Weekly Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report

What a week it has been! We’ve seen monster Black Drum being caught north of the Bay Bridge, Rockfish hitting topwater all over and the big White Perch Open is THIS SUNDAY!! Weather wise, we are looking perfect for the entire weekend and we’re super excited for the 2nd annual White Perch Open. Registration for the tournament/fish fry ends Friday, August 18th at 10pm and you can register for it here: White Perch Open.

Rockfish

Fishing for rockfish in the upper bay area this past week has been pretty good. Seems as if the most success came from Live-lining spot in a few key areas. The Bay Bridge pilings, Podickory and Love Point were all on fire this week. If you’re in shallower water, don’t worry about adding weight to your rig. If you’re in 25′ or deeper water, look to add an ounce or two to get down to the better class of fish.

Chumming/chunking while fishing cut Alewife on the bottom did really well this week also. Some of the better spots this week were Hacketts, the mouth of the Eastern Bay and further south around Chesapeake Beach. Another great bait to use would be soft crab. If you’re not sure how to rig soft crab up, check out this video which shows you exactly how to do it!

Trolling this week has been decent. Some of the deeper drop-off along the shipping channel have been producing a nicer class of fish trolling 4″ storm shads in the silver color. If you’re trolling in the southern part of the bay, look to use clark or drone spoons to get into some Spanish Mackerel.

Drew Schmitt hauled in a 47″ 67.5lb Black Drum fishing frozen alewife on the bottom in the mouth of the Magothy River this week. We were all pretty amazed that he caught a Black Drum this far north in the bay and not to mention one that large! It took him a half hour and they had to cut the anchor line and follow the fish for nearly a mile to land it! All on a pre-rigged Shockwave combo with 15lb mono that they bought that day! What a catch!

Perch/Spot/Croaker/Bottom Fishing

We’re seeing more and more Spot and Croaker up in the upper bay region these past couple of weeks and this week is no different. Many customers are reporting good fishing at Jonas Green State Park, Sandy Point State Park as well as some of the hard or shell bottom areas like Hacketts and Love Point. They’re catching Spot and Croaker with Bloodworms and also catching a nice mix of White Perch with Razor Clams on top & bottom rigs. You can fish deeper water with the top & bottom rigs near the bridge pilings to get into a better class of fish. We’re seeing 10″ & 11″ Spot being caught near the Bay Bridge as well as some nice sized White Perch.

This Sunday is the White Perch Open Tournament and Fish Fry Party! It’s going to be a blast for the entire family and the party is taking place at Podickory Point Yacht Club at 2pm. Be sure to register by Friday at 10pm so you can enjoy the party as well!

Crabbing

This past week we’ve seen a better class of crab being caught and we’re pretty sure its going to continue to get better as the weeks roll on. The end of August and September we start to catch crabs that are all around 5.5″ and larger and definitely full of meat as they prepare for the long winter months. They’re are getting less pressure from crabbers as well as starting to fatten up so now is the time to get your traps out there and get after them!

You should look to use Razor Clams, Chicken Necks or Frozen Alewife as bait in your traps or on your handline. Also a key time to get out there would be on a moving tide. You’re not going to really catch anything if the tide isn’t moving. Target that 4′-10′ of water on a moving tide and have a ton of fun!