Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, July 29 Update:
Anglers: with both sorrow and joy, we inform you of the departure of our Fishing Reports Editor Mollie Rudow. Mollie has begun a different chapter in her life with a new full-time job and will no longer be the driving force behind our angling intel. We wish her all the best, and thank her for four years of compiling the FishTalk fishing reports. We do have a new die-hard angler lined up to step in and fill the void – stay tuned for next week’s big announcement!
A reader checked in after fishing Harborton to say the bluefish, cutlass fish, and Spanish mackerel were all snapping last week on planers and bird lines pulled at seven to 10 knots. They also mentioned that there were plenty of sharks around. Sea Hawk has also been reporting Spanish and blues ranging from the Tangier down and is recommending using Clark spoons for them.
One reader checked in with a nice 23” speck caught in the shallows of the Curratuck on a MirroLure. Unfortunately, the news of redfish from the ESVA this week is bad news… The July 5 Omega fish spill left lines of dead bunker from the shores of Silver Beach down to Cape Charles, and this week they managed to cover the beaches not only with dead menhaden, but dead red drum as well. See Emergency Angler Alert: Dead Reds, Courtesy of Omega, for the full story – but prepare yourself to be depressed.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, July 21 Update:
There are still good numbers of speckled trout around to keep anglers busy, plus bluefish moved in recently. The speckled trout bite has been on the upswing despite the summer heat, with more fish reported throughout this week than the last few. The could be from increased pressure, but the fish coming in are hefty and hitting hard. Anglers cruising the cuts and coves of the Tangier and Pocomoke are finding them up in grassy and rocky areas, casting four-to-six-inch curly and paddle tail soft plastics. The specks are favoring white and pink soft plastics and often a little bit of sparkle will do you good!
Bluefish have been at the mouth of the Sounds and moving into them. Anglers trolling small spoons right in the channels are getting plenty of them. Generally, they’ve been between 14-and-16-inches, feisty and hitting hard.
The cobia bite this season hasn’t been excellent, but Sea Hawk reports that flounder are still making a strong showing in the coastal bays and area anglers continue to focus on them. Anglers drifting squid and shrimp strips or bouncing soft plastics off bottom are tempting them. The flounder have been present in really good numbers throughout this year, especially in VA inlets and bays.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, July 15 Update:
Rockfish Alert: Remember folks, at the end of the day today rockfish are closed in all Maryland water of the Bay through the end of the month. That means the entire Bay from headwaters to mouth is officially shut down for stripers. Not only can’t ya keep them, you can’t legally target them for catch and release, either.
Anglers fishing this zone have found some speckled trout have moved into deeper water, spreading them out a bit, so locating the specks may take a bit longer than in past weeks. But by all accounts, they’re around and ready to eat. Puppy drum are popping up on occasion, mostly in VA waters, but we had no substantial reports for them this week.
Flounder fishing has been really wonderful on the coast-side this season, and continues to pull area anglers in that direction. Although the storms this week produced some less-than-ideal conditions, anglers were able to persist bouncing soft plastics off bottom in the coastal bays.
Another reader fishing near Smith Island verified last week’s “bluefish, bluefish, bluefish” report from the area, after livelining spot, bringing back a bunch of spot that were chopped in half, and hooking up with a half-dozen keeper-sized bluefish.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, July 8 Update:
Stripers and specks are rewarding anglers fishing the shallows, casting paddle-tailed soft plastics with some sparkle and shine, though the trout have become a bit harder to find as summer’s settled in. The Electric Chicken color remains a fav, and white, pink, and chartreuse combos are also bringing in fish. One angler reported catching on root beer and salt n’ pepper lures when the water was a little riled up after the mid-week rain and winds. Poking around the shallows for weed beds and casting is the best strategy for slamming the specks which have recently been found around grassy edges. Generally, rockfish have been dinky little 14-to-16s, but there have been some fish in the upper teens and mid-twenties in the mix. Remember, this week is the last you can fish for rock in MD waters (VA is obviously already off-limits) until the season re-opens August 1.
Chris checked in from Smith Island and said the specks are more MIA in that area and most of the bites around there have been coming from snapper blues. We also heard from a reader fishing the ESVA who found some puppy drum including a couple of slot fish while casting paddle-tails and MirrOLures near creek mouths, and also reported plenty of snappers nipping off his tails.
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, July 1 Update:
Y’all know we love speckled trout here at FishTalk… it’s taking everything in us not to ditch the office and head for the Sounds right now. The reports from anglers who spent days casting the weedy shallows haven’t necessarily been incredible for consistency nor numbers, but we’re getting reports of NICE speckled trout, including fish ranging up to 25 inches — and they’re chunky. One reader who checked in with week had a crew of four that landed multiple specks between 18-and-24 inches throughout their day fishing. Like many other anglers, they reported a pretty good number of striped bass (more than the trout by three to one) mixed in with the specks. For both species, curly and paddle tailed white, pink, and sparkly soft plastics are doing the trick. Electric chicken is a consistent fave. If you’re hunting specifically for the bass, white seems to be the color to use. Throughout this season thus far, they’ve shown a strong preference for it.
A few slot redfish have also been popping up in the shallows but more are sub-legal, and Sea Hawk is reporting that the ESVA flounder bite on the seaside remains so hot that many anglers are still heading in that direction, plus one lucky angler picked up a nice redfish on the eastern side of the peninsula this week, too. Spot and small white perch are also being caught on hard bottoms in the Sounds.
Crabbing Report: We didn't hear from any crabbers in this zone this week, but in the Tangier and other Maryland waters, REMEMBER: New DNR regs limit recreational anglers to one bushel per boat per day, regardless of how many licensed crabbers are aboard. Current regs can be found here.