Middle Bay Fishing Reports

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 31 Update:

Striped bass season is back open as of August 1st for all Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The two-week closure gave our resident fish a break during the intense summer heat. Now that the season is back open, we are enjoying cooler temperatures. We do not have any striper reports yet since the season just opened today, but we should have a good sense of how the bite is after this weekend. Before the closure, Poplar Island, the Eastern Shore shallows, and the lower Patuxent River were producing fish. While stripers have been closed, bluefish have been providing a lot of great action. The best zone is from Sharps Island and south. Feeding frenzies have been popping up on most days in depths of 30’ to 50’, but weekend boat pressure definitely affected the bite last weekend. Guides and recreational anglers alike reported a much slower bite over the weekend with boats running all over the place. Fishing improved this week and the bluefish started breaking again along the shipping channel south of Solomons. Bull reds have also been scattered about as far north as the Choptank River. Good electronics are needed to locate this fish below the surface, but they are often found close to the bluefish.

The white perch have been hard to come by this summer, and more anglers are striking out than having luck. One reader did mention catching a few small perch while casting around piers in the Rhode River, though not many were biting. Another reader fishing down on the Patuxent last weekend reported catching a dozen perch in tidal creeks south of the Benedict Bridge while throwing spinners. The bite was relatively slow, and fish seemed to be spread out. An angler fishing at the Bay Bridge reported that fresh grass shrimp were the ticket on a recent trip. The western shore pilings at the bridge are a good location to catch perch, spot, and croaker. When striped bass season opens, there should be some stripers hanging around the bridge since they have not been pressured in a few weeks. Spot fishing, on the other hand, has been outstanding this year. They are being caught from the Patuxent up to the Bay Bridge by anglers bottom fishing with Fishbites and bloodworms. More jumbo spot in the eight to 10” range are being caught now that we are moving into late summer. The Solomons Bridge and the Bay Bridge have been hot spots.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 25 Update:

The striped bass closure is still in effect until August 1st in Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay, but there are plenty of other fish to target while we give the stripers a break. Two reports of Middle Bay bull redfish trickled in this week, one from south of the Choptank and the other from the mouth of the Patuxent. We weren’t able to get any more specific details but let’s hope this is an excellent early sign of things to come over the next month or two. Bluefish have been blitzing in open water with better numbers of fish being caught from the mouth of the Choptank south. The Tackle Box reports that Mid-bay blues have been averaging two to six pounds, but there has also been a smattering of the huge ocean-going bluefish in excess of 15 pounds and 35 inches in the mix at times. A heavy leader of at least 40 pounds will be needed when tangling with the bigger blues to limit the number of break offs.

The Angler in Chief says a recent trip including multiple stops at Calvert Cliffs, James Island, and many spots in the shallows of the Choptank which usually provide a shot at speckled sea trout didn’t produce any of the intended species and unfortunately, included lots of accidental rockfish, many of which were overslot-sized. He also mentioned that an evening trip at the mouth of the West using Chesapeake Sabikis and Fishbites bloodworm generated bites from spot (almost eating size but marginal) and undersized croaker, while attempts to find white perch in Ramsay Lake off the South River went completely unrewarded. A reader reported finding some croaker fit for the cooler (10” to 12”) in the mouth of the West while finding perch MIA. However, another reader said he did find white perch on riprap inside the river this week.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 18 Update:

FishTalk’s Zach Ditmars says rockfish were hitting along bayfront piers, especially at sunset on an outgoing tide, though that action will get a rest for the next few weeks since targeting stripers is now shut down. We also received reader reports of good topwater action at Poplar Island in the morning and evening just before the season closed. Reports Editor Dillon Waters also made it out just before the closure and reports that docks along the main stem of the Bay produced a lot more bites than areas inside the western shore tidal rivers. He and another angler caught around a dozen during a morning trip in the Annapolis area. The striped bass closure will remain in effect until July 31st for all Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Anglers are not permitted to target striped bass during this time. The season will reopen on August 1st.

