Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 2 Update:
The Lower Bay continues to offer outstanding summer fishing with improving cobia action, abundant bluefish, and excellent bottom fishing opportunities. Striped bass are feeding during low-light periods, while spot, croaker, and white perch are providing excellent action throughout the tidal rivers. Bull red drum and cobia remain headline species around the Target Ship and nearby shoals, giving anglers plenty of opportunities for memorable catches.
The Tackle Box reports that the rockfish bite is becoming more difficult in the rivers and creeks on the Potomac as water temperatures are in the low to mid 80s. Low light hours are the best time to catch rockfish feeding in the shallows. Several anglers have also checked in after successful night fishing trips fishing with baits such as alewife, clam, and peeler crabs. They also report that cobia are becoming more numerous in the Lower Bay from the Target Ship down to the Middle Grounds. Some reports of undersize cobia have also come in from the Point Lookout area. The best zones have been Windmill Point, Smith Point, and the lumps around the Target Ship, but be ready for a fleet of boats to be present at each location most days. These zones also offer some nice sized bluefish up to 30 inches. Trollers pulling hoses and spoons, along with boats chunking baits, are catching bluefish mostly from 16” to 24”.
FishTalk contributor Eric Packard checked in after a few trips on the Lower Bay this week. One trip at Piney Point produced striped bass and bluefish around the bridge. Packard caught them on ¼ ounce and ½ ounce jigs with pearl four-inch Bass Assassin plastics and chartreuse Gulp! jerk shads. Later in the morning, he went out to the docks on the Potomac side of St. Georges Island and caught a few very small stripers. Back at the ramp, he spoke to a kayak angler who caught his limit of spot using Fishbites. The kayaker also said he caught a very small red drum and heard of a slot puppy drum caught near Piney Point last week. On another trip, Packard headed down to Point Lookout where he couldn’t produce a bite. However, there were plenty of cownose rays around. That same day, he spoke to a few friends that caught 25” to 27” bluefish near St. Jerome Creek.
A subscriber checked in after an eventful overnight angling adventure at the Target Ship. They fished fresh cut alewife and caught a pile of bluefish ranging from snappers to choppers, plus a cobia (first-timer Ian from LA says “Yes—I love that!”). Spot and croaker were also around and willing to bite baits dropped to bottom. Another angler who visited the Target Ship during daylight reported that trolling hoses and spoonbrellas produced a half-dozen bluefish in the three- to five-pound range. Down in the Virginia tributaries, the white perch fishing has remained good in the Corrotoman, Rappahannock, and York Rivers. We also saw a few reports of small puppy drum in the 12” range being caught in a few locations, but each report was just one or two fish. Croaker and spot are abundant at the mouths of these rivers in 10’ to 20’. The croaker have been a mix of sizes ranging from 6” up to 12”. Most of the spot being caught are keeper size and should be jumbos by the end of summer.