Sign up to receive our weekly fishing reports
emailed to your inbox every Friday.
Sign up to receive our weekly fishing reports
Fishing Reports
Weekly fishing reports for the Chesapeake Bay and Mid-Atlantic and surrounding region. If you would like to be notified via e-mail when our weekly fishing reports are updated, click here to sign up.
FishTalk fishing reports are presented by Anchor Boats, Brown Dog Marine, CCA MD, Riverside Marine, Suzuki Marine, and Tri-State-Marine
Coastal Mid-Atlantic Fishing Report, March 20 Update:
Instead of going fishing one day last week, Capt. Monty of Morning Star fame reports assisting with a beautiful reef deployment off Ocean City, sending a steel Navy boat to the bottom for the Diane Olenginski Memorial Reef. The boat was stacked with pipe and block, providing tons of nooks and crannies for growth to appear. Remember that the OC Reef Foundation keeps charts—with numbers—on all their deployments, and a $50 donation gets you a… Read more from Coastal...
Freshwater Fishing Report, March 20 Update:
The warmer days are beginning to outnumber the colder days as spring continues to march on. Youth trout day is this Saturday, March 21st in Maryland. This is a great opportunity to get kids out for an improved chance to catch some fish. All waters designated as closure one are closed from March 8th to March 28th but are open for kids to fish on youth day. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources stated that all the closure one areas will be… Read more from Freshwater...
Way North Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 20 Update:
The Way North region has been experiencing muddy water conditions and floating debris due to releases from the Conowingo Dam. It has been a few days since our last rain event and conditions are beginning to improve on the water, but it will take more time to clean up. Murky water conditions make fishing for several species tough. Anglers looking to fish for yellow perch should be able to find them in the surrounding tidal rivers such as… Read more from Way North...
Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 20 Update:
As water temperatures rise, striped bass are beginning to move up the Chesapeake Bay towards their spawning grounds. This will provide catch and release opportunities this spring in the Upper Bay. The way things look right now, it appears that April will be open for catch and release fishing in certain areas this year. The Upper Bay striped bass regulations for catch and release can be a bit confusing. In March and April, some areas are… Read more from Upper Bay...
Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 20 Update:
Water temperatures on the main stem of the Bay are on the rise as we anticipate the start of the striped bass migration. Main stem temperatures on the west side are in the low to mid 40s, while on the east side they are closer to the 50-degree mark. The Eastern Shore always warms up quicker, and fish will often gravitate to those warmer waters. We didn’t have any readers check in with striper reports this week, but the Eastern Shore… Read more from Middle Bay...
Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 20 Update:
The spring runs are moving right along as the yellow perch run winds down, others are starting up. Contributor Eric Packard paid a visit to Mason Springs looking for shad, but only found a few mostly small male yellow perch. Other anglers on-site reported the same, with small fish present but only a couple of keeper-sized fish showing up. The water was high and muddy from the rain early this week, but it should have settled out by the… Read more from Lower Bay...
Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore Fishing Report, March 20 Update:
The white perch run is heating up, and we have a few reports of fish pushing up the Pocomoke River. We don’t have any confirmed reports from the Wicomico or Nanticoke, but the perch should be starting to push into those rivers as well. Bottom rigs tipped with minnows, grass shrimp, or bloodworms is a great strategy for targeting white perch during the spring run. Smaller male white perch usually make up the bulk of the catch… Read more from Tangier and Lower Shore...
Way South Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, March 20 Update:
The first few flounder of the year were caught along the Eastern Shore of Virginia this week, so it appears that the flatties are beginning to move inshore. As water temperatures continue to warm up, the creeks around Fisherman Island and the ledges along the mouth of the Bay are great places to target flounder in the spring. Flounder will also move in around the islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. As the flounder move inshore… Read more from Way South...