A couple of reader reports came in of catching specks in the Choptank and Little Choptank early this week, and although both were single fish, both were also nice fish in the 22” to 24” range. Pink paddletails were mentioned as working and rockfish were hitting them as well. The puppy drum that we enjoyed last year have not shown up in any numbers in Maryland waters yet. There is still time for them to make their way to us, but they will not be a reliable target during the striped bass closure unless you head down to Virginia. Bottom fishing in the mouths of the tidal rivers, especially the Patuxent, has been excellent. There has been some jumbo spot around the Solomons area with some keeper croaker and a few white perched mixed in as well. Bloodworms and Fishbites are doing the trick. A reader also checked in from the Patuxent and said he had good luck fishing the tidal creeks on the river about halfway between Solomons and Benedict.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 11 Update:

Perch fishing has been below average so far this summer, but there are starting to be a few glimmers of hope for things to turn around. A reader let us know the perch bite in the Severn had been picking up, with some very nice white perch (over the nine-inch mark) hitting Mepps in the early morning. Although the bite died out by 9 o’clock, some croaker and a couple of pickerel were in the mix, too. Other anglers reported a slightly improved white perch bite while fishing near the Bay Bridge this week. Bottom fishing with bloodworms and Fishbites near bridge pilings and shell bottom produced perch, spot, and croaker. Another reader fishing near Deale said that they have been enjoying a steady bottom fishing bite for eater sized spot near crab buoys in around 10’ of water. Hallocks-Grace Charters checked in and let us know that the bluefish bite picked back up down by the Sharp’s Island Lighthouse. While running a trip late last week, they encountered schools of bluefish, though smaller than the early season fish they were catching at the beginning of summer. These bluefish were mostly in the 18” to 20” range with a few shorties in the mix. The blues were hitting spoons and surgical hoses trolled near ledges and humps.

Fishing for striped bass has been good in the early morning and late evening hours. Poplar Island has been productive for anglers fishing the rocky rip-rap shorelines that surround the island. Reports Editor Dillon Waters visited the island with a few other anglers earlier in the week and said they had a lot of action throwing topwater lures for the last hour of light. They boxed a four-man limit of slot fish and caught a few others as well. A reader fishing near the Route 50 Bridge on the Choptank reports that trolling paddletails on 3/8-ounce jigheads between bridge pilings and near shoreline points is consistently producing fish. FishTalk contributor Adam Greenberg checked in with a report and said that he had another great rockfish bite on the Choptank this week. A single four-inch, chartreuse paddletail caught fish almost every cast for about an hour and a half. The rockfish were super active and busting everywhere. He also caught a few perch on the same paddletail. On another trip, he was using a small spinner bait tipped with a two-inch Gulp! and the tail kept getting bit off, so he switched to just a small jig head and the Gulp! and ended up catching a couple small croaker and flounder. We also had a report of a nice sized speckled trout caught in Eastern Bay this week. The striped bass closure will go into effect from July 16th to July 31st in all Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The closure is meant to protect our resident striped bass during the heat of summer when high water temperatures cause increased catch and release mortality.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 4 Update:

The Angler in Chief says lots of croaker have moved into the Middle Bay zone, enough that when casting Gulp! jigs for rockfish at some areas off the mouth of the West and South rivers, they were hooking croaker instead. Most were just undersized, but some were keepers, so hopefully this could develop into cooler-filling action. He also said that while rockfish were still proving uncooperative in the South and West Rivers, they provided solid action on chartreuse BKDs and white paddletails in the shallows of the Choptank on the first of the incoming. Most of the fish were in the slot or just under, and a few overs showed up as well. FishTalk Production Manager Zach Ditmars says the striper bite was on the bounce in the area near Annapolis, with docks producing and an evening trip late last week resulting in three slots and a couple of throwbacks. Some keeper croaker, big spot, and a few white perch are being caught in the Middle Bay tidal rivers this week. The Severn River had the best reports of keeper croaker with fish up to 12 inches coming over the rails.

Perch fishing is still very slow this season, and we had another poor report from an angler fishing the West River this week. They hit several of their usual perch spots and a few new locations but only caught two perch in a few hours of fishing. The lack of perch is starting to become concerning, and we hope that things pick up soon. There have been slightly better results from anglers fishing the tidal creeks around the lower Patuxent, but the perch fishing is still inconsistent. A reader checked in from the Pax after catching a few rockfish while casting the shallows at sunset in the Hog Point area. FishTalk contributor Adam Greenberg checked in with a good report from the eastern shore. He had an epic topwater bite recently, catching 30 or so fish from 5am to 8am on both poppers and spooks, with a handful on four-inch paddle tails as well. The perch were also thick and choking down the four-inch paddletail. The rockfish were mostly slot and over slot. However, the few caught on the paddle tails were in the 10 in - 14 in range.

Crabbing report: The AIC says crabbing in the South is strong, with good numbers of very large males (though lots of white bellies) mixed in with females and tiny crabs. Six feet of water was hot last weekend, and he noted that the limiting factor was how long your bait lasted due to the large number of undersized and female crabs.