Young Nathan Moyer recently got to fish the Conowingo Dam pool for the first time and caught his largest fish to date, a striped bass, all possible thanks to a dad who took him. Photo by Chris Moyer
Fishing is often about the adventure of exploring a new place to fish, or the challenge of fishing for a new species, and it always helps when you have the company of family or friends.
Landon Derbyshire of Eden, Maryland recently became became the 13th FishMaryland Master Angler and only the second youth angler to reach that milestone. He caught all the qualifying species of trophy fish before his sixteenth birthday. Congratulations to Landon!
Forecast Summary: September 11 – September 17
Moderate weather with limited rain predicted will make for comfortable fishing conditions this week in Maryland’s waters. Shorter daylight periods and cooler daytime air temperatures have cooled main Chesapeake Bay surface water temperatures to the mid 70s. Maryland’s part of the Bay continues to run fresher than average.
Due to upper bay algal blooms, areas with suitable amounts of oxygen (>3mg/l) decreased this week. However, for finding the best combination of well oxygenated, cooler water preferred by many Bay gamefish, focus on fishing deeper during the daylight hours.
Expect average water clarity for most of the Maryland portion of the Bay. However, expect reduced water clarity in the western shore tributaries (Bush, Gunpowder, Back, Patapsco Rivers due to algal blooms. To see the latest water clarity conditions on NOAA satellite maps, check Eyes on the Bay Satellite Maps.
Expect average flows for the Susquehanna River and some other Maryland rivers and streams. There will be above average tidal currents Saturday through Tuesday as a result of the full moon on September 18.
As always, the best fishing areas could be further refined by intersecting them with underwater points, hard bottom, drop-offs, and large schools of baitfish. For more detailed and up-to-date fishing conditions in your area of the bay, be sure to check out Eyes on the Bay’s Click Before You Cast.
Upper Bay
Cooper Goff enjoyed the warm water recently and caught this nice striped bass at the dam pool. Photo by Don Goff
Fishing for a mix of smallmouth bass and striped bass is reportedly improving in the Conowingo Dam pool and the nearby lower Susquehanna River. Cooling water temperatures and clear water are doing much to cause the improvement. Anglers are making long casts with 9-foot or better medium-weight surf rods, and many are wearing waders or enjoying getting wet to cast as close to the turbine wash as possible.
Topwater lures can be a good choice during the early morning and late evening hours. Some brave the rig-hungry rocks at the bottom of the dam pool with weighted rigs with cut bait, or heavy jigs dressed with a piece of cut bait. Flathead catfish and blue catfish love those cut fish baits. The smallmouth bass can be found in the dam pool and river; tubes, soft plastic jigs and small crankbaits are good lures to use.
The mouth of the Susquehanna River and nearby tidal rivers are the best places to find a mix of blue catfish and channel catfish. Cut bait is the way to get in on the action but anglers often report that these same catfish will chase down a crankbait, jig or swimbait. The area is noted for very large blue cats so be sure to use stout tackle when fishing there. All the tidal rivers hold populations of blue catfish, some more than others. The Chester River, for example, has large populations of blue catfish.
The same can be said for those fishing for largemouth bass in the region’s tidal rivers never know when fishing grass beds that a Chesapeake channa (Northern snakehead) will strike a topwater lure with an explosive strike. Buzzbaits, frogs and chatterbaits are good lures to use when targeting grass beds.
Last week there was a turnover event in Baltimore Harbor which is when surface water sinks due to cooling and is replaced by water close to the bottom. This is a common event in reservoirs, ponds and tidal rivers during the early fall months. Unfortunately, in this case, the deeper waters that rose to the surface lacked sufficient dissolved oxygen to keep fish alive. Juvenile menhaden were the most common victims of this event.
Fishing for striped bass remains good at the mouth of the Patapsco River and the Pooles Island area this week. Live lining spot along the channel edges is the most popular way to fish. Spot are readily available at Sandy Point State Park waters, the mouth of the Magothy River and several of the reefs, knolls and shoals in the upper bay. The Love Point rocks have been getting the attention of anglers live lining spot or casting soft plastic jigs. The channel edges of the Chester River and the base of the Sandy Point Light are also worth a look with depth finders to locate suspended striped bass.
Fishing for white perch in the upper bay and tidal rivers remains good this week. Anglers can fish in deeper waters with bottom rigs baited with peeler crab or pieces of bloodworms. Shoreline structure in the form of docks, submerged rocks and sunken wood are great places to target with grass shrimp or small minnows under a bobber. Casting small spin-jigs, spinnerbaits and spinners is a fun way to target shoreline structure with light tackle. Both types of shoreline fishing for white perch are best done during the early morning and evening hours.
