Fishing in Full Swing on the Chesapeake and the Atlantic Coast

    Maryland Fishing Report by Keith Lockwood
 Chesapeake Bay, Atlantic Coast, Md. -- Anglers are beginning to see water temperatures approach the 80-degree mark throughout the Chesapeake and with those elevated temperatures striped bass are beginning to hold in deeper waters and only venture into the shallows during early morning and late evening hours. The tidal rivers are now open to fishing for striped bass.
     Anglers are reporting a few school-sized striped bass are being caught below the dam and channels near the mouth of the Susquehanna. Channel catfish seem to be everywhere in the Susquehanna over to the Elk River and the white perch fishing has tapered off.
     Chumming for striped bass at Love Point, the Triple Buoys and Swann Point continues to be a steady pick with the best results coming early in the morning with a good running tide. Baits allowed to settle to the bottom under the chum slick often produce some of the nicer fish being caught.
     Trolling close to the bottom along channel edges has been accounting for some striped bass. White perch are being found on many of the knolls and shoals of the upper bay; bottom rigs baited with bloodworms are the preferred method of fishing.
     Some of the best trolling action for stripers has been along the western side of the shipping channel near Parker’s Creek and the Radar Towers in about 30 feet of water. The north edge of the Hill at the mouth of Eastern Bay and the False Channel are also producing fish at times. Umbrella rigs, spreader bars and tandem rigs with Storms, swim shads, Tsunamis or spoons close to the bottom have been working the best.
     Jigging with bucktails and soft plastics has also been productive over structure such as channel edges, bridge piers or stone piles. In the shallows, surface poppers are perhaps the most fun lure to fish but swimming plugs such as Rapalas and the Gulp white mullet swim shad will catch a lot of fish. Fly fishermen will find skipping bugs offering the most excitement but chartreuse Clousers and Deceiver flies are hard to beat for consistent strikes.
     Black drum are still being caught at Stone Rock and although the action has not been exactly hot and heavy it only takes one fish to light up your day. Stout tackle, ½ a soft crab on a big circle hook with 3 or 4-ounces of lead and a good depth finder usually work well. Lesser known shoals such as the James Island Flats are worth taking a look at also if you’re in the area. The smaller cousin of the black drum; the croaker are being found along the 20- to 35-foot edges of channels mostly in the evenings and in deeper waters during the day. The mouth of Eastern Bay and the lower Choptank River has been offering some of the better fishing this week.
     Bluefish are starting to show up in the lower bay region; mostly near the Middle Grounds at the moment. They will move throughout the region in short order and will be chewing up soft plastics. Jigging for striped bass over structure such as channel edges is a good option right now and fishermen are reporting bait slicks and breaking fish from time to time. Chumming is a good option now at traditional locations such as Buoy 72 and the Rock Piles north of Point Lookout and with more and more spot becoming available, live lining near Cove Point and other traditional locations will become more common place.
     Croaker fishing has been very good at the mouth of the Patuxent River, Tangier Sound, Pocomoke Sound, Buoy 72 and the mouth of the Potomac. The croakers tend to hold deep during the day and move up into shallower waters towards evening. A few flounder are being caught along channel edges in Tangier Sound and Cornfield Harbor, sea trout, larger spot and even black drum can also be part of the mix at times.

     Recreational crabbers are reporting fair to good catches of crabs from Kent Island south with the best crabbing on the eastern side of the bay. Smaller crabs are reported to be very abundant in the shallows so most crabbers are working their trotlines or collapsible crab traps along channel edges in 10 to 15-feet of water. As expected a fair proportion of the larger crabs can be light.
     As would be expected, freshwater anglers are seeing water temperatures rise and with that, fish activity behavior is also changing. Largemouth bass in the central, southern and eastern regions of the state are now transitioning into a summer mode of activity where they can be found feeding in the shallows in the early morning and late evening hours and seeking cool shade during the day. Heavy grass and spatterdock fields are good places to cast chatterbaits and buzzbaits; as the day wears on worms or other soft plastics can be worked down through grass in deeper waters where largemouth bass are seeking cool shade.
     Fishermen in the Ocean City area are beginning to see a shift towards the traditional summer mix of fish species as water temperatures hit 70-degrees in the surf and higher in the back bay areas. A few big striped bass are still being caught in the surf and at the inlet but other species are now dominating the action. Large inshore sharks such as sandbars are now being caught and released and cow-nosed rays are very common. A summer mix of small bluefish, medium sized black drum, kingfish, croaker, and flounder are being caught in the surf. A variety of baits ranging from cut menhaden to squid and artificial bloodworms are being used. Small bluefish continue to move through the inlet area at night and especially at high flood; Got-Cha lures has been the best choice to catch them. There are some striped bass mixed in and there lies the dilemma of casting soft plastic swim shads in harms way when toothy bluefish are around. Tautog and flounder are being caught and small sea bass have moved in also.
     In the back bay areas flounder fishing is the mainstay and fishing has been good. The throwback ratio can be high at times but using larger baits can cut down on the number of small flounder being hooked. Channels and edges from the Route 90 Bridge to the airport at Sinepuxent Bay are all good places to fish for flounder.
     Sea bass has been the primary focus of the boats heading out to the wreck sites and double digit catches are not uncommon. Fishermen are also mixing in a few tautog and cod fish to their catches at times. Offshore in the 30-fathom regions fishermen have been fishing for thresher and mako sharks.
     Farther offshore in the canyon regions the first white marlin have been caught and larger yellowfin tuna are beginning to show up. They are a welcomed addition to the smaller ones that often don’t qualify as legal fish. A couple of yellowfin in the 80-pound to 90-pound bracket were caught last weekend. Bluefin tuna continue to be part of the mix and even a bigeye now and then.