Lower Bay Fishing Reports

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, November 7 Update:

The striper bite is picking up as water temperatures continue to drop. The fish in the Lower Bay have been in a fairly consistent feeding pattern as baitfish school up on ledges in the main stems of the tidal rivers and on the Bay. The Potomac River has been fishing well from the 301 Bridge down to the mouth. Main channel ledges and rock piles have been holding good numbers of rockfish and white perch. Light tackle anglers are doing well with artificial jigs, and metal jigs and jigging spoons are also starting to work very well. Schools of rockfish have been holding around reef and rock structure in depths of 20’ to 30’. The steeper ledges from 20’ to 50’ have also been holding fish, but it can take covering a lot of water to locate them. We also had a few reports of slot puppy drum showing up in the Potomac mixed in with schools of rockfish.

Down south, the Rappahannock, Corrotoman, and Piankatank have been fishing well for rockfish, speckled trout, and red drum. Shoreline docks with deep water at the ends of them, or nearby, tend to hold fish this time of year. Contributor Eric Packard encountered abnormally low water and a slow bite in the Corrotoman last weekend and says the bite was depressed, catching one speck, red, flounder, and rockfish before pulling up stakes and heading for the Potomac in the Morgantown area—where fortunately, good numbers of slot rockfish were hitting. Another angler in the Rappahannock reported that the specks were hard to find last weekend, but the puppy drum were cooperative. They caught several mid-slot fish while throwing paddletails in three feet of water. Fishing the shallows should remain productive throughout the month, especially the farther south you go into Virginia waters, as some of the tidal tributaries are wintering locations for speckled trout and red drum.