Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, August 7 Update:
The Lower Bay is offering some of the most diverse action on the Chesapeake, with bull red drum, bluefish, Spanish mackerel, cobia, and speckled trout all available. Bull reds are roaming channel edges and shoals, while bluefish and mackerel are providing dependable trolling opportunities around Smith Point, Windmill Point, and the Target Ship. Cobia reports remain inconsistent, but anglers are hoping for a stronger late-summer push over the next few weeks.
A subscriber trolling hoses and spoons south of the Targets in hopes of locating blues and mackerel reported an excellent surprise, reeling in a monster redfish. He said the fish came from a huge school he spotted after seeing some birds that gave away the fish’s location. These reds have been encountered in several areas of the Lower Bay from the mouth of the Potomac River down to Cape Charles but finding them can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. It takes a bit of luck, but they tend to cruise around depths of 25 to 50 feet of water along channel edges and shoal areas. When searching for the reds in open water, side scan is an essential piece of equipment to have on your boat. That way you can cover large areas of water. These bull reds will stay in open water throughout August, but once September rolls around, they will start to return to the shallows before leaving the Bay later in the fall. The shallow marshes on the Eastern Shore are where they tend to go when they move to shallower water, but the bulls can also be caught in the shallows around the mouths of the western shore tidal rivers in the fall as well.
The Tackle Box reports that some speckled trout are still being caught around the mouth of the Potomac River. There should also be a few specks around the shallows of the St. Mary’s River and the Virginia tidal rivers. The bite has been slow this year, but the ones being caught are on the larger side, with most around 20 inches or larger. We also had a report from an angler on the Rappahannock who said the speck fishing has been very slow this year, but within the past two weeks the bite has picked up and fish have been willing to hit topwater lures over grass beds in the mornings and evenings. Along with the specks, puppy drum reports have been slim to none this year, but August through October is when they tend to show up in better numbers, so keep an eye out for them to make an appearance over the next few months.
Bluefish and Spanish mackerel are providing plenty of opportunities for boats trolling spoons and surgical tubes. Smith Point, Windmill Point, and the lumps around the Target Ship are hotspots. The better mackerel bite has been on the western shore side of the Bay along channel edges at depths of 25 to 40 feet of water. There is a little over a month left of cobia season on the Chesapeake Bay. Anglers should look for a push of fish over the next few weeks, but they are still being caught in the traditional zones around Windmill Point, Smith Point, and the Target Ship. Reports have not been great this year, but we are starting to get a few more reports of fish being caught on the troll using surgical eel lures. Unfortunately, we had reports of a bad red tide near the mouth of the Rappahannock this week that covered a large area of the Bay running across to the Eastern Shore. The red tide is caused when microscopic algae multiply and grow out of control. When they die off, it depletes the water of oxygen and can kill fish. Red tides make for very poor fishing conditions as fish often leave the area completely when this phenomenon is occurring.