Maryland/Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report March 26, 2014

Maryland Weekly Fishing Report Overview | March 26, 2014 

This Saturday is the big one for put and take trout fishermen; for outdoorsmen whether they be a hunter or fisherman or both there is nothing that tugs at the child inside of us as much as the thought of opening day. Many will find it hard to sleep the night before and there will be plenty of glances at the bedside alarm clock during the night. For those with young anglers in the house, enjoy and bath yourself in all the excitement and anticipation and for those older, find comfort in spending time with your old fishing buddy. Fishermen have been checking out their gear and tackle shop shelves for weeks now and it all comes to fruition this coming Saturday. Parking and the best streamside fishing spots will be at a premium as will dry feet and the rest of you unless you dress properly because the weatherman is telling us there is a 70% chance of rain.

Despite a late start due to ice conditions at the trout holding facilities the stocking crews have been very busy making sure all areas that are due to be stocked for this Saturday's opener have a generous supply of trout. John Mullican sent in these pictures of stocking trout during yesterday's snow storm; all in a day's work of being a fisheries biologist.

Courtesy of John Mullican

Most likely wherever you decide to fish you may hear some whoops, hollers and excitement at some point when someone catches one of the trophy sized breeder trout that are placed at every trout management area. May luck be on your side and you are the person who manages to heft one of these beasts up onto the bank. If you do catch a Rainbow Trout over 20- inches visit one of our award centers and register your trophy to receive a certificate and entry into the Maryland Fishing Challenge. Entrants are eligible to win several large prizes including a boat, motor and trailer donated by Bass Pro Shops. To find out about theMaryland Fishing Challenge and how to enter, be sure to check out the website.

Freshwater fishermen have had other types of fishing on their minds as well as trout for the last few weeks and have been testing out their favorite fishing holes for a mix of species. If you check the angler's logs you will see a wide variety of fishing opportunities even though it has been cold.

Chain Pickerel are a fun target for fishermen when the water is cold and ponds normally clogged with vegetation in the summer months are open and near snag free. Spinners, swimming minnow lures and spoons are all good early spring choices for Chain Pickerel. Bank and small boat fishermen have been enjoying good fishing for Channel Catfish in the tidal rivers. Crappie can be found holding near structure near deep edges and Largemouth Bass are being found in transition areas looking for a little warmth. A small jig or minnow under a bobber works great for crappie and Largemouth Bass will strike a variety of soft plastic jigs and crankbaits this time of the year. Although the upper Potomac has been running a bit high and cloudy lately, fishermen have been enjoying some good fishing for Walleye and Smallmouth Bass. The best fishing tends to be in the eddy areas where fish are holding out of the strong currents. Small jigs, tubes and sassy shad type lures have been good choices for fishing close to the bottom. Benjamin Powell was fishing from the shoreline when he caught this nice Walleye and others on the upper Potomac recently.

Courtesy of Benjamin Powell

It has been quite a spring so far as cold water temperatures have caused expected spawning runs to be delayed and fast paced when a day or two of relative warm and sunny days causes spawning to bust loose. The Yellow Perch spawning runs are over for the most part now and fishermen saw White Perch arriving at traditional spawning areas over the past weekend. Yesterday's snow and cold temperatures put the skids on most spawning activity but predicted warmer weather for the next week will put White Perch spawning into high gear. There may be a little lag time as water temperatures are slow to change and melting snow will also be bringing an influx of cold water into the spawning reaches of the tidal rivers. Fishermen may find that the top of the flood tide might bring in the warmest water temperatures and therefore cause the White Perch to be the most active. A small chartreuse grub, crappie jig or shad dart tipped with a piece of bloodworm or grass shrimp and under a bobber is hard to beat when fishing in close quarters for White Perch.

Water temperatures today are hovering around the 43-degree mark in the lower Susquehanna River and the Conowingo Dam has been releasing water as much as twice per day. Snow melt is not going to be helpful for elevating water temperatures so it will take a few days at best for the White Perch fishery to begin to show some signs of life. Despite cold water temperatures there are Striped Bass in the Susquehanna Flats area and most likely many of them will be males. It will take some warmer water temperatures to put any of them in a feeding mood.

