The Anglers Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report has ARRIVED!

Upper and Middle Bay

  • Spot are regularly showing up all over the bay now. Anglers at Sandy Point and around the Bay Bridge are reporting especially high numbers of Spot as well as White Perch! Anglers are catching them with simple bottom rigs rigged with Bloodworms or Lugworms.
  • The White Perch are fully moved into their regular summer spots. You can find them in deeper water during the day, and more shallow water towards the evening. Anglers are reporting success with small spinners around structure for the evenings, and bottom rigs tipped with Bloodworms or Lugworms for the deeper Perch.
  • Sandy Point continues to be a favored hot spot when it comes to fishing for Perch, Spot and Catfish. Anglers are finding great success using cut Alewife for targeting Catfish. Other alternative baits would include Soft Crab, or Bloodworms. Areas like the upper Susquehanna around the Conowingo Dam is also packed full of Blue Cats and a decent amount of Snakehead as well!
  • Anglers are reporting that the Striped Bass bite is especially tough, however live lining spot around channel edges as well as jigging with soft plastics seems to be the most successful currently. Captain Travis of Schooled Up Fishing Charters says the fishing in the shallow water inside rivers early in the morning is a very effective way to get on some Rockfish!

South Bay

  • Captain LJ of G-Eye Jigs says Sea Trout and Bluefish are starting to show up in decent numbers in the southern part of the bay. Anglers are reporting great success using Jigs with Paddletails or Gotcha plugs!
  • White Perch and Spot are being found all around the South Bay, mixed in with one another. Anywhere with structure, and a depth of around 10-15 feet will be full of them. Towards the evening Anglers are finding the best success fishing around more shallow waters with spinners and shad darts!
  • The Potomac and the Wicomico rivers are continuing to be great spots for catching Blue Catfish. Anglers are reporting great success with the usual cut Alewife, soft crabs, or even jigs with plastics! Hotspots like Fletcher’s Cove is absolutely full of Blue Cats that range anywhere from 10 to 50 pounds! Remember that Blue Catfish are invasive and don’t have a size restriction or a creel limit!
  • The Bay Bridge Tunnel is a great place to start if you’re looking for Blackdrum. Anglers are having a ton of luck drifting Soft Crabs!

Additional Information

  • Crabbing is really picking up with the warming of the water! Most Crabbers are finding success with Chicken Necks and Razor clams in 5 to 8 feet of water! The Rivers of the bay continue to pick up in productivity for crabbing! Just keep in mind that Crabbers with a recreational license may only keep 1 bushel regardless of how many licensed crabbers are on the boat for recreational crabbing.

See you next week Anglers!