We brought in LJ from G-Eye Jigs as a special guest for today’s fishing report! The cover image is from the last day of catch and release fishing before the April closure! He sure knows how to find the big ones!
Rockfish: We are all excited about opening day of Rockfish Trophy Season! Trolling is typically the most popular way to target Rockfish during Trophy Season, when the size limit is 35 inches or larger. You’ll want to use larger, 9 inch profile baits and parachutes to bulk up the profile even more. Parachutes can be rigged on an umbrella, or try a 4 oz and a 2 oz rigged in tandem. This time of year, the fish are typically in the upper part of the water column towards the surface, so you do not need to go too heavy with your trolling weight. When looking for areas to troll, start at the mouth of any of the rivers and zig zag your way across the channel from east to west so that you hit a variety of water depths. Trolling around Bloody Point and the mouth of Eastern Bay is also a good route to try. Trolling is, of course, not the only way to catch trophy rockfish! As LJ describes in the video, you can jig larger profile baits such as zman streakz XL, or Bust ‘Em Bait 7″ Fat Boys and jig in open water, using the trolling boats as your ally! They will push fish towards you! Chumming with fresh alewife at any of the points near mouths of rivers is also a good way to target trophy fish!
Catfish: Catfish are still all over the bay! Use cut alewife at the mouths of the rivers and points, or from any dock or beach! Powerbait and gulp catfish bait are great too and be kept in your tackle box!
Snakehead: Snakehead are interesting creatures! Some days they don’t want to bite, then other days they are all biting non stop! Whether it’s Blackwater, the Transquaking, the Patuxent or even the Severn or Magothy, you don’t know unless you try, and every day is different so don’t be afraid to try again! Our favorite lure to use right now is a chatterbait with a shorter style plastic swim bait for a trailer. Having a second rod rigged with a live minnow on a bobber is always good too.
White Perch: While the white perch are still mostly scattered in the rivers and creeks, we did get some good reports from Matapeake fishing pier using bloodworms earlier this week, so that is a good sign that they may be moving towards the mouths of the rivers and the main bay! We are now selling extra fresh bloodworms from the local “Bait Boyz” which will be perfect for targeting perch in deeper water!