Cover Image: Left: Silas lane and Conrad Maillard were fishing off Sandy Point over the weekend and landed two nice rockfish while live lining spot! Right: Matthew Culbertson caught and released this beautiful Red Drum near Taylors Island this weekend! He was trolling a spoon.
Right: There is a pretty solid rockfish bite all over the bay and in the rivers! The Bay Bridge Pilings, Sandy Point Lighthouse, Kent Narrows, Thomas Point and Poplar Island are some hot spots to try. Fishing with soft crab, live lining spot and jigging are all working well. Trolling also starts to pick up this time of year. Troll smaller profile tandems or spoons, and focus on the mouths of the rivers. Just inside the Chester river is also a good spot. Inside of the rivers there is a great top water bite in the early morning and late evening. Once you get past the early morning hours, you can switch to a sub surface bait like a an x-rap or a paddletail and still fish those points and rocky shorelines in the rivers! For shore fishing, we’re gotten good reports from Romancoke Pier using soft crab! Matapeake and Sandy Point should be good as well!
Perch/Croaker/Spot: Perch can still be caught in any of the rivers around docks using spinners or small rat-l-traps. You can also catch them along with spot and croaker in deeper water over hard bottom and oyster beds. They are always plentiful around the bay bridge and any of the light houses too! Soft crabs and razor clams have both been working well as bait.
Bluefish and Mackerel: Both can still be caught trolling or casting as far north as the mouth of the Severn! Of course the further south you go the better it will be. There are reports of BIG mackerel being caught down towards the target ship using metal jigs. Look for birds and breaking fish when casting, and reel as fast as you can. If you’re having trouble locating those breakers, trolling is a great way to cover some ground to find them! Use small spoons on #1 or #2 planers and troll 7-9 knots.
Redfish: Big bull reds are still being caught pretty consistently as far north as Taylors Island, with scattered reports of them being found even further north up to Eastern Bay. You’ll want to keep drum rods on the boat just in case any time you are fishing in that area! Have them rigged with 1 oz jig heads and zman Streakz XLs, and look for them on your side scan. You can also sometimes find schools of them breaking! If you don’t see them and want to cover some ground, troll large spoons on #2 or #3 planers.
Cobia: This is the last weekend to keep Cobia before the season closes next week! Most of the reports are pretty far south, but if you’re willing to make the run or the drive down to Solomons or Point Lookout, you might be rewarded! Trolling surgical hoses, sight casting jigs and bucktails and chunking fresh alewife are all working. Live eels work great for bait fishing too!