Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report November 16, 2015
Striped Bass
Well, the fall pattern continues to cruise through this week, and we are getting more and more reports of fish over 28 inches being caught all over the place. While most of these fish are on the move out of the rivers and staging to head to their wintering grounds the mouths of the rivers have been red hot!
Particularly the Magothy River as light tackle jigging and trolling have been extremely useful in 30 to 35 feet of water as schools of hefty fat fall stripers have been moving through. If you want to try your hand at some light tackle jigging, grab some 3/4 oz Mission Fishin or Hard Head Custom Baits jig heads in candy corn or chartreuse. Use these along with some 7-inch bass assassins and Bust ‘Em Baits in a vibrant color. Mark your fish, set a drift, and go at it!
Numerous fish 34 inches and up to 38 inches have been caught locally from Podickory Point down to Dolly’s Lump, even as far south as Thomas Point. Even though the water temperature is dropping and we are experiencing colder fronts, it is still unseasonably warm. This means the migratory stripers are just now moving south from Jersey. While the hope is that we will see some cows within the next week unless a severe cold front comes through up north pushing bait south, don’t expect a 50 incher just yet! Although anything’s possible!
As far as trolling goes, small boat spreads of six to nine rods have been killing it either trolling white double drop umbrellas six to eight bars back on anywhere from 8 to 12 oz of lead or 6” tandems on light lead 12-16 bars back. Same general areas as far as where to go, look for channel edges around the mouths of rivers or if its calm enough to see breaking fish just look for birds. Down to the Bay Bridge again with jigging, there is ALWAYS fish around the Bridge throughout the year with some bigger fish in the mid 30’s being pulled off around the eastern rock pile and pilings in deeper water 35 to 45 feet. As far as a chum bite goes, it remains constant as it usually does throughout the year. The only problem you may find is finding some alewive, but if you do, set up in about 30 feet of water around Hackett’s or Tolly’s off a ledge on a good Ebb tide, crack a beer, and enjoy!
White Perch
The rivers are still holding some hefty white perch. A good chart and depth finder to show you where the oyster reefs or hard bottom is can be key to getting on top of these fish. Having said that, 25 to 28 feet of water on hard bottom using sting silvers bouncing bottom, or 3 inch Berkley gulp minnows on a bottom rig or a drop shot more or less is producing some decent fish on up to 14 inches. Or, if you don’t want to fool with artificial baits, and just want to take the kids out, bottom fishing for a bit, grab some bloodworms, razor clams, or frozen peelers, drop an ounce of weight on a bottom rig with number 6 hooks and anchor up on the same reefs.
Pickerel
This is the time of year for pickerel as the white perch have moved out of the shallows leaving nothing but pickerel to be the top dogs around grass beds, jetties, and so forth. Mepps spinners, Rooster Tails, Captain Bert’s Perch Pounders and Dare Devil spoons are a sure fire way to have some light tackle fun in the creeks. Just be aware they are not a schooling fish, meaning where you catch one, there may not be another one around for quite a ways. So, if you got a trolling motor or a quiet motor to navigate in and around creeks you are in the money!
In the meantime and as always, tight lines,
Capt. Avedon
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