Middle Bay Fishing Reports
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 2 Update:
Rockfish remain scattered throughout the Middle Bay, but anglers willing to fish at daybreak or late evening are still finding success around Poplar Island, Kent Narrows, and the Choptank. Spot and croaker fishing continues to improve, with bottom fishing producing steady catches around Poplar Island and the Patuxent River. While striped bass action has slowed, mixed-bag opportunities are becoming one of the highlights of summer fishing in the region.
The Angler in Chief says rockfish remain widely scattered and hesitant to bite in the South, though he did find a couple under the slot during a recent evening dock-hopping trip that were willing to hit white paddletails on half-ounce jigheads. Rockfish are offering up a better bite at Poplar, though the reports from there have been mixed, too. A reader found two slot fish willing to hit topwater at daybreak, and another reported a missed swipe but no fish in the box. The action seems limited to very early and very late in the day with a narrow bite-window of under an hour. A steadier bite has been at Kent Narrows, where a subscriber live-lining by the bridge pilings caught a limit with three aboard in under an hour.
Reports Editor Dillon Waters took a few trips with his brothers to Poplar Island last weekend. They had to dodge some storms but found a three fish limit on each trip. Topwater lures and sub-surface baits cast up to the rocks are producing bites, but the fish are spread out along long stretches of shoreline. Their fish ranged between 19” and 28”, and they also caught a few bluefish in the 14” to 16” range. The heat wave currently hitting us will cause water temperatures to rise, which will stress fish. If you plan to fish for rockfish and are going to be doing any catch and release fishing, it will be best to do so in the early morning hours when the air temperatures are at their lowest for the day. Rockfish can die easily if handled too long while being caught and released.
A subscriber bottom fishing in the Patuxent reported croaker just over the keeper mark were biting near Myrtle Point. He noted there were plenty of fish under the mark, but plenty did make it over the line, too. We also got word of some keeper croaker popping up in the Severn this week. The bottom fishing bite on the eastern side of Poplar Island has been excellent for spot fishing. Charter boats and recreational boats are filling coolers with spot ranging from smalls to some jumbos. Bloodworms have been the best bait, but Fishbites and red worms are also working.
Crabbing Report: The crabbing has been slow for this time of year with crabbers from Annapolis down to the Patuxent reporting a tough time filling baskets. The silver lining is that the crabs being caught have been jumbos. We had a report from a reader who was crabbing in the West River last weekend that caught ¾ of a bushel in a few hours of trot lining. Though they didn’t fill their bushel basket, the crabs were a mix of number ones and jumbos.
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