Middle Bay
Herb Floyd holds an early morning Choptank striped bass before releasing it. Photo by Herb Floyd
Anglers fishing at the Bay Bridge are finding improved fishing for striped bass on the eastern side of the bridge this week. They report that the morning and evening hours hold the greatest promise of success when drifting live spot, cut spot or soft crab baits to the bases of the bridge piers during a running tide. Casting soft plastic jigs near the bridge piers is an excellent option that can provide plenty of fun action. On the western side of the bridge in about 15 feet of water fishing for a mix of white perch and spot is good. Anglers usually use peeler crab when fishing for the white perch because of the high price of bloodworms, but perch do love bloodworms. The spot have an absolute preference for bloodworms.
The shallow water fishery in the middle bay region for a mix of striped bass, slot-size red drum and a few speckled trout has been very good this week. Water temperatures are steadily declining and striped bass are feeling more comfortable in the shallow water areas for a longer period. Mornings and evenings are still the best times to fish the shallower waters. Casting a mix of topwater lures, paddletails, spin jigs, spinnerbaits and jerkbaits are a great way to target them. The shores of the bay, Eastern Bay, Poplar Island, Thomas Point, the lower Choptank and Little Choptank as well as the South River are all good places to look for some action.
Fishing for white perch is also good this week in many of the same areas that are holding striped bass and puppy drum. Casting small spinnerbaits, spin jigs and small soft plastic jigs is a fun way to target them near promising looking shorelines ; small red drum are often in the mix. Fishing with grass shrimp, peeler crab or pieces of bloodworms is another excellent way to fish for white perch in deeper waters over oyster bottom or deeper waters around docks and piers.
NOAA scientists have been tagging a variety of species around Poplar Island this summer. These are acoustic tags with receivers placed to record each time a tagged fish swims by it, to help better understand fish movements around the island. If you happen to catch one of these fish, return it quickly to the water, so it can provide more information in the future. Learn more about the Poplar Island study on the NOAA website.
There have been some bluefish being reported in the middle Bay and even a few Spanish mackerel, but so far catches have been sparse. One of the more productive places to troll is from Buoy 83 south past the mouth of the Choptank River and off Taylors Island. The bluefish are being caught on spoons and surgical tube lures pulled behind planers. The Spanish Mackerel prefer a small Drone or Clark Spoon in gold color combinations pulled at faster speeds than for bluefish and behind No. 1 planers.
Lower Bay
Bluefish photo by Travis Long
Bluefish tend to be the main event this week in the lower Bay. There are two sizes that are roaming these waters. The big boys tend to average around 10 pounds and are very fat. They can be found out on the edges of the main channels in the bay and trolling along the channel edges with red or green surgical tube lures or by casting metal jigs to breaking fish is the best way to catch them. They are also being caught in chum slicks when anglers are maintaining a chum slick when fishing for cobia by drifting cut baits. The mouth of the Potomac River and the area near the Target Ship are a few of the better places to look for the large bluefish.
Smaller bluefish in the range of a half-pound are showing up throughout the lower Bay, in shallower waters and out in the main part of the Bay. They are being caught by anglers casting a variety of lures when shallow water fishing and when anglers are trolling small spoons for Spanish mackerel.
Anglers are reporting that large red drum are becoming hard to find this week but catches of cobia are improving for those chumming, trolling or sight casting. The 2024 cobia season will close September 16. Anglers targeting large sheepshead at the Target Ship with peeler crab baits and catching a few speckled trout in the process. Flounder are being caught along the shelf edges of various channels in the Tangier/Pocomoke sounds areas and near Point Lookout. Gulp baits in pink or white are popular baits.
Fishing for a mix of spot, croaker and kingfish has been excellent in the mouth of the Patuxent River, the Potomac River, and Tangier Sound. Bloodworms or bloodworm alternatives are the baits of choice for spot and kingfish, croaker like bloodworms also but will bite on peeler crab.
Anglers who are targeting blue catfish report that they have moved downriver a bit on the Potomac River and can be found in the general area of Cobb Island. In the Patuxent the Benedict area up to Jug Bay is a good area to fish for blue catfish as is the area near Sharptown on the Nanticoke River. Fresh cut menhaden tends to be the most popular bait. I have heard recently from a few catfish anglers that popular Cheetos cheese snacks make excellent bait. I’m not too sure how long they’d stay on the hook once they get soggy, but it makes sense that they would put out a cheesy scent trail. Cheese baits have long been a popular bait for southern catfish anglers, blood baits are also popular.
