Image Left: Anglers Pro Staffer Kyle with a Crappie he caught in Arnold with a Smallie Smasher on a dropshot!
Image Right: Anglers Pro Staffer AJ caught a Largemouth Bass at Tuckahoe with a Firefly Jig under a Bobber!
Hello Fellow Anglers, it’s time for our weekly fishing report!
Upper and Middle Bay
Perch, catfish, and some pickerel are being caught in all the rivers on both sides of the bay. Catfish are being caught in the bay proper as well. We’ve had some great reports coming out of Sandy Point Park and the fishing piers at Matapeake and Romancoke. Cut bait is the best way to target the catfish in these areas, with fresh or frozen Alewife (Bunker) and fresh bait shrimp being the top bait choices. Fish the cut bait on the bottom with a standard fish finder rig and a #6 or larger circle hook. Some of the blue catfish are huge, 15lbs and larger! There are still some late spawning white perch in the upper parts of the rivers, but most are moving to deeper waters in the middle parts of the rivers. Fishing on the bottom with standard top and bottom rigs and bloodworms or Sabiki rigs tipped with bloodworms are great choices to target the white perch. Some good catches of flathead catfish have been reported at the Conowingo dam on chicken liver. Hickory and American shad continue their run. Some Anglers’ employees have had great success fishing for shad at Fletcher’s Bout House in the Potomac and at Red Bridges. Rigging small jig heads (1/8oz – 1/4oz) in tandem with a small soft plastic like the small Bust’Em Baits work perfectly for the shad. Simply cast out and slowly jig. Largemouth Bass are pre-spawn and can be found in more shallow, warmer waters in the upper portions of the rivers.
South
Like the upper bay, catfish are everywhere in the lower part of the bay. Use the same techniques listed above to target these fish. Some charter captains are having success jigging for catfish with standard Rockfish jigs! Some early Red Drum are being caught around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Live bait (hard crabs) is the best way to target these early fish. You can also jig these fish up with larger profiled plastics, 7” and up.
Crabbing
It’s still very early into the crabbing season and we have not heard much so far. There have been some updates for the 2023 season. Be sure to check out the new crabbing regulations: https://www.eregulations.com/maryland…
Coastal
Assateague – Black drum and skates in the surf. Shrimp and crabs are working well.
OC inlet and the surrounding bridges – Keeper sized Tautog! Sand fleas are working well.