Lower Bay Fishing Reports

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, June 2 Update:

All waters of the Chesapeake Bay are now open to harvesting stripers now that June has arrived. Fishing for rock has been spotty in the Potomac this week but we heard hearsay of a decent bite happening between Ragged point and Colonial Beach. One angler fishing in that area got out for a quick trip where they caught three schoolie rockfish and one right at legal size while casting lures. The wind has made it difficult for boats to get out but luckily, fishing from shore has been productive. A few anglers fishing from their dock did well on the blue cast over the weekend. They caught around 15 catfish and seven perch. Most of the catfish were one to three pounds but a few of the larger ones were approaching 10 pounds.

The Tackle Box reported that bluefish have shown up in the pound nets at Cornfield Harbor. Anglers should now have a good chance at catching these fish as more will show up each week. White perch are also active in the shallows from the bayfront to the tidal creeks. Ken Lamb from The Tackle Box was able to catch eight perch up to 11 inches on a small spinnerbait during an outing this week. We are starting to see the spring fishery switch into summer mode in Virginia waters as fish are heading into the shallows to chase bait. An angler fishing in the lower Rappahannock found a 31-inch red drum in only two feet of water. He said the fish went running for deeper water and took him and his 15-foot skiff for a ride before he was able to land it. We saw a picture of an angler who caught a gator speckled trout while fishing by the Norris Bridge at night. The trout measured into the mid-20s and was caught on cut spot. We also had two reader reports of specks in western shore river mouths, though which weren’t specified, plus one from the Coan River (of a single fish) along with a puppy drum and several small rockfish.

Cobia are starting to migrate into the lower Bay along with schools of red drum. We haven’t heard of any hotspots, but the fish are out there folks and we did have a report of one caught off Deltaville already. Cobia season opens on June 15 so make sure to get all your gear preparations done now!