Middle Bay Fishing Reports

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, December 5 Update:

The Angler in Chief says finicky bird play remains the game in the areas he’s visited lately, with a lot of running from flock to flock and more birds on the meter than on the hook. The general vicinity of the mouth of the Choptank continues to produce slightly better than most areas, with white paddletails and small jigging spoons catching fish. Clarkspoon Jigging Sticks have been effective recently. A reader checked in with one of the better reports as of late. They said that earlier in the week they were fishing just north of Chesapeake Beach and caught over 50 rockfish while doing long drifts in the vicinity of where birds had been grouped up. They didn’t bother to chase birds around; rather, they were vertical jigging over schools of fish on the meter. They mentioned that it appeared as though less boat traffic helped the bite.

Several sources and readers have reported there are white perch balled up in the deep trenches of the lower Patuxent near Solomons. However, Contributor Eric Packard says he fished there recently, and the fish being brought up often suffered barotrauma. Unfortunately, he also found there were some small stripers mixed in with the perch, so he quickly moved on to other options. When undersize perch and/or rockfish are showing signs of barotrauma, release mortality can soar, so it’s a good idea to shift gears and try something else. If you want to target the perch, it will be a good idea to plan on keeping them, which is not a bad idea as they are delicious. Bloodworms on bottom rigs or Chesapeake sabiki rigs have been the bait of choice. Several charter boats and recreational boats have been finding the schools on the north and south side of the Solomons bridge, in depths of 60’ to 80’. They should remain there throughout the winter months.