Middle Bay Fishing Reports

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, August 22 Update:

The Angler in Chief says that just before heading south this week he hit the Choptank shallows and the shallows at the CCNPP, and while the bite was on the slow side, a smattering of rockfish including a couple of over-slots slammed the crew’s jerkbaits. Rapala X-Raps were by far the preferred bait, although a couple of fish also hit white paddletails. We had a report this week of some stripers, including unders, one slot, and one over caught on topwater on the north side of Poplar Island, but by 8:30 the action was complete. Multiple readers trolling in the mid-bay between the Stone Rock and Taylor’s Island, meanwhile, report schools of very small bluefish are scattered all around, but they’re barely-keeper size. One angler trolling down the Bay catching little blues, however, had a red surgical hose smashed by a 46” bull redfish. Now that’s what we call an excellent surprise!

Reports Editor Dillon Waters was out on the Bay last weekend with his family live lining for rockfish. Their crew joined Hallocks Grace Charters for an action packed morning of fishing. They started the day by live lining near Eastern Bay, where the bite was hot and heavy as soon as their spot hit the water. They caught several fish up to 31 inches and had a boat limit of slot fish in less than a half hour. After that, they went to throw topwater along the rocks at Poplar Island where they had a few blow ups but didn’t connect. Once the sun came up, they transitioned to bottom fishing in Eastern Bay, where the spot bite was hot. Bottom rigs tipped with bloodworms and red worms did the trick and they were pulling in spot two at a time over the rails. Many of the spot were on the larger side in the eight to 10” range.

Crabbing report: A reader running a trot line in the South River reported it’s loaded with crabs and lots of them are beautiful, prime jimmies. However, he also said there are a lot of just-undersized crabs around, too, and if you’re using chicken necks, they are chewing through them pretty quickly.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, August 15 Update:

The Angler in Chief says the bite in the Middle Bay improved a bit in the past week, with larger numbers of unders, slots, and a surprising number of overs hitting in the shallows. The Choptank proved productive, as did the shallows around James Island. However, he noted that lipped jerkbaits like X-Raps and Rogues did more of the catching than either jigs or topwater. He also reported schools of bluefish were breaking water and providing a bird show in the open Bay along the eastern channel edges just south of the mouth of the Choptank, however, they were mostly small barely-legal fish. FishTalk contributor Adam Greenberg checked in after a trip to the Choptank. He said that the bite was dead until the last 30 minutes of light, when he caught two slots and one over slot rockfish. One came on topwater, but the tide was pushing in so much grass that he ended up switching to a weedless paddletail to catch the other two.

On the flip side of the coin, he said the west side has been excruciatingly difficult to fish recently and large swaths of discoloration from significant algae blooms have been visible from Thomas Point south. He noted that a quick evening shot to Thomas Point Light produced just one fish, and it appeared very sickly. Two readers fishing the West/Rhode river complex said the action was very slow, with one perch, one small rockfish, and a couple small croaker caught between them. A reader who hit Poplar in the early morning said topwater action was still happening there, though the numbers have been down recently as compared to before the closure. Another reader reiterated the poor water quality on the West side after they tried for perch in the West River without any luck last weekend. We did get a report of a decent spot bite from a reader who was bottom fishing at the mouth of the West. They said bloodworms on bottom rigs produced the best bite, and their boat caught close to 70 spot with a lot of them over eight inches this week.

Crabbing report: A reader running a trot line in the South River reported great action, with a mostly full bushel basket after a couple hours of crabbing. We also had a report from a reader in the Deale area who was using drop traps in a small creek and caught just under a bushel.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, August 8 Update:

The Angler in Chief says rockfish aren’t exactly chewing the bottom of the boat off in the Middle Bay zone, but a few slot fish are around on shallow structure and willing to hit white paddletails late in the evening. He also noted, however, that some of the fish he’s seen this week are in rough shape and very skinny, and a 23” he caught on Tuesday looked like it had about as much meat as a 17” fish. FishTalk contributor Zach Ditmars reports that fishing docks on the main stem of the Bay are holding some rockfish, though the numbers aren’t as good as before the mid-summer closure. We heard from several boats this week that there is still a decent topwater bite at Poplar Island. Hallock’s Grace Charters caught a quick six-man limit when the season opened and other recreation boats have been enjoying topwater bites along the rip-rap shoreline around the island.

White perch fishing is still a struggle for most anglers in the Middle Bay. The tidal rivers seem to have below average numbers of perch for this time of year, which has us scratching our heads. There are some being caught, but usually hotspots like Holland Point and the Patuxent River have not been fishing well. Fishing docks and rip-rap shorelines inside the rivers are still good areas to fish with grass shrimp or minnows. From the reports we have seen, live bait is performing better than lures. Boats fishing around the Bay Bridge are catching some more perch while fishing around the bridge pilings in five to 15 feet of water. Grass shrimp has been the best bait in this zone and dropping bottom rigs tipped with grass shrimp is catching perch, spot, and croaker. Fishbites and bloodworms are working very well for anglers targeting spot for live lining. Bottom fishing at the mouths of the tidal rivers or just off Sandy Point should put you in a good position to get spot for bait.