It’s been an exciting week in the world of fishing. Stripers are a plenty and at this point from the fish we are seeing are about half post spawn and half still with eggs so from a conservation standpoint, it’s exciting to see fish actually having a chance to run up the rivers and lay eggs for future generations. Many of the Stripers we are seeing from the Annapolis area are predominantly being caught chumming around the major mouths of the rivers in 35-40’ of water (Hackett’s, Dolly’s, Tolly’s, Podickory, Love, etc.). the good news about this is for those who don’t want to drag baits but essentially bottom fish can do so from just about any boat on a 4-8 rod spread. Just grab a bucket of chum and a few bags of fresh alewives, find a spot you like and set the anchor. We’ve had more and more citations come through the shop the past few days chumming than I’ve personally seen in a long time including one fish that weighed 45.5 pounds caught on a medium action rod with 10-pound power pro. You want to talk about a fun fight, well there you go.
Short of chumming there is still some fish to be caught on warm water discharges north and south as well as bridges and other structure points up and down the bay, however with the water warming up quickly with the weather we have been having it is likely to fade off and start a late spring pattern as these fish get done their annual spawn run.
On the trolling side of things, it has been fair to midland around Annapolis and north, while boats are still catching fish it has been an early morning bite. Whether that’s due to temperature, moon phase, I don’t know but if one thing has been consistent it has been depths of 30-45’ of water and a very early bite so if you want to save yourself some time and money on fuel, bite the bullet, wake up a little earlier then you expected, drop the boards in and get it done before 8. While the afternoon has yielded some good fish, the morning has been the time to go. Brick House, Bloody, and Love, all the usual suspects along the eastern edge have been producing fish but as I stated, the MORNING has been better. Moving south around Eastern Bay, the Chop tank, Deale, it has been a damn good bite but the same thing applies. It has been early. The guys I’ve been talking to who have been running out and fishing around 11 or so have not been doing anything near as productive as the early bite but consistent patterns have been 30-45’ for the most part. All the “deep” guys have been picking away at fish in 80-100’ of water in the main channel but working the western flats or running up and down the eastern ledge has been a lot more productive yielding fish up to 50” with reports of even a few 55 pounders caught south out of Solomon’s.
As far as any other reports I can give you, there are plenty of white perch still to be caught in holes in the mouths of the rivers anywhere from 15-25’ of water on hard bottom staging up to move into the shallows over the next few weeks. The shad run down in DC remains strong as well as rivers on the eastern shore (Tuckahoe, chop tank, etc.). grab your ultralight and some shad darts or small spoons and go have a ball. Seems like fewer and fewer fisherman mess with shad every year and I have no idea why. Catching a 2-3-pound hickory shad in rivers 20 yards wide is probably some of the most fun you can have so when the winds blowing too much to take your boat out, break out the wader’s head down to the Tuckahoe or chop tank or Fletchers and go catch fish. It is truly a fun sport I promise you, if you can’t enjoy catching hickory shad you should take up golf! In other news, the channel cat bite is good as always along the rivers (Severn, Magothy, Chester, Chop tank, etc.). Break out the clam snouts and peeler crabs or alewives and have a ball. Other than that, that’s all I got for you this week guys. As always, stay safe and tight lines.
Sincerely,
Capt. Avedon