Way North Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, February 2022

Way North Chesapeake Fishing Report, February 25 Update:

Norther waters were hopping this week, with solid reports from both perch-jerkers and catfish anglers. Yellow perch were taking minnow and small jigs near the docks in Perryville, with boat anglers doing the best. Herb’s echoed this, mentioning Perryville as the standout location over the past several weeks. The catfish action was rather stellar in the river, where both shoreline and boat anglers targeting catfish enjoyed nonstop bites. In fact, Seth checked in with a rather epic 55-fish catch, a mix of blues and channels on cut bait and worms fished on bottom rigs, while casting from the shoreline. WTG, Seth!

susquehanna catfish
Seth cranked up cats one after another on the Susky this week - sweet!

Reports from the Flats, the Dam pool, and other nearby areas are relatively scarce right now, with most attention focused on the perch. Anglers hitting these areas are primarily doing so for the cats. The reports we have had from catfish anglers who’ve stuck at them are good, with steady biting this winter and some hefty fish showing up. There’s no such thing as a sure thing in fishing, but this option gets close!

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Way North Chesapeake Fishing Report, February 18 Update:

Yellow perch remain center stage throughout the Susquehanna and northern tributaries, although the bite began to drop off a bit this week. A few readers checked in to let us know that anglers cruising creeks are generally able to pick up fish throughout the day, even if some have been slow. Perryville remains a common destination for perch-hopefulls, as in past seasons, with water quality improving after some turbulent times last week. Most guys are dropping down small minnows or little jigs to tempt them and one angler reported casting small jigs but switching to minnow when his better half started out-catching him on them. Regardless of where you’re fishing, the perch have been holding deep. In the tribs, it’s been difficult to locate hotspots that the fish are sticking to from day to day, quite possibly because the extreme fluctuations in pressure and temperature we’ve been having are causing the fish to be a bit sporadic in feeding and location. We’re curious to see what the past few days of warm weather will do!

caught yellow perch from a pier
Nice yellow perch, Cindy!

Catfish remain reliable and aren’t finicky with what they’ll eat. Clam snouts, menhaden, and chicken liver are all favorites to fish for them with.


Way North Chesapeake Fishing Report, February 11 Update:

The weather is chilly and pickings are slim, but where possible, anglers are putting in the work to land a few fish when conditions are right. Unfortunately conditions definitely were not right recently and as of mid-week readers were reporting muddy water in the lower Susquehanna and an absence of bites. Early to mid-week we had reports of lockjawed fish from elsewhere in the region, too, so the front that pushed through might have shut the fish off for a bit. Hopefully, by now the waters are clearing and the bite is improving; the Perryville zone should be a good bet for perch and catfish potential should be anywhere there’s deep water throughout the zone.

flow at conowingo dam
The recent storms have riled the Susquehanna's waters a bit and muddy water was reported this week, but it's on the way to settling back down. Graphic courtesy of the USGS

Way North Chesapeake Fishing Report, February 4 Update:

Readers are reporting that the yellow perch are biting in the general Perryville area, and although there's a good number of small males, the throwback-to-keeper ratio is running around three to one so filling a bucket with dinner fish is very doable. Minnows are ranked top bait but anglers using plastics, small jigs, and night crawlers were catching, as well. We also heard that some of the perch are still really deep, in 45-plus feet of water, but anglers are finding them in shallower areas as well. One day mid-week before the rain pushed through there were about 10 boats out (dodging ice floes here and there) during the relatively warm afternoon hours and hopefully the water won't be impacted too much by runoff and anglers will be able to enjoy more winter perch-jerking.

perch at perryville
David culled through the little guys to put together a nice yellow perch dinner this week.

With most of the attention on the yellow perch bite, the channels in the river and around the Flats are also holding catfish. Although reports coming in this week were a bit more sluggish than last, the bite has held up well throughout the season and is providing good winter fishing for anglers who don’t want to travel very far from home. Letting cut baits sit on bottom is the way to get them to hit.