Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 2 Update:
The storm may have kept boats off the water, but the dramatic change in conditions appears to have done the fishery some favors. Bait is moving, striped bass are feeding more actively, and surface action is becoming a much bigger part of the picture across the Middle Bay. Bottom fishing is still producing a mixed bag, while the crabbing remains surprisingly strong for early October.
The Angler in Chief says the storm last weekend and an accompanying drop in water temps really seemed to light off the fish, at least in the South River/Thomas Point area. Peanut bunker are on the move and were swarming in the creek mouths of the lower South early this week, and several evenings he saw rockfish sporadically break water in them. Some of the rock were big, too, and he pulled one pushing close to 26” out of the frenzies. A small topwater chugger worked well when the fish were visibly attacking, and paddletails worked better when the fish were acting more mellow. Rockfish were also hitting at Thomas Point Shoal, including slots and some over-slot fish, although there have also been a larger number of sublegal fish on the shoal.
Reports Editor Dillon Waters also made it out after the storm and found that water temperatures had dropped around 10 degrees from just a few days prior. The water also seemed to clean up quite a bit. After searching a few shallow water spots without any bites, he found a school of rockfish hanging around a rock jetty that were eager to hit topwater. He pulled around half a dozen slot-sized fish from the area and missed several other fish before the action died out. After that, he ran down towards Herring Bay where he came across a large group of birds working some bait balls. After moving in closer to investigate, rockfish started erupting all around the boat. The meter was lit up with fish and for the next 20 minutes the fish would come up and go down, but the birds gave up their location. After a while, surface activity stopped, but he was able to side scan through the area located the schools in five to 10 feet of water. Most of the fish were slot-sized, but a few were over as well. Topwater lures and three-inch paddletails both caught equally well.
The AIC also tried some “fun fishing” in the river, casting small shad darts tipped with grass shrimp in search of oddball species in the shallows and around Ramsay Lake. Most of the action came from spot, some big enough to eat, and he also caught a rare unicorn South River white perch topping 13”. The Tackle Box reports that the bottom fishing in the lower Patuxent River is still going strong after the storm. Anglers fishing aboard some of the charter boats boxed croaker, spot, small bluefish, and even some keeper weakfish this week. These fish should stick around for a few more weeks, but once water temperatures drop below 60, they will head south for the colder months.
Crabbing Report: The AIC says crabbing is still going strong on the South River, and despite battling extremely windy conditions, he managed to put three dozen chunky crabs in the basket last weekend. They were in 10’ of water and the ratio of throwbacks to keepers was much better than it’s been in recent weeks.