Tangier and Lower Shore Fishing Reports

Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, February 14 Update: 

As winter continues to roll on, there have not been many reliable fishing opportunities throughout the Tangier and lower Eastern Shore region. Striped bass fishing on the Bay is very hit or miss with water temperatures still below 40 degrees for the most part. The saving grace this winter has been the Pocomoke River. Sea Hawk Sports Center reports that some of their crew had excellent action earlier in the week for a mix of crappie, yellow perch, pickerel, and even a few largemouth bass. The best bites came on the last hours of the ebb and the first hours of the incoming. Sea Hawk perch rigs with two-inch pink and chartreuse curly tails tipped with small minnows was the hot bait in four to 12 feet of water. Most of the fish hit while trolling baits along creek channel edges. Trolling with minnows is a tried-and-true method for catching crappie and other species on the Pocomoke. The crappie bite usually heats up even more in the spring, and the yellow and white perch spawning runs should offer another reliable opportunity. I know we are all ready for warmer weather and more chances to get back out on the Bay.

Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, February 6 Update: 

The start of the spring spawning runs is on our doorstep and action in the lower Eastern Shore tribs is heating up. The Angler in Chief says the bite up the Pocomoke was okayish earlier this week, the action wasn’t hot but there was a great mix of species with a few bass, pickerel, crappie, and catfish all willing to bite. The bass came on minnow on shad darts suspended under a bobber and all the other species hit the same baits jigged on bottom in the channel in 10’ to 12’ of water. A reader found that yellow perch, pickerel, crappie, and bass were all biting strong this week, up one of the creeks on the southernmost portion of the Eastern Shore. He noted that many of the perch were females fat with eggs so he let them go; look for skinny males to drop in the frying pan. We should start to see yellow perch get more active this month as they get ready for their spawning run up the tributaries. Mid to late February and early March is usually when we see these fish make their push and white perch follow shortly after them.