Freshwater Fishing Reports

Freshwater Fishing Report, April 17 Update:

The shad runs are still going strong in our region’s tidal rivers. Anglers are reporting success in the lower Susquehanna, Potomac, Rappahannock, and James Rivers. Low river flows from lack of rainfall have made the bite tough at times, but fishing in the mornings and evenings usually produces some bites. Near Fletcher’s Cove on the Potomac, we have reports of some American shad being caught closer to Chain Bridge along with plenty of hickory shad. The American shad have been holding deeper in the water column, so anglers may need to upsize their shad darts or spoon size. We had a report from just downriver on the Potomac. Dennis Fleming checked in after a day fishing several coves for crappie. He says that the crappie have completed their spawn in that area as most of the fish they caught were clearly post-spawn. His crew caught close to 20 crappie up to 14 inches, along with a big largemouth bass, three small blue catfish, and three small white perch. All fish were caught using spider rigs on 12 collapsible crappie rods. Each rod was rigged with two jigs each, with or without plastics, tipped with live minnows or Gulp! Minnows.

Contributor Eric Packard took a few freshwater trips this week. He spent one day fishing a southern Maryland pond, catching two largemouth bass and four crappie. The crappie were caught on a micro jig about 18-inches under a bobber near fallen trees. The bass were caught on a quarter ounce gold-colored perch hounder. Another day, he fished the Patuxent River looking for shad, but did not see any signs of them being present. He then moved to the ponds at Wootens Landing, where he only saw bluegill. No snakeheads in sight. A reader fly fishing in a local pond during the warmup early this week reported that the bluegill were fully awake for spring and biting strong. This should be the pattern in ponds across our region, so if you are looking for a kid-friendly fishing trip (or just want to get back to the roots of where many of us started our fishing journeys), head to a local pond for some fun panfish action.

The weather warmed up nicely this week with temperatures even reaching the 90s in some places. That doesn’t sound like trout weather, but there are still plenty of stocked fish available across the region. We had a reader check in after trout fishing the Patuxent River near Laurel earlier in the week. They caught seven trout on a mix of spinners and Berkley PowerBait Floating Mouse Tails. Six of the trout were under 12 inches, but one fish was a giant measuring over 19 inches and weighing just under three pounds. The western trout streams will also be a good option throughout the remainder of the spring. Mossy Creek Fly Fishing reports that water levels are low, so the dry fly fishing has been great. Fish are spooky in low and clear conditions, especially on bright sunny days. While fishing has been good pretty much all day with water temps favorable, anglers may start to find better action early and late during low light periods or overcast days until we get some rainfall to replenish water flow. They recommend fishing parachute style dries up in the mountains. Stimulators, caddis, humpy's, and wulff patterns are also working well and will help float nymphs if you are fishing a dry-dropper rig.

Freshwater Fishing Report, April 10 Update:

Contributor Eric Packard says the bite in the Pax remains strong north of Jug Bay. Bass were hitting a flat-side crayfish pattern crankbait and remained pinned in close to deadfall. Small brown underspin/twister tails drew strikes from a few crappie, white perch, and bluegills. He also mentioned seeing a pair of snakeheads and had his first hookup of the season with one, but it came unbuttoned. Mollie Rudow reported a strong bluegill bite at a Silver Spring lake, while fishing with corn. The intended target was carp, but she said the bluegill were extremely active with the warming weather and attacked the corn with abandon. Eric Packard also took a few shad trips earlier this week and reports that one day he started fishing at Governors Bridge on the Patuxent in search of American shad, but found no bites. He then drove to Mason Springs and headed up the creek to fish several holes where he caught 28 hickory shad and four dink largemouth bass. Packard has been catching fish on spin gear, casting chartreuse shad dart (various weights, water depth dependent) above a gold 000 Nungesser shad spoon. He has also cast a five weight fly rod with small chartreuse jigs, bead head nymph and orange colored flies in various tandem combinations. His largest shad this week was a Maryland citation-sized fish coming in at 18 and a half inches.

A reader fishing multiple southern Eastern Shore millponds, including Johnson’s and Smithville, says the bite’s been good for a mix of species including crappie, bass, pickerel, and sunfish. Minnow, jerkbaits, and under-spins with paddletails have all been effective. Crappie have been leading the charge, and he got one that hit the 14” mark. He also noted that the carp are spawning now and were rolling on the surface. Another reader hit Smithville Lake with 1/16 jig heads and 2" Powerbait minnows, and reports a near endless bite of quality panfish while slowly jigging on the bottom around the submerged structure. Crappie and bluegill were the fast takers, with bluegill holding closer to the lily pads and crappie sitting out a bit deeper. An 18" largemouth also joined in the fun. The AIC says the recent cold slowed down the action in the upper Patuxent. Midweek, he spotted just a single snakehead which was swimming lethargically and rejected 5" white flukes.  Even the largemouth bass had slowed things down, with only two taking the lures and one of them making repeated short-strikes before hitting for real. 

Freshwater Fishing Report, April 3 Update:

The shad have arrived to the rivers and will offer plenty of catch and release fishing opportunities over the next two months. A reader reported a mediocre shad bite on Mason Springs last weekend, catching seven hickories (plus a couple of herring and small yellow perch) in a few hours of afternoon fishing. He was using a silver spoon/white-pink-chartreuse dart and the dart was the hot ticket for the shad. Contributor Eric Packard had similar results at multiple spots looking for shad recently, with up-and-down action and seven or eight fish the norm. A small gold spoon drew bites. At a couple of areas on the Patuxent that normally produce fish, he drew a blank. He also noted that lots of wind had made fishing tough recently. The shad bite has also been mediocre in Virginia on the upper Rappahannock and James. Hickory shad and a few American shad are being caught near City Docks on the Rapp and near Richmond on the James. One angler reported that a traditional red and white shad dart worked well this week while another angler had success on a gold spoon. The color and lure preferences of shad can change from day to day, so it is best to bring a variety of options with you in your tackle box. We cover all the basics you need to know in our Spring Shad Fishing article.

Eric Packard also spent some time at different area ponds early this week but said the bite was oddly off. Other than a small crappie, he didn’t have any action. Other readers reported similar results in a southern Maryland pond where the spring bite is usually great during warm fronts. Instead, they only managed to catch two crappie and three bass while fishing with minnows. A reader reported good smallmouth action in the Patapsco. They had expected to find some stocked trout, but instead the smallmouth were jumping on their spinners. Mossy Creek Fly Fishing reports that the smallmouth bite has been good on the western rivers as water temperatures have now reached the mid to upper 50s. Now is one of the best times to catch a trophy smallmouth as the big fish are coming out of their wintering holes. Historically productive spring smallmouth baits include suspending jerkbaits, ned rigs, and small swimbaits.

The spring perch runs are in mixed stages as we head into April. The yellow perch spawn is just about wrapped up, but the white perch are now pushing into the upper reaches of the tributaries getting ready to spawn. The Angler in Chief reports a great bite of mixed species was happening in the Patuxent this week a couple miles north of Jug Bay. Using a mix of grass shrimp and minnow fished on darts and Sabikis, he and Contributor Eric Packard caught a couple of yellow perch, a bunch of white perch, some crappie, a channel cat, and an accidental carp. But the best action came while tossing four-inch white flukes into deadfall, which produced one largemouth bass after the next. He noted that the water was exceptionally low and the panfish were hanging in channels, while the bass were all focused around deadfall being hit by current and were on the up-current side of the structure.