Middle Bay Fishing Reports

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 11 Update:

Perch fishing has been below average so far this summer, but there are starting to be a few glimmers of hope for things to turn around. A reader let us know the perch bite in the Severn had been picking up, with some very nice white perch (over the nine-inch mark) hitting Mepps in the early morning. Although the bite died out by 9 o’clock, some croaker and a couple of pickerel were in the mix, too. Other anglers reported a slightly improved white perch bite while fishing near the Bay Bridge this week. Bottom fishing with bloodworms and Fishbites near bridge pilings and shell bottom produced perch, spot, and croaker. Another reader fishing near Deale said that they have been enjoying a steady bottom fishing bite for eater sized spot near crab buoys in around 10’ of water. Hallocks-Grace Charters checked in and let us know that the bluefish bite picked back up down by the Sharp’s Island Lighthouse. While running a trip late last week, they encountered schools of bluefish, though smaller than the early season fish they were catching at the beginning of summer. These bluefish were mostly in the 18” to 20” range with a few shorties in the mix. The blues were hitting spoons and surgical hoses trolled near ledges and humps.

Fishing for striped bass has been good in the early morning and late evening hours. Poplar Island has been productive for anglers fishing the rocky rip-rap shorelines that surround the island. Reports Editor Dillon Waters visited the island with a few other anglers earlier in the week and said they had a lot of action throwing topwater lures for the last hour of light. They boxed a four-man limit of slot fish and caught a few others as well. A reader fishing near the Route 50 Bridge on the Choptank reports that trolling paddletails on 3/8-ounce jigheads between bridge pilings and near shoreline points is consistently producing fish. FishTalk contributor Adam Greenberg checked in with a report and said that he had another great rockfish bite on the Choptank this week. A single four-inch, chartreuse paddletail caught fish almost every cast for about an hour and a half. The rockfish were super active and busting everywhere. He also caught a few perch on the same paddletail. On another trip, he was using a small spinner bait tipped with a two-inch Gulp! and the tail kept getting bit off, so he switched to just a small jig head and the Gulp! and ended up catching a couple small croaker and flounder. We also had a report of a nice sized speckled trout caught in Eastern Bay this week. The striped bass closure will go into effect from July 16th to July 31st in all Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay. The closure is meant to protect our resident striped bass during the heat of summer when high water temperatures cause increased catch and release mortality.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, July 4 Update:

The Angler in Chief says lots of croaker have moved into the Middle Bay zone, enough that when casting Gulp! jigs for rockfish at some areas off the mouth of the West and South rivers, they were hooking croaker instead. Most were just undersized, but some were keepers, so hopefully this could develop into cooler-filling action. He also said that while rockfish were still proving uncooperative in the South and West Rivers, they provided solid action on chartreuse BKDs and white paddletails in the shallows of the Choptank on the first of the incoming. Most of the fish were in the slot or just under, and a few overs showed up as well. FishTalk Production Manager Zach Ditmars says the striper bite was on the bounce in the area near Annapolis, with docks producing and an evening trip late last week resulting in three slots and a couple of throwbacks. Some keeper croaker, big spot, and a few white perch are being caught in the Middle Bay tidal rivers this week. The Severn River had the best reports of keeper croaker with fish up to 12 inches coming over the rails.

Perch fishing is still very slow this season, and we had another poor report from an angler fishing the West River this week. They hit several of their usual perch spots and a few new locations but only caught two perch in a few hours of fishing. The lack of perch is starting to become concerning, and we hope that things pick up soon. There have been slightly better results from anglers fishing the tidal creeks around the lower Patuxent, but the perch fishing is still inconsistent. A reader checked in from the Pax after catching a few rockfish while casting the shallows at sunset in the Hog Point area. FishTalk contributor Adam Greenberg checked in with a good report from the eastern shore. He had an epic topwater bite recently, catching 30 or so fish from 5am to 8am on both poppers and spooks, with a handful on four-inch paddle tails as well. The perch were also thick and choking down the four-inch paddletail. The rockfish were mostly slot and over slot. However, the few caught on the paddle tails were in the 10 in - 14 in range.

Crabbing report: The AIC says crabbing in the South is strong, with good numbers of very large males (though lots of white bellies) mixed in with females and tiny crabs. Six feet of water was hot last weekend, and he noted that the limiting factor was how long your bait lasted due to the large number of undersized and female crabs.