Cover Image: Anglers employee Aidan has been enjoying winter bass fishing, catching on a Evergreen swim jig paired with a 4.8″ Keitech swing impact fat in electric shad! Anglers employee Ryan went to Ocean City for some early season tautog fishing, catching on a tautog jig with shrimp.
Rockfish: There are schools of nice sized fish, up to 40 plus inches, all over the main bay from the bay bridge down to Virginia waters. These fish are moving and preparing to spawn, so you will need to put in some time to find them. Use your electronics and scan channel ledges and the mouths of the rivers. These fish are feeding on large schools of bait, so look for the bait to find the fish. Metal jigs and flutter spoons are both working particularly well right now, but you can also use larger profile 7-8 inch plastics on 1 or 1.5 oz jig heads. The best bite right now seems to be on an outgoing tide.
Trolling is also a great option right now. Try trolling a 9 and 13 oz tandem with 9 inch plastics. Fish are in deep water, but will most likely be suspended.
Perch: Both Yellow perch and white perch are being caught in creeks all over the area. Try the upper Severn, Magothy, Choptank, Nanticoke and Tuckahoe Creek. The typical tactics like a minnow under a bobber or a 1/32 oz feather jig are working well. Schools of pre and post spawn fish are moving in and out of the creeks, so it might take time to find them. Just because they aren’t in one particular spot on day, doesn’t mean that they won’t be there the next day!
Pickerel: It’s still a great time of year to fish the upper rivers and creeks for pickerel. Warmer water temperatures mean that fish are more active, so you can work your paddletails a little more quickly (try a Z-man Willow VibeZ jig head for added vibration through the water) and fish jerk baits!