Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, November 6 Update:
The Lower Bay is offering a variety of opportunities, with rockfish showing up around the Potomac and other tributaries, although finding consistent concentrations can require some searching. White perch are schooling around deeper holes and oyster bars, while speckled trout are adding to the mixed-bag opportunities farther south.
FishTalk contributor Eric Packard checked in with a few reports from the Lower Bay over the past week. On October 30th, he fished out of Piney Point and found slot-sized stripers biting on the St. George Creek side of the bridge. The fish were caught in 13’ of water on half-ounce jigheads paired with five-inch straight tail plastics in chartreuse. His big fish was 25”. A few days later, he fished the same zone but drew a blank without any bites. Later in the week, he was skunked again while fishing out of Point Lookout. He found plenty of bait in 25’ of water, but no fish around feeding on them. The Tackle Box reports that the big news from the Potomac has been a reliable white perch and rockfish bite. The perch are schooling up in deeper holes and around oyster bars. There are also a few straggler spot and spotted seatrout that you might run into. The rockfish bite has been somewhat inconsistent, but the fish are biting every day at some point. The bulk of the reports on the Potomac are coming from the vicinity of St. Clements Island, Cobb Island, and Ragged Point with bird shows leading the way. A reader fishing the Potomac near Coles Point said the rockfish took a bit of looking for, but the action was consistent for a lot of undersized rockfish and a few slot fish up to 24”. White paddletails worked best. Both trolling and jigging them were effective, and there were occasions when birds grouped up and gave away the fish’s location.
Down in Virginia waters, anglers are eagerly chasing after speckled trout in the western shore tidal rivers. The bulk of the action has been from the Corrotoman, Rappahannock, the Piankatank, and Mobjack Bay. Small speckled trout below 14” are still dominating the playing field, but we have also seen some gator trout in the mid 20” range caught over the past few weeks. Casting to shoreline points, around grass flats, and near docks with three-to-five-inch soft plastic paddletails is working well. The rockfish bite is also picking up in these same areas. Any shoreline structure with current in depths of four feet or more should be points of interest this time of year. There has also been some open water action for trollers working ledges on the main stem of the river from Waterview up to Wares Wharf. A kayak angler fishing the upper part of the river reported catching fish in 25’ to 30’ of water this week. They were light tackle jigging and caught a handful of slot-sized fish. Another angler fishing in the Corrotoman had a successful day targeting rockfish last week. They said the fish seemed to like larger paddletails and structure in around 10’ of water. They caught roughly two dozen schoolies ranging from 12” to 20”. They also caught around a dozen small speckled trout and two keepers around 15”. Specks will stick around this zone for a few more weeks, but dropping water temperatures will slowly push them south.