Upper Bay Fishing Reports

Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, September 12 Update:

The best striped bass action is still taking place in the Upper Bay this week. Captain Sean Gonketchum has been finding plenty of rockfish action in the Patapsco. His best bites have been in the evening, and he reports that half ounce Jigged Up Unlimited jigs and Z-Man paddletails have the fish fired up. Fishing structure has been key, and he recommends keeping a tight line while the lure drops. Wait for a tap and then set the hook. He even caught a bonus white catfish while jigging artificial baits this week which was the first he has seen caught on a jig. Other successful reports form the Patapsco also rolled in this week and it seems that last week’s turnover event didn’t mess up the fishing too bad. The area around Fort McHenry was noted as productive and a shoreline angler fishing with topwater reported that the first hour bite this week produced dozens of blowups while casting a blue Chug Bug topwater lure. A boat fishing near Buoy 13 along the shipping channel near Baltimore Light and Bodkin Point said that the edge was loaded with fish, and they quickly caught a boat limit while live lining with spot. Their spot were easy to catch using bloodworms and perch were also quick to hit pieces of soft crab fishing on bottom rigs. And another fishing off Love Point enjoyed similar action on rock while livelining spot.

A reader checked in from the Magothy to let us know that the white perch bite has picked up with the cooler weather. He noted catching some very nice 12” to 13” fish while casting spinners and chartreuse Perch Hounders to docks. Small puppy drum and flounder have also been caught in many of the traditional perch areas. Docks, rock jetties, and other shoreline structure is holding fish and will be good areas to target in the shallows throughout the fall months. Most of the puppy drum are under the 18-inch slot minimum, but a few keepers have been reported from north of the Bay Bridge. Belvedere Shoal and Six and Seven Foot Knoll are excellent locations to bottom fish this time of year and there are plenty of fish to keep rods bent. Spot, perch, and croaker are all plentiful and willing to bite bloodworms, lugworms, and Fishbites. White perch fishing at the Bay Bridge has also been good in depths of 10 to 15 feet on both the east and west side. Now is a great time to fill a cooler with eater-sized white perch.

Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, September 5 Update:

Fall is in the air as temperatures cooled off again bringing us below average temperatures for this time of year. Despite the lack of mackerel and blues north of the Bridge up to now we did have a report of both species showing up off Love Point in the past week, though still in relatively low numbers. The best report we heard was from a boat catching a pair of the mackerel plus one bluefish. FishTalk intern-turned-fishhead Adam Greenberg reports that there are perch and undersized rockfish hitting along docks in the Magothy. He said there are tons of peanut bunker in the river, too, a great sign for the upcoming fall bite. The big surprise this week was multiple reports of flounder showing up north of the Bay Bridge. The farthest north report we saw was from the city docks in Baltimore with a few other reports from the Pasadena and Cape St. Claire areas. The flatties were reeled in mostly by perch anglers throwing lures in the shallows. There were no keepers, but most were 10 to 14 inches and quite the catch for the Upper Bay.

There was some bad news this week from the Patapsco where we saw a fish kill near the Inner Harbor. Lots of dead peanut bunker and rockfish were found thanks to what is known as a “pistachio tide”. This happens due to a thermal inversion where air temperatures cool off and cause surface waters to sink, thus bringing bacteria that normally lives on the bottom to the surface. This creates waters that are deficient in oxygen. The pistachio tide is naturally occurring, and we typically see it happen in the fall. Hopefully the event will be short and things can get back in order soon. Despite the fish kill, other sections of the river were productive this week and it is still worth getting out on the water to enjoy the beautiful weather. A kayak angler fishing the Key Bridge had an excellent early week trip catching a mix of catfish and rockfish. Green Bass Assassin soft plastics were noted as the top producer for bites with live minnows dropped down on a jighead also working. They kept a fat 23-inch fish for the dinner plate. The lumps around Pooles Island are still holding good numbers of stripers this week. Live lining with eels and spot has been very effective with blue catfish being a common bycatch. We are gearing up for an exciting fall on the Bay, so make sure to set aside some time to hit the water.