Rockfish

Chumming

Over the last week the chum bite has been producing some good sized fish north of the bridge at Podickory Point and further north to Belvedere Shoals. There are reports of success in anywhere from 18 to 25 feet of water at the start of an incoming tide. Taking things south of the bridge, people have been doing well off Tolly Point in 23 to 28 feet of water.  Plus a good grade of fish off Dolly’s Lump in 25 feet of water. The bridge has had a good live-lining bite this week. Live-lining Spot has been good at Podickory, Love and Hacketts Points as well.

Light Tackle Casting

As we enter the fall season, the light tackle game is going to come on strong. Casting topwater lures in the early morning hours will be great in shallow ambush areas like the rock piles under the Bay Bridge, points and coves with good structure and around breaking fish in open water. We just got a new shipment of Smack-it Jr.’s in so be sure to swing in and grab some of them before they’re all gone again!

A new shipment of Stillwater Lures Smack-it Jr.’s just hit the shop. Be sure to swing in soon to grab yours! They never last long!

Anglers casting jigs or swimbaits in the tidal creeks are landing a surplus of throwback sized Rockfish. Casting around docks, pilings and rip-rap earlier in the morning or later in the evening has been the best times but many fish have been caught in the middle of the day also. Popular colors have been white, chartreuse and a natural color like alewife or bunker.

Eric Packard got into some schoolie sized Rockfish throwing White Swimbaits and BKDs on skirted Jigs! Nice work Eric!

Trolling

Trollers up and down the Bay have been doing well by the channel edges with Clark spoons and Drone spoons on number 2 planers as well as Purple and Blue surgical hoses.

We have a wide selection of surgical hoses but Purple and Blue have been hot this week!

Jigging the bridge this past week has been decent early in the am. We’ve seen breakers galore off the rock piles as well as north of the bridge in the main channel. Mostly on stingsilvers, p-lines, bucktails, pretty much anything with a hook you can toss in the middle of them. There has been a decent number of fish down south off Gum Thickets and old 86 at Bloody Point.

Some of our Sting Silver lures which are great for Jigging up Bluefish or Rockfish!

Another bonus this time of the year is there isn’t a reason to leave the rivers. Both the Severn and Magothy have been giving up decent sized fish being caught on soft plastics (Bass Assassins, BKDs, Zooms, etc.) working channel edges, grass beds, and oyster reefs. The top water bite has turned off a little bit the past few days but is still going on in the shallows around Mountain, Hacketts, and Greenbury Point.

Bluefish

There are still some pesky chompers hanging around in the upper bay area. Most are being caught in and around breakers north and south of the bridge. Nothing of substantial size to speak of but plenty can be found throwing Hopkins, Kastmasters, and Sting Silvers. Bait wise look for ledges south of the bridge from about Thomas Point south and use cut up alewives, fresh spot, perch, etc.

Spanish Mackerel

Pro Staffer Mike Fiore landed some nice Spanish Macks this week burning the G-Eye Jigs Rain Minnow. Delicious!

Thomas Point and south has been hot folks! From Thomas Point all the way down to Solomon’s Island there has been a “red hot mack attack” this past week. Although some will always be caught in the mix of breakers, the most effective way to catch these guys has been small spoons on planers trolling 6 to 8 knots around big knots of bait.

Red Drum

Further south is where we hear more and more reports of the old’ spot-tailed bass. The school of giants down around the Choptank has since dissipated.  But there are reports of puppy drum showing up in the shallows around Poplar Island as well as Hoopers Island, Tar Bay, and the Airplane wreck. Most have been caught jigging with 5 to 7 inch Bass Assassins and Bust ‘Em baits.

White Perch

The perch bite is still hot folks! All the major creeks and rivers are hoping. Anglers armed with spinners, darts, spoons, rattletraps, and our favorite Perch Pounders have still been producing healthy fat Perch. The Bay Bridge has also had a fairly decent bite on a few pilings with soft crabs and bloodworms yielding fish upwards of 13.5″.

One of the best lures we carry for catching Perch! It’s such a good lure, it also catches smaller Rockfish, Catfish and we’ve even heard Flounder!

Spot

The spot have been a mystery fish this year but they are still around and are being caught on the typical oyster and clam beds here and there with bloodworms and razor clams. Though it’s been hard to find small spot to live line with bottom fishermen can still have a ball catching some pan sized spot. Thomas Point has had a good bite as well as Dolly’s Lump in 10 to 14 feet of water.

Channel Catfish

Yes they are still here, and we’ve seen more and more since the dams opened up north. If you have some free time, head out in 10′ of water with some fresh alewives, clam snouts or razor clams and have a blast. Look to target the mouths of the tidal rivers and also in the rivers on a good transitioning tide. Use a bottom rig and a 1oz. sinker and you’ll catch plenty!

Coastal Fishing

Lots of action on the coast this past week. Anglers are catching a mix of Puppy Drum, Flounder, Bluefish, Spot and Croaker out of the Surf. Casting cut bait like Bunker, Squid or Sandfleas will catch you a mix of stuff. Cut mullet will work for the Flounder. Gulp mullet also works really well for Flounder. Casting larger chunks of cut bait further out into the surf will also land you some small Sandbar Sharks, if you’re into that kind of stuff!

12 year old Jonathan landed and tagged a bunch of Sandbar Sharks this past week! Not a bad way to spend the last weekend before school started! Way to go Jonathan!

Allison and Taryn landed some nice Flounder fishing Gulp Mullet and Minnow combos around Assateague Island this past weekend! Nice little meal there ladies!

Show Us What You Caught!

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