Tangier and Lower Shore Fishing Reports

Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, December 5 Update: 

It is time to bundle up while heading out on the water. The cold weather is here, but there are plenty of reasons to still get out and fish. Anglers in the Tangier region have an excellent winter fishery right in their backyards, the Pocomoke River. The Pocomoke has been fishing very well for crappie and several other species in recent weeks, including largemouth bass, yellow perch, and pickerel. Crappie have been enticed by minnows tipped onto panfish jigs and either trolled behind the boat or suspended under a bobber. The daily angler creel limit for crappie is 15 fish, so if you get on a hot bite, you can have plenty of meat for a fish fry.

FishTalk’s Zach Ditmars spent some of the holiday weekend hitting the ponds dotting the Delaware section of the Eastern Shore, but he said the pickerel bite was tepid, and the weather made fishing tough. Only a handful of fish, up into the low 20-inch range, were willing to hit. A reader reported similar results in a millpond on the Shore's southern reaches, where the pickerel bite had shut down cold with the sudden chill in the air. However, he did pick up a nice largemouth on a chatterbait. Migratory striped bass are starting to move up the Bay. Most of the action will be out on the main stem of the Bay and along the deeper channels running through the Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds. Bird shows have been popping up in several regions of the Bay, so it will be a good idea to have a pair of binoculars while searching for stripers. Birds are usually a good indication that there is bait and fish in the area.