Middle Bay Fishing Reports

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, December 19 Update:

It is an exciting time for catch and release striped bass fishing on the Chesapeake Bay. The big fish are arriving and mixing with schools of smaller fish, but the bite has been tricky. The Angler in Chief says it got a bit tougher to find birds last weekend, but a few were hitting just south of Chesapeake Beach. Early in the week, several readers tried finding the fish but reported a complete lack of action off Chesapeake Beach and in Eastern Bay. Another reader spent a day early in the week searching for fish between Eastern Bay and Parkers Creek but again struck out. It appears that the cold front slowed the action down, and from what we are hearing, most fish are being caught by searching ledges and contours with electronics. The name of the game has been: find the bait, find the fish. This is where good electronics on your boat can make a huge difference in catching fish or not.

Water temperatures are hovering right around 40 degrees, and in some areas have even dipped into the 30s. These cold water temperatures are ahead of schedule, but some warm days may raise them and get the fish more active. Fingers are crossed that the recent warmup kicks things back into gear. FishTalk contributor Eric Packard checked in after fishing at the Power Plant during the middle of the week. Packard and a friend caught a few stripers, including a few trophy sized fish, but the bite wasn’t red hot. Bouncing jigs on bottom got some fish to bite. Other than rockfish, there are still schools of perch hanging around the lower Patuxent River at depths of 60’ to 80’. We didn’t hear from any anglers who targeted them this week, but the perch should still be in the area, seeing as it is their wintering zone.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, December 11 Update:

The Angler in Chief says bird play was slightly improved last weekend compared to the week prior, and that when fish were spotted on the meter before, during, and after bird action, they seemed far more willing to bite than they have been for much of this fall. Five-inch paddletails and one- to two-ounce jigging spoons caught fish. Initiating the hunt for trophy-sized fish, they did try casting white 10” BKDs and 13” Game On! Duratech Eels, which produced a surprising number of 24” to 28” fish, but nothing larger. Contributor Adam Greenberg says he also had a solid catch last weekend off Chesapeake Beach, and in his case, smaller profile chartreuse baits were doing the trick. Two readers who went out looking for an afternoon bite at the beginning of the week reported that the birds were nowhere to be found, however, and one who ran to the power plant said they didn’t hook anything there, either.

We had a report from an angler fishing around the power plant that they caught a handful of speckled trout on a recent trip. Every year, a few speckled trout overwinter in the warmer waters surrounding the discharge. The speck bite here is very technical, and they are very finnicky. The specks aren’t usually right near the discharge, but farther out where the water isn’t flowing as hard. Since the striped bass season is now catch and release only in Maryland waters, anglers looking to keep fish to eat should turn their attention to white perch at the mouth of the Patuxent River. The perch have moved to their winter holes in the 60’ to 80’ range. Anglers fishing for them over the past week have reported that bloodworms, grass shrimp, and Fishbites are working well tipped on bottom rigs. We mentioned it in recent reports, but since the perch are coming up from such deep depths, several of them are showing barotrauma. Most fish don’t recover from that, so plan on keeping them if you target them. White perch are a delicious fish that is towards the top of our list of favorites to eat.

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.