Cover Image: Left: Anglers employee had a great day running a trotline in the Magothy River! Right: Anglers employee Jack caught this snakehead in the Blackwater area using a white gambler swim bait!
Rockfish: Rockfish are spread out all over the bay and the bite has been pretty productive! There are some nice schools of fish north of bridge anywhere from Love Point up to Tolchester and Pooles Island. You will need to cover some ground to find them though, so trolling is a great option. Use smaller profile tandems and umbrellas! Jigging can work well too, but again the fish are spread out and moving a lot so you may need to try a couple of different spots to find them. Using live spot or soft crab around structure is also an option. South of the bridge, there are nice amounts of fish, mostly in shallow water near shoreline and structure. In these areas, 4-5 inch paddletails on 3/16, 1/4 or 1/2 oz jig heads will be your best bet!
Speckled Trout: Pushing a little further south in the bay from the mouth of Choptank down, there is a nice speckled trout bite! 3-4 inch paddletails on light jig heads will be the ticket here! Popping corks also work extremely well. Target rocky shorelines, points and shallow grass beds first thing in the morning, but as the day heats up, move out to secondary ledges.
Mackerel, Bluefish, Cobia and Redfish: The first reports of these fun summer species are starting to come from Maryland waters around Point Lookout! We hope to see them moving more towards our area within the next month!
White Perch: White perch fishing has finally started to pick up, and you can catch them in any of the main rivers both by bottom fishing in deeper water, and by casting spinners in shallow water along shorelines and structure. In the main bay, there are some big perch in shallow water that can be caught using 3-4 inch paddletails!
Snakehead: Snakehead fishing has also picked up! Use topwater frogs in the early morning and late evening, and chatterbaits or swimbaits during warmer part of the afternoon in westershore rivers such as the Magothy, Patapsco or Severn, or around Blackwater refuge and it’s tributaries.