Lower Bay Fishing Reports

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, June 5 Update:

The Tackle Box reports that schools of bull red drum are moving up the Bay, and cobia are on their heels. The big drum have been found in the shallows of the Eastern Shore. These fish are still shallow as water temperatures are still on the cooler side. Large paddletails, topwater lures, and jerkbaits are working well. Cobia are just starting to enter the mouth of the Bay around the CBBT, but will move north when larger schools arrive. The season for them opens on June 15th. Bluefish have returned and are being found around wrecks and reef sites, with some scattered schools pushing bait in open water. When anglers have located these fish around structure, they have been very willing to hit topwater bites and shallow diving cranks. The Tackle Box said there were big catches of two-to-three-pound bluefish below the target ships in the Bay last week.

On the Potomac River, light tackle anglers and trollers are still finding rockfish in the area from the 301 Bridge down to St. Clements Island. Trollers working ledges between 20’ and 30’ are pulling in fish, and the shallows are holding rockfish in areas with shallow structure and strong current. Down on the Rappahannock, the bite has been tough at times, but redfish, stripers, and speckled trout have been found cruising the shallows. Redfish have been harder to come by this year, but specks have been found over grass flats. One angler fishing last weekend caught a few speckled trout on topwater spooks and a few stripers on paddletails. Some rockfish have also been caught by those jigging around the pilings of the Norris Bridge.

Contributor Adam Greenberg wrote in to let us know he had some good luck fishing in D.C. recently. He fished the Potomac last weekend and caught a few small rockfish and largemouth bass on white curlytail grubs and a pink jerkbait. Anglers fishing in the area of Fletchers Cove are still reporting that good numbers of schoolie striped bass are still in the area, though the river has been difficult to fish at times with the bumps in flow from recent rains. An angler fishing at the Tidal Basin in D.C. said snakeheads have been more active, and he caught a 10-pounder on a swimbait this week. Apex Predators reports that the snakehead bite on the lower Bay tidal rivers has been consistent, though some days are taking longer than others to find fish willing to bite. Their anglers have landed several nice fish recently. On an undisclosed Potomac tributary, an angler reported a successful day on snakeheads, catching fish up to 14 pounds. They took home eight snakeheads and also caught some bass using Tactical Fishing Company drag n pop lures.