Spring is here! Let’s go fishing!

The season has changed and we’re all pretty anxious for trophy rockfish season to get here! Trophy season starts April 15th this year and we’re gearing up for it! We’re hosting a planer board trolling seminar tomorrow as well as a huge PENN sales event on April 1st & 2nd. We’re stocking all the best bait right now including fresh LY, bloodworms, grass shrimp and minnows. Over the past week we’ve seen a transition from the Yellow Perch spawn ending to the White Perch running hard as well as some nice catch & release Striper fishing going on!

Yellow/White Perch

The Yellow Perch spawn is over but the White Perch spawn is happening right now. You’ll catch a nice stringer full of White Perch in nearly all of the tidal rivers in the area, moving back into the backs of the rivers and creeks. Fishing with shad darts or small mylar jigs tipped with either live bait (minnows, grass shrimp or bloodworms) or artificial bait like Gulp! Alive will do the trick. Light tackle is all you’ll need, using 2-4lb fluorocarbon or monofilament and a light tackle rod/reel.

Shad/Herring

We’ve seen an increase in the Shad and Herring being caught over the last week and this will continue for the next couple weeks while their spawn run continues. You’ll target these fish in pretty much the same places as you’d target Perch which is in the backs of the creeks/rivers anywhere around here. Some popular spots lately have been Beachwood Park on the Magothy and Greensboro and Tuckahoe Creek on the eastern shore. To catch them, we’re using tandem shad dart/tony spoon rigs like the one you see here.

Tip these lures with some of their favorite live baits such as grass shrimp, blood worms or razor clams.

Rockfish

The past week has seen good numbers being caught as well as some good size. Areas that have been producing good numbers are warm water discharges as well as the mouths of the rivers where the Rockfish are staging up to prepare for their spawn. We’ve heard of some good sized fish being caught with blood worms and fish finder rigs off Sandy Point as well as Matapeake Pier.

Freshwater Fishing

Many of the reservoirs have opened up recently so there are nice opportunities to catch Largemouth, Northern Pike and some of those land-locked Striped Bass. You’ll be looking to use a variety of techniques including drop shotting, big swim baits and crank baits.

Stay tuned for the next report and tight lines!