Lower Bay Fishing Reports

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 9 Update:

The Lower Bay is loaded with options right now, from strong bottom-fishing opportunities to striped bass, bluefish, and an increasingly interesting speckled trout bite. Rockfish are showing up around structure and in the shallows, while bull red drum are beginning to mix into the action. The trout bite is particularly encouraging, with large numbers of young specks spread throughout the tidal rivers and plenty of shrimp around for them to feed on.

The Tackle Box reports that bottom fishing is terrific, with spot, gray trout, and speckled trout showing up in the mix. A few kingfish are still around as well. Croaker seem to have mostly moved on but a few are still being reeled in. Bloodworms on bottom rigs is the best all-around method of getting them on the line while fishing over oyster bars and hard bottom. They also noted that bluefish are still scattered throughout the Lower Bay and good numbers are running from seven to 10 pounds. Trolling Spoonbrella rigs is their top pick for getting the big blues biting. As for rockfish, The Tackle Box says lure casters are finding them in the shallows, but one of the most consistent zones of action has been in the Potomac below the bridge, around the mouth of Upper Machodoc Creek. Piney Point, Ragged Point, and Kitts point have also been good for the stripers. Open water blitzes have popped up at times, but schools of fish are also hanging around bottom structure throughout the river. We also saw a few reports of bull red drum being caught mixed in with the schools of rockfish. Anglers recalled seeing larger marks on bottom below the school of suspended fish, so keep an eye out for these fish over the next few weeks.

Reports Editor Dillon Waters made a trip down to the Ware River north of Mobjack Bay this past weekend to do some fishing for opening day of rockfish season and look for some shrimp. He spent some time early in the day casting paddletails to docks on the upper section of the river and, after fishing a few docks without a bite, was able to catch a 24” rockfish. He also found a few underslot fish hanging around docks too. There didn't seem to be a rhyme or reason why fish were on certain docks and not others, but the ones holding fish had at least eight feet of water at the ends of them. After boxing a rockfish and releasing a few others, he transitioned to looking for shrimp, which he was able to find in the upper section of the river. The shrimp were hanging along marsh edges and creek mouths. After throwing around a cast net for a few hours, he had about five pounds of shrimp tails on ice. The shrimp will be around for a few more weeks but will begin migrating out of the Bay by the end of the month.

This month is shaping up to provide a “speck”tacular month for trout fishing. Droves of small speckled trout have arrived throughout the Lower Bay. Areas with grass beds have been most productive, and anglers have reported excellent catch numbers from the Potomac River, lower Rappahannock, Mobjack Bay, and lower York River. These areas are also holding some shrimp, so rigging up a popping cork with a soft plastic shrimp bait is a good option right now. The specks are also willing to hit three-inch paddletails retrieved just over the top of SAV grass. A reader fishing near the Whitestone area of the Rappahannock reported catching dozens of trout, but only three were keepers, the rest were between nine and 12”. These fish should be roaming around the shallows until water temperatures drop below the 60 degree mark, so it should be a few more weeks before they move to deeper water.

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, October 2 Update:

The Lower Bay is showing plenty of signs that fall has arrived, with cooling water bringing increased activity from speckled trout, striped bass, bluefish, and a variety of bottom species. Speckled trout numbers are particularly notable right now, although most remain on the small side, while the bluefish fishery is hanging on even as the Spanish mackerel appear to have moved on. With clean water, strong currents, and plenty of bait in the tributaries, there is a lot happening down south.

The influx of small speckled trout appears to have weathered the storm and recent catches indicate they’re now even more plentiful. The Tackle Box says anglers in the lower Potomac tributaries were catching them in big numbers, even dozens at a time. The vast majority we’re hearing about have been in the 10” to 12” range, but anglers report constant action on small paddletails and on bottom rigs baited with bloodworm, Fishbites bloodworm, or shrimp cast along the shorelines of the creeks and rivers. Similar reports are coming in from the Rappahannock, where many anglers are reporting dozens of small speckled trout on recent outings. There seems to be a few more keepers in the Virginia tributaries, and we saw some reports of anglers who boxed between one and five keepers, though they had to sort through a bunch of dinks to get there. Rockfish are also more active around docks, creek mouths, and grass beds now that water temperatures are slowly dropping, so Virginia anglers should be able to find some slot-sized fish once the season opens for them on October fourth.

Bottom fishing over oyster bars and live bottom in the lower tribs remains strong and even picked up steam after the storm passed last weekend, with the Tackle Box reporting big spot, keeper croaker, and even some keeper-sized weakfish in the mix early this week in the lower Potomac. Bloodworms on bottom rigs are doing the trick. They also said bluefish remained plentiful, but Spanish mackerel appear to have disappeared for good in this zone of the Bay with the change in the weather. The charter fleet trolling between Point Lookout and the Target Ship had reports of plentiful bluefish in the five-to-10-pound range this week. These bigger blues should be around for a few more weeks, willing to hit spoons or surgical eels on the troll.

Contributor Eric Packard checked in after a morning fishing around Point Lookout after the weather cleared up this week. He found water temperatures around 68 degrees with clean water and strong currents. He caught six striped bass, four speckled trout (the largest was 20”), one puppy drum, two lizardfish, and a puffer fish. Packard said that the fish were caught between the channel leading to the boat ramp and the rocks out by the lighthouse using half ounce Hardhead Custom Baits Shad Head jigs with various soft plastics. Reports Editor Dillon Waters made it down to the lower Potomac near Smith Creek this week for an afternoon of fishing. He and another angler started out fishing over a grass bed in four feet of water where they found a bunch of small speckled trout. They caught around a dozen specks in the 11” to 13” range and one 16” bluefish. The fish were hitting shrimp soft plastics fished under a popping cork. They then ran to a creek mouth where the outgoing tide had a strong rip coming out of the creek. There they found rockfish, white perch, and small specks waiting to ambush bait. Popping corks and topwater lures were getting hit within a few twitches of the rod tip. Most of the stripers were under slot, but they did catch two slot fish and two overs slot fish up to 26”.