Upper Bay Fishing Reports

Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, June 2 Update:

All areas of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are open to targeting rockfish now that June has arrived, and the upper Bay seems to be where most of the action is taking place. A large chunk of the charter fleet are fishing in the Patapsco and near Hart Miller Island. They are finding decent schools of striped bass in 15 to 25 feet of water. Spot have now made their way north of the Bay Bridge and are being caught up into the Magothy. There aren’t a ton of spot around, but based on reports it sounds like there are decent schools hanging around the bay bridge in 10 to 20 feet of water. It may take some moving around to pick up enough for the live well before heading to live line for rockfish. Bottom rigs tipped with either blood worms or Fishbites should get them biting.

The east side of the Bay Bridge is holding fish into the low-mid 20s, but from several reader reports it sounds like live-lining is catching the lion’s share of the fish and jiggers are only getting lucky here and there. We did have one good jigging report from the Patapsco, where casting to docks, structure, and the bridge pilings produced fish up to 24 inches on white and chartreuse BKDs. There were also a couple of reports of snakeheads biting in the upper Bay tribs and creeks this week, including the chunky one seen above. Anglers Sport Center let us know that white perch are now consistently being caught in shallow water. There have been large schools of nice sized white perch at the Bay Bridge around the pilings in 10 to 20 feet of water. Bottom rigs with blood worm work well but small spinners like stump jumpers or twisty tail jigs work great too. Anglers in the Magothy have been finding that the perch are biting best around the last hour of daylight. Blue cats are also biting well in the Magothy and Patapsco. These fish are abundant in the upper Bay and are a popular option for many anglers. They can be caught from shore or boat by throwing out chunks of fresh cut baitfish.