Fishing for white perch is always fun and productive this time of the year. The water temperatures are cooling a bit, and the white perch are fattened up and very active. Fishing peeler crab baits near bridge piers, submerged rocks or docks over relatively deep water is always fun. If you can get them, grass shrimp are candy to white perch and can be fished in shallower waters under a bobber or on a bottom rig close to structure. Small minnows under a bobber are a good way to fish deeper shorelines and shoreline structure. Casting small spinnerbaits, spinners and small soft plastic jig spins are fun ways to fish shoreline during the morning and evening hours.
Recreational Crabbing
This is no time of the year to put your crabbing gear away; the crabs are fat and large, crowds are down, and the weather is very comfortable. Recreational crabbers report good crabbing in the upper Bay and excellent in the middle and lower Bay. They report that baits are being chewed up by sooks and small crabs and many crabbers are only keeping extra-large crabs. The demand for crabs is down now that Labor Day has passed but retail prices remain high, so it is a worthwhile venture to go out and catch your own crabs. Putting up some crab cakes or crab meat for a cold winter day has its rewards.
Freshwater Fishing
Anglers at Deep Creek Lake are seeing waters cool down and there was even a rumor of a frost earlier this week. Cooling water temperatures seem to always shift the feeding activity of smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, walleye and northern pike into high gear. Floating docks will start to be pulled so those in place will be a magnet for smallmouth and largemouth bass seeking shade. Northern pike are becoming more of a trophy catch-and-release species at the lake; you can find more information about this species at Deep Creek Lake on the Department of Natural Resources website.
Anglers are reporting that the upper Potomac River is running low, and water temperatures have dropped a notch. The water is still warm enough that wading is still an option and enjoyable on a pleasant day. Casting root beer-colored tubes, small crankbaits and soft craw jigs are a few of the most popular lures anglers are using when fishing for smallmouth bass. Casting topwater lures during the early morning hours near grass beds and current breaks always offers plenty of exciting surface action.
Largemouth bass are generally holding near where food and cover are this week, usually in 15 feet of water or less. Targeting grass, sunken wood, docks and fallen treetops are all good places to target, but grass should be on the top of everyone’s list. Zara Spooks, buzzbaits, and frogs are excellent topwater lures to use.
Recently I learned some interesting tips about using soft-bodied frogs. It was suggested that cutting half of one of the trailing legs off throws the frog out of balance, so it develops a “walk the dog” type side to side movement motion of a frog when retrieved, which exaggerates the walking motion of the frog. Another tip was to slip a few BBs through the holes for the hooks into the hollow frog body to make some extra noise. When fishing over thick grass mats, adding weight to the frog to make it settle deeper into the vegetation helps make more of a disturbance. When fishing in tidal waters watch out for the explosive strikes of Chesapeake channa (Northern snakehead).
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
Yellowedged grouper – Photo by Gary Tyler
It is after Labor Day now and living and fishing in Ocean City means that the summer crowds are now mostly limited to the weekends. Surf anglers can find plenty of room on the beaches of Assateague to fish for a mix of kingfish, spot and the occasional croaker and blowfish. The kingfish and spot are being caught on bloodworms or bloodworm alternative baits. Blowfish will take bloodworms but really like squid as do flounder. Soon anglers may soon see large red drum moving along the beaches as well as bluefish.
At the inlet, most fishing is focused on casting jigs for a mix of bluefish and striped bass near the jetty rocks, bridge piers and bulkheads. In the evenings, drifting cut bait works well for bluefish. A few sheepshead, tautog and triggerfish are being caught near the South Jetty on sand fleas and peeler crabs, and of course flounder are always moving through the inlet.
Flounder fishing in the back bay channels continues to be good and less boat traffic makes for more peaceful drifts. Live spot or similar live bait and Gulp baits are catching the largest flounder. Traditional minnow and squid baits will always do well.
The anglers headed to the offshore wreck and reef sites are catching a mix of black sea bass, flounder and small dolphin. Captains admit that sometimes they must move to different sites to find action, but most are doing very well.
The offshore canyon fishery for those trolling for tuna and marlin has been a bit lackluster for the past few weeks to say the least. Small dolphin have been the one bright spot with limit catches being common. Anglers have been undaunted and have switched to deep dropping and doing a great job of bringing fish back to the dock and finding out what is down there. Recently we had a new state record set for blueline tilefish and this week we have a whopper of a grouper called a Yellowedged grouper, which weighed 38 pounds and was only 10 pounds under the current world record.
“I love fishing. I can think of no greater pleasure than to sit alone toward the evening by the water and watch a float.” – Anton Chekhov 1896
Maryland Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Click Before You Cast is written by Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment Director Tom Parham.
A reminder to all Maryland anglers, please participate in DNR’s Volunteer Angler Surveys. This allows citizen scientists to contribute valuable data to the monitoring and management of several important fish species.
This report is now available on your Amazon Echo device — just ask Alexa to “open Maryland Fishing Report.”