Upper Bay Fishing Reports

Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, August 8 Update:

Blue catfish have been more active since the cooler weather moved in. We had a reader check in who caught eight blue catfish last weekend near Abbey Point while fishing with cut bunker chunks. They were successful using both bottom rigs and fish finder rigs. The lumps around Pooles Island are another great area to target blue catfish throughout the year. Bottom fishing with your any type of meaty bait can work, but the blue catfish in this region have a preference for bunker chunks or fresh clam. The cooler summer temperatures also seem to help the white perch bite in the Upper Bay. The various lumps and shoals, especially the areas from the mouth of the Patapsco down to the Bay Bridge, have been holding decent numbers of perch along with a lot of spot and croaker. Reports from inside the tidal rivers are also improving. One angler fishing the Patapsco reported finding a good perch bite in eight to 10’ of water. Grass shrimp was the hot bait.

Since striped bass season has opened again, the fishing has been good in the Upper Bay. Again, we can thank the milder air temperatures which have brought out water temperatures down into the mid 70s to low 80s. The channel edges in the Patapsco River have been a good place to find bigger schools of stripers in depths of 20’ to 40’. Reports from light tackle anglers have shown a good jigging bite in the river. Live lining has also been working well, and boats live lining near the shipping docks are still catching some fish. One report from a kayak angler fishing in the Patapsco showed plenty of stripers willing to bite, along with channel catfish keeping them busy during slack tide. Early morning and late evening have still been the best bite windows. Anglers fishing in the Chester River are also finding striped bass in the shallows as far up the river as Chestertown. Shoreline points, larger docks, and rip-rap shoreline have been productive zones.