Upper Bay Fishing Reports

Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 9 Update:

The Upper Bay is living up to its Rocktober reputation, with birds, bait, and breaking stripers showing up in several areas. While some of the surface schools are made up mostly of smaller fish, there are quality rockfish mixed in, and live-lining spot around the Bay Bridge and Pooles Island remain another solid option. White perch are also feeding well in the tributaries, making this a great time to explore the smaller creeks before cooling temperatures push them toward deeper water.

Rocktober has broken out in full force across the Chesapeake Bay. The Nor’Easter got things going with cooler temperatures at the beginning of the month, and the fish have been responding well ever since. Bird activity and surface feeding has picked up a lot recently. We had reports of bird action throughout the Patapsco River this week and also had a few reports from the mouth of the Chester River and between Hart Miller and Pooles Island. In the Patapsco, the bird activity has been more consistent, but there seem to be a lot of just underslot stripers feeding on menhaden. There have also been some small bluefish in the mix at times. This action has been spotted from the mouth of the river near the former Key Bridge all the way up into the Inner Harbor. If you don't feel like chasing around the bird action, trollers have also been doing well in the river. One boat trolling between 15 and 20 feet reported catching a two-man limit of fish along with a few slot and underslot throwbacks this week.

There are still spot hanging around Sandy Point, the mouths of the tidal rivers, and the Upper Bay shoals, but they won't be around much longer. Bottom rigs tipped with grass shrimp, bloodworms, or bloodworm flavored Fishbites have been the ticket for catching spot. Depths of 10 to 15 feet have been the hot zone. The rockfish bite at the Bay Bridge has been decent this week, and with plenty of spot around, live-lining is still on the table. When the spot move out, live eels can be a great substitute. The lumps around Pooles Island are a historically productive location for fall rockfishing on the Bay. Drifting live eels along the ledges  between 15 and 30 feet of water is a great way to catch rockfish and catfish. Recent reports from anglers show that fish are in that general zone, but it takes some looking around to find them, so good electronics can help a lot.

Cooling water temperatures seem to have helped the white perch bite in the creeks and rivers of the upper Bay. An angler fishing in one of the Baltimore area creeks reported excellent white perch action, catching a few dozen perch during two relatively quick trips totaling about seven hours. The fish are still holding in shallow water from four to 10 feet around points with fallen trees, grass, and riprap. They also had a few underslot striped bass mixed in. A 1/8-ounce Z-Man Micro Shad jighead paired with a 2-inch Gulp! minnow has been their go-to presentation, fished on light tackle with six-pound braid and a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader. These tactics should also work for perch in the creeks of the upper Magothy River, Chester River marshes, the creeks near Baltimore both to the north and south of the Patapsco. The perch are regularly  feeding now, so anglers looking to get in on the shallow-water bite should take advantage before falling water temperatures push the fish out of the creeks. Having a spinnerbait, jerkbait, or chatterbait rigged up is another good idea as pickerel can be found in most of these same areas. The bite is starting to pick up now and will only get better over the next few months.

Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 2 Update:

The Upper Bay got a healthy dose of fall weather this week, and the roughly 10-degree drop in water temperature appears to have flipped the switch for striped bass. Baitfish are beginning to gather, rockfish are becoming more aggressive, and both shallow and open-water patterns are starting to develop. White perch are also getting in on the fall action, making the Upper Bay an increasingly attractive place to wet a line as October gets rolling.

Fishing reports were on the slim side this week as the Nor’Easter last weekend kept most anglers off the water. The cooler temperatures and rain from the storm caused water temperatures to drop around 10 degrees and have put us in a prime spot for the start of “Rocktober”. With water temperatures in the mid-60s, baitfish are starting to school up and move out of the upper reaches of tributaries and rockfish are looking to ambush them in the shallows and out in open water. The live lining bite in the Patapsco River was red hot this week near the shipping docks and there are still plenty of spot around to catch for bait. Trollers are also doing well working the channel edges in the river with umbrella rigs and tandem rigged sassy shads. An angler fishing in the Patapsco after the storm said that rip rap shorelines that were sheltered from the wind were productive for rockfish while casting around jerkbaits. The bigger fish they caught were more willing to hit topwater lures and rattle traps.

Down at the Bay Bridge, the rockfish bite has been good this week, with fish being caught around pilings on both the east and west side of the bridge. Spot are still around Sandy Point and Hacketts, so getting bait for live lining at the bridge piling shouldn’t be too hard. Light tackle anglers also reported success jigging around the bridge pilings on a running tide. As water temperatures continue to fall, we should continue to see a decent bite around the bridge. We can also expect to find more schools of rockfish feeding on baitfish in open water. Bird activity and surface feeds are on the table, so make sure to keep an eye out for it when on the water.

White perch fishing has been inconsistent in the Upper Bay this year, but the fall usually produces a good shallow water bite before they school up and head to deeper water. There was a report from an angler fishing in one of the Baltimore area creeks who said the perch bite was on this week. During two trips, they caught close to 50 fish along with some rockfish and chain pickerel. The rockfish were mostly under the slot, but a few slots were in the mix, and the pickerel ranged from small up to 20”. They said the key was focusing on structure near shoreline points where the wind was pushing against. Most of the action was in 10ish feet of water while casting an 1/8th ounce jughead paired with Gulp! minnows and curlytails. The Upper Bay creeks should offer a decent perch bite over the next few weeks, so get out there and get to casting.