidal Basin In D.C. That is a cool accomplishment!

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