Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report

Alex Perez holds up a pair of nice keeper sized Rockfish.

There was a noticeable crispness to the air this morning! As we move into September and this Labor Day weekend, we start to transition from Summer to Fall! This is our favorite season here at the shop. Pretty much everything gets great right before the winter hits. Hunting season starts today! We want to remind everyone to be safe, be respectful, and be prepared as you venture out into the great outdoors in search of whatever it is you’re searching for!

Rockfish

This is the time of year where topwater in the Bay is really good in many places. One of the more productive topwater areas is in the northern part of the Chesapeake Bay between Port Deposit and Deer Creek. Another great spot is on the channel edges in the Susquehanna Flats. Early morning is the best time to head out and target breaking fish using either a plug or a Smack-It. Moving further south in the bay near the mouth of the Patapsco River and that area we’ve found fish on topwater later in the day around the Francis Scott Key Bridge and North Point State Park. Even all the way up near the Inner Harbor and as far south as Gibson Island near the mouth of the Magothy River.

Trolling these same areas shortly after sunrise has produced some decent keepers as well. We’re hearing that small bucktails with Otter Tail trailers or small spoons have been catching fish. Another good thing to troll is the Purple or Blue surgical hoses. We have plenty in stock. The benefit to using these while trolling is that Bluefish won’t rip any of your gear up! Chumming and Live-lining have worked well around the Key Bridge Pilings, Podickory Point and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge pilings. We’re hearing that jigging has been working well around the Bay Bridge, Love Point, and further south around the mouth of the Eastern Bay.

Some other good areas to focus on are Poplar Island, Thomas Point Lighthouse and Sharps Island. The Spanish Mackerel bite has been steady in these areas as well. Trolling spoons on size 1 or 2 planers on the channel ledges and around buoy 72 and 72a has produced nice fish. Outside of Chesapeake Beach and the Deale area have seen some schools of Spanish Mack. We’ve also seen some nice Cobia being caught near the target ships by drifting live eel or jigging eel imitation lures.

White Perch

One of the best areas we’ve seen over the past week has been the pilings under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Jigging Perch Darts or fishing the bottom with Razor Clam or Soft Crab has been great. In shallow water nearly everywhere we’re using Capt. Berts Perch Pounders and Super Rooster Tails in Chartreuse and Silver. We’re seeing plenty of fish being caught off Sandy Point, Matapeake Pier and around the Narrows as well. Jonas Green Park around the rock jetty has produced plenty of White Perch recently.

Crabs

As we move into fall we start to see the crabs really fatten up as they prepare for their winter in the mud. They don’t hibernate but they do stay very dormant buried up to their eyes in the bottom. This is the best season for crabbing as we see the smalls go through their slough and nearly every crab is heavy! Key areas are 4′-8′ of water on a moving tide. You can use Chicken Necks, Razor Clams and frozen LY or cut up fish like Spot or Perch.