Fishermen looking to shake the cobwebs out of their fishing gear and boats with a little Striped Bass catch and release fishing out in the bay may find it hard to find ready and willing fish; water temperatures are still in the high 30's on top and the bottom for most of the bay. There has been very little activity reported at the Calvert Cliffs Power Plant discharge by drift and jig fishermen. There were reports of some Striped Bass action in the lower Potomac River but were not large migrant fish coming into the bay but smaller resident fish. It would be safe to assume that when things do warm up a bit any large Striped Bass moving up the bay will be near the warmer surface water.

Most Ocean City area fishermen have been sitting it out for the most part. Most captains still feel the water is too cold for a good Tautog bit on the inshore and offshore wreck sites and the Black Sea Bass season doesn't open until May 19th. There was some talk among locals of some large Speckled Trout caught recently in the coastal bays.

Maryland Weekly Fishing Report March 12, 2014

Maryland Weekly Fishing Report Overview | March 12, 2014 

By Keith Lockwood

It would have been hard for anyone not to have caught a touch of spring fever yesterday as temperatures soared up to the 70-degree mark, a very welcomed harbinger of what is to come. Signs of spring are beginning to show everywhere if one looks for them; Woodcock or Timber Doodles are buzzing around, Canada Geese and Whistling Swans are headed north, Wood Ducks have arrived, flower bulbs are poking up and one of my nesting Ospreys was waiting for me when I arrived home from work yesterday. Traditional spawning runs of fish are finally beginning to occur, trout stockings are moving along and fishermen will start to make some positive moves towards going out to do some fishing.

My two fishing buddies and I figured we'd give the Yellow Perch a try on the Tuckahoe River near Hillsboro this past Sunday. Despite the chill, we had great fun and felt like we participated; our timing unfortunately did not match up with that of the Yellow Perch. Three hours in a canoe dunking minnows made for some stiff legs at the boat ramp which caused some reflection on younger days that seemed a long, long time ago. A sight for sore eyes developed when four young guys full of purpose and determination pulled up with all the right stuff. We watched as they began unloading their kayaks and hitting the water for a day on the upper Tuckahoe fishing for Chain Pickerel. For an old timer like me it was nice to see young guys enjoying what the outdoors has to offer.

Photos by Keith Lockwood

The fish that tends to be on fishermen's minds this time of the year are Yellow Perch and their arrival to traditional fishing holes has been delayed due to cold water temperatures in many of the bay's tidal rivers and creeks. It only takes one sunny and warm day to get fishermen out to try their luck and several to elevate water temperatures to the Yellow Perch's liking. A water temperature of 46-degrees tends to be the magic number for spawning Yellow Perch and last Sunday for example the water temperature at Hillsboro on the Tuckahoe River was 43-degrees and fishing there was very slow; fortunately recent warm weather has changed all of that. This 10-1/2" Yellow Perch was the only fish caught by three fishermen dunking minnows in the Tuckahoe at Hillsboro on Sunday; they did much better on late Tuesday afternoon.

Photo Courtesy of Tom O'Connell

The last couple of days have done much to change the nature of the Yellow Perch runs and fish that were holding far down river earlier this week have begun to move through traditional areas where fishermen can target them with jigs and bottom rigs baited with grass shrimp, earthworms or minnows. Yesterday's 70-degree temperatures was just what the doctor ordered and Yellow Perch began to make their appearance at traditional locations and fishermen reported good to excellent catches. At Hillsboro on the Tuckahoe there was an excellent run of nice perch during the afternoon and fishermen did very well as water temperatures rose to 47-degrees by late afternoon.

Fishermen have been reporting earlier this week that they were finding Yellow Perch holding in some of the deeper holes of tidal rivers and creeks downstream of the traditional target areas such as the Ganey's Wharf area on the Choptank, Jug Bay on the Patuxent River and the Shad Landing area of the Pocomoke River. These Yellow Perch are now on the move up river and should provide good fishing through the weekend. There has been some Yellow Perch action reported in the lower Susquehanna in the deepest channel areas for several weeks and last week the ice in the lower section of the Northeast River began to recede; so there should be some fishing opportunities there.

