Middle Bay Fishing Reports
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, May 15 Update:
Rockfish fishing in the Middle Bay has been excellent this spring, with healthy fish spread throughout rivers, shorelines, and open Bay structure including the Bay Bridge, docks, riprap, and points. Anglers are finding success casting paddletails and jigging bridge pilings, though the bite has varied with changing tides and conditions in some areas. Black drum are also still providing good action, with anglers catching large fish on crab baits despite increasing numbers of cownose rays moving into the region.
The Angler in Chief reports that on the whole, this seems to be the best spring in several years for rockfish in the Middle Bay zone. Not only are the fish around in good numbers and biting, but they also seem fatter and healthier than usual, and many are fall-style football-shaped fish. With many additional areas opening up on the 16th, anglers will be happy to hear they’re disbursed through the rivers as well as open Bay areas and, unlike last spring, docks, points, and riprap in both the South and the West are already producing fish while casting 5” white paddletails on half-ounce jigheads. He’s also been catching plenty at the CCNPP, though the fish there do seem to be on fire there one day and off the next. A reader reported that when they wouldn’t hit jigs one day this week, fishing strips of bunker did get them biting. A subscriber fishing the east side of the Bay Bridge reported it as another hotspot for the rockfish, saying plenty of slot fish plus some overs were stacked up along pilings in 10’ to 20’ of water. Six-inch Z-Man Bad Shad Swimmerz on one-ounce heads were effective.
A reader fishing in southern Anne Arundel reported that while fishing a zone that produced nearly three dozen slot and over slot rockfish a few weeks ago, produced just two micro stripers about 12 inches each. They mentioned that the tide was super low and not moving, so not the best conditions for fishing. Reports Editor Dillon Waters reports that he caught some under slot and slot rockfish in the shallows near Whitehall Bay last weekend. Five-inch Invincible Jigs seam swimmers paired with half-ounce jigheads was the hot bait. The fish were relating to docks and rip-rap in depths of three to six feet of water. Starting on May 16th, there are some changes to the zones where you can fish for striped bass in the Middle Bay. Some areas will open for harvest, but most of the rivers and tributaries are still catch and release only or under a no-target closure until June 1st, so make sure to check the Maryland DNR striped bass regulation maps to see when and where you can fish for striped bass.
Black drum are also still at the CCNPP and the AIC reports boating four between 20 and 70 pounds on a trip early this week, but the rays have moved in as well, so you do have to weed through them. Finding the drum on the meter (they create outrageously large marks on bottom), Spot-locking in place, and immediately dropping down either soft crab or hard crab (with the shell popped off, and major claws removed) is the way to get these beasts on the line. Remember to give them four or five seconds to eat before coming tight, use large 10/0 circle hooks, and release fish over 20 pounds (which are often wormy, and aren’t good to eat). These fish have also been located at the Stone Rock, but breezy conditions on the open Bay have made it difficult to target them there effectively for the past week.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, May 8 Update:
Persistent winds continued to limit fishing opportunities across the Chesapeake this week, but anglers who found protected water were rewarded with strong striped bass action in western shore rivers, main stem shorelines, and Eastern Shore shallows. Fish are holding tight to docks, shoreline structure, jetties, and current seams, with many anglers reporting steady action on paddletails and other soft plastics. Slot fish are becoming more common throughout the region, though plenty of over-slot stripers are still mixed in. Meanwhile, attempts to target black drum were hampered by rough conditions, forcing anglers to switch tactics and capitalize on productive rockfish bites.
The Angler in Chief says the wind has been a major problem recently; He’s had to cancel multiple trips in the past week, and has been unable to return to the black drum hunt or go after rockfish. He did mention that he’d heard rockfish have moved into the west side rivers and are hitting. A friend caught a 23.5” rockfish from his pier on the Severn, and spotted several other fish swimming with it. Reports Editor Dillon Waters has found plenty of rockfish along the main stem shorelines from Deale up to the West River this week, along with fish holding near docks inside the West River. It is important to know that the rivers and other tributaries are either closed or catch and release only, so make sure to take a look at the striped bass regulation maps if you plan on keeping fish. Fish in the rivers were holding near docks that had large platforms on the end and that were on shoreline points. Freedom Baits USA Bare Knuckle Shads worked very well paired with one-ounce jigheads.
We also had a reader report of slot-sized rockfish biting well in the vicinity of Taylors Island. White/silver 4" Storm Shad did the trick. Another reader checked in after kayak fishing the Eastern Shore shallows by kayak. They fished at depths of three to six feet, finding water temperatures in the low 60s. The fish they found were not widespread, but he did find a concentration of fish around hard structure. They had a strong preference for trolled lure compared to casting. Trolling through the zone with a four-inch paddletail on a one-eighth ounce jighead produced a bite just about every pass. They also spent some time trying to force a topwater bite and eventually got one fish to bite on top. In total, they caught 24 stripers, most of which were on the smaller side, but they did catch a handful of slot fish, and a few up to 25 inches.
