Freshwater Fishing Reports

Freshwater Fishing Report, September 5 Update:

The freshwater bite is going strong as temperatures have been below average over the past month. Contributor Eric Packard says the cool weather has kicked the freshwater fish into high gear, and at St. Mary’s Lake he was recently catching “every which way.” Largemouth bass, crappie, yellow perch, pickerel, and bluegill were all hitting with the best bite on a Wacky Worm fished over a weedbed in five to eight feet of water. Lipped plugs, shaky heads, jerkbaits, and Beetle Spins were catching, too. Another reader fishing a pond in southern Maryland said that the bass have been active in the evenings lately. While bank fishing, he caught half a dozen bass up to three pounds while throwing a chatterbait with a black and chartreuse paddletail. The smallmouth rivers have been running low and clear for the most part, as we have had very little rain over the past month. The Upper Potomac, Upper Rappahannock, Upper James, and the Monocacy are all in prime shape for wade fishing. Smallmouth anglers have been enjoying a great bite in these waters recently with crawfish imitations, swimbaits, and jigs all working.

FishTalk contributor Adam Greenberg checked in this week with a report from the Eastern Shore. He said he recently spent a few hours in the afternoon running around fishing spots in the vicinity of Cambridge searching for snakehead. He tried three areas and only caught one fish, though at the first two spots he had several blow ups on his topwater frog, the fish just missed it. At the third spot, he was pitching a weedless hook with an underspin and a white paddletail to half dead pad fields when he connected on a fish. As the weather cools off, seasonal aquatic grasses will begin to die off. The edges of these areas are great locations to search for predatory fish looking to ambush bait. As fall approaches, trout fishing is appearing on many anglers radar. Mossy Creek Fly Fishing reports that fishing in the western trout zones has been technical lately as water levels have been steadily dropping in recent weeks. They say that mountain streams are running very low and will require long leaders, a sneaky approach, and smaller flies in 14-16 range to keep from spooking fish. Spring creeks are seeing a lot of tricos, ants, beetles, and big grasshoppers along with hex hatching in the evening hours. Any cloudy weather and rain we get will present great opportunities for streamer fishing.