It will be a while before fishermen see any appreciable White Perch numbers moving up the tidal rivers and creeks; fyke netters in the middle river areas have been seeing very little in their nets for the past two weeks. As waters warm up in the next couple of weeks; Hickory Shad will be moving up the tidal rivers and creeks and fishermen will be looking forward to the fun catch and release fishing that these restored populations are providing. Now is the time for selecting shad darts, flies and flashy spoons before you find yourself looking at empty shelves at your favorite tackle shop. Fish passage program leader Jim Thompson has been making sure the fish passage or fish ladders are in good shape for the expected arrival of river herring and Hickory Shad and finds himself up to the top of his waders at the fish ladder at Winters Run which is a tributary of the Bush River.

Photo Courtesy of Jim Thompson

Trout are also on fishermen's minds this time of the year and often the pre-season stocking of trout in the non- closure areas allow put and take fishermen to put a little bend in their fishing rods and a few trout on the dinner table. Stocking crews had been plagued with ice on the trout holding ponds that prevented them from seining out the trout for pre-season stockings in non-closure areas. Some areas have been stocked and crews are working overtime trying to keep up with the closure stockings and fill in some of the pre-season stockings. The best way to obtain the latest stocking information is to subscribe to the Fisheries contact email list where stockings are posted as they occur. The following link will take you to the site where you can subscribe. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/emailcontact.asp One of the places crews were out recently was Hunting Creek Lake at Cunningham Falls State Park where crews had to cut through 13" of ice with a chain saw and pour the trout down through the hole that they had cut into the lake ice; all in a day's work for fisheries crews.

Photos Courtesy of Marshal Brown

The warmer days when they occur entice fishermen to check out favorite local ponds or waterways to try their hand at casting for Largemouth Bass, Crappie and Chain Pickerel; except for the Chain Pickerel the most productive presentations are usually deep and slow. Soft plastic jigs, slow rolled spinnerbaits and crankbaits are often the best choices for lures. Chain Pickerel love cold water and will attack most any kind of spinner, spoon or swimming minnow lure. John Mullican reports that Walleye fishing in the upper Potomac is good this week but warns that recent snow melt and predicted rain may cause the river to be running high and fast later on this week. Readers can check out his recent angler's logs for more detailed information on Walleyes and Smallmouth Bass.

Ice fishermen at Deep Creek Lake have been experiencing one of the best seasons for hard water fishing in a few years. The extreme cold that have seen homeowners heating bills soar and caused some challenging driving conditions has also manifested itself in plenty of thick ice. Fishermen have been catching Yellow Perch, Walleye, Bluegills, Chain Pickerel and Northern Pike. Fishermen have been experiencing some surface slush recently on the warmer days and the edges along shorelines are starting to show signs of receding; so this coming weekend may be one of the last good and safe chances to ice fish at Deep Creek Lake.

Photo Courtesy of Matt Sell

Chesapeake Bay fishermen will start to pull covers off their boats and begin to think about sprucing them up and painting bottoms. Those who keep their boats on trailers usually have less to do and will be checking out the warm water discharge at the Calvert Cliffs Power Plant for some catch and release fishing for Striped Bass that are moving past, on their way up the bay's spawning rivers. The drift begins where the discharge boils up and continues for a couple of hundred yards. Large plastic jigs such as 8" to 10" BKD's, Crippled Herring and butterfly jigs are jigged along the rocky bottom with hopes of a solid thump.

Fishermen in the Ocean City area have been sitting tight for the most part for the past few weeks. Water temperatures at the near shore reefs and wreck sites have become so cold that the Tautog have been fussy about biting. The wreck and reef sites outside of the 20-Fathom Line are the most popular areas to fish this time of the year. Warm days and light winds will bring out a few fishermen who will venture out to the wreck and reef sites to give the Tautog a try and most likely a few fish will cooperate. Surf fishing will mostly be Spiny Dogfish and skates and it will be another month before Tautog start to nose near the Ocean City Inlet.