The Angler In Chief, Dillon Waters, and Eric Packard took a trip down to the Power Plant this week to hopefully find a few more black drum. They were eyeing a weather window that lined up with the tide, but unfortunately, the weatherman got things wrong…again. What was supposed to be light winds less than 10 knots ended up being a stiff north breeze blowing 15 to 20 knots. The waves stacked up against the water pushing out from the discharge made it impossible to search for drum in the wash, so they resorted to targeting rockfish. They started casting a variety of paddletails on three-quarter ounce and one-ounce jigheads near the rock jetties closer to shore inside the discharge pipe and found a few schools of fish in the area. Working that zone, they caught around 20 fish ranging from 18 inches all the way up to 26 inches, with a fair number of over slot fish. After that, they moved over to the discharge and found more fish stacked up right near the pipe. Casting jigs and jigging them along bottom right next to the fast-moving water produced another two-dozen fish or so. Again, the class of fish included a few under slot fish, plenty of slot fish, and a fair number of over slot fish. Dillon’s hot bait was a one-ounce invincible jigs jighead in monkeys milk color paired with a five-inch invincible seam swimmer in a light blue color.
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, May 1 Update:
Striped bass action in the Middle Bay is providing a mix of steady slot fish and some overslot surprises, with bites coming from bridge pilings, island shallows, and shoreline structure on paddletails, topwater, and trolled plugs—though reports suggest the bite can vary day to day. Meanwhile, big black drum have pushed into the region, with anglers targeting moving fish around current edges and finding success on fresh crab during tide changes, while smaller eating-sized drum have yet to show in numbers. White perch are still hanging in area salt ponds as well, offering consistent light-tackle action despite increasing algae and a predominance of smaller fish.
A reader reported that rockfish were at the Bay Bridge and jigging the pilings along relatively shallow pilings in 10’ to 15’. Casting chartreuse seven-inch Bust ‘Ems with half-ounce heads on Alltackle “Tom Weaver Special” rigs did the trick. Slot-sized rockfish are still hanging around at Poplar Island, and a reader said the action was on the slow side last weekend, but they were hitting topwater at daybreak. The Angler in Chief said his latest visit there was slower than last week, but good numbers of fish were still cruising along the north end of the island in small groups and were hitting white five-inch paddletails on half-ounce heads. Another subscriber reported very good action in the shallows of the Choptank early this week, working the shoreline from Cook’s Point down. He mentioned that many of the fish were nice overslots, including fish up to 30”. Another kayak trolled in southern Anne Arundel County waters and had an awesome late afternoon/evening bite—29 fish from 12” to 27” in under four hours—while pulling paddletails and Yo-Zuri plugs. There are still certain tributaries that are closed to targeting striped bass, so make sure to take a look at the striped bass regulation maps to when and where areas open for striped bass fishing.
The Angler in Chief says the big black drum have arrived in the Middle Bay. It was too rough to work the Stone Rock on both recent trips, but fishing fresh (hard) blue crab on 10/0 circle hooks on bottom at the Power Plant has produced three fish in the 40- to 70-pound range. The best bite has been during the last hour of the incoming tide. He said the drum were moving around as the tail of the outflow plume shifted with the tide and locating (very large) marks on the fishfinder, dropping the trolling motor, and Spot-Locking in place was the ticket. They’re usually along the periphery of the moving water and don’t stick around in one spot for long, so after catching one or two it’s often best to go back on the hunt, relocate the fish, then Spot-Lock in place and drop baits again. Drifting works, but since you have to keep your rig dead on bottom, it leads to lots of snags. He also says he hasn’t seen any eating-sized black drum yet (they usually arrive shortly after the bigger fish) and reminds everyone that fish over 20 or 25 pounds are often full of worms—as well as being full of eggs—and aren’t very good to eat, so they should be handled with care and released asap after a quick pic. There were also some 18” to 26” stripers farther up close to the outflow in the fast-moving water, but on Tuesday a couple of friends who were there targeting stripers caught just four fish.
Anglers fishing the area salt ponds report that the white perch are still in attendance. Casting out grass shrimp on shad darts about two feet beneath a bobber, then reeling it back in slowly, generated the most bites. One reader fishing Triton said the majority of the perch were small, but he did catch a half-dozen in the nine to 11” range for dinner. He also mentioned the algae was already thick and cleaning off the rig was critical; the fish wouldn’t bite if there was any goop on the dart.
