This angler enjoyed a calm evening and beautiful sunset recently before the winds arrived. Photo by Travis Long
The colder weather of late fall and early winter is knocking on our door. A cold front has swept across Maryland this week, so anglers will need to bundle up.
Forecast Summary: November 12 – November 18:
Expect cool and windy conditions into the weekend with chances of rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. As reported by the NOAA buoys, main Bay surface water temperatures are currently in the upper 50s. River temperatures are slightly cooler and holding around the mid 50s.
Oxygen conditions throughout the main Bay and Maryland’s tributaries are suitable to the bottom. To see the latest water clarity conditions on NOAA satellite maps, check Eyes on the Bay Satellite Maps. There will be above average tidal currents into the weekend as a result of the November 5 supermoon.
Don Goff hefts up a huge blue catfish he caught recently in the Conowingo Dam pool. Photo by Don Goff
At the Conowingo Dam pool, anglers are seeing increased power generation cycles that are occurring during both the morning and evening hours. Fishing for large blue catfish has been the major focus of anglers for weeks now, but an increasing number of striped bass are being caught. There are some smallmouth bass and walleye being caught at the downriver backside of the dam pool and in the lower Susquehanna.
Anglers report most of the striped bass action is coming from the Patapsco River, Pooles Island, and near the Love Point rocks. During the morning and evening hours casting soft plastic jigs, paddletails, and poppers near piers and rocks in the Inner Harbor area are producing striped bass. Jigging along channel edges when striped bass can be located on depth finders is also working well. Live-lining eels, small white perch, and spot if you’re fortunate to find some is a good tactic. Trolling with tandem-rigged bucktails dressed with sassy shads or twistertails and umbrella rigs along the main channels is accounting for some fish.
White perch are moving out of the region’s tidal rivers and can be found on hard bottom areas at the mouths of the major tidal rivers and various knolls in the open waters of the Bay. Fishing with bottom rigs baited with grass shrimp or pieces of bloodworm have been the most successful way to fish for them.
The Bay Bridge has been attracting striped bass this month and when the wind allows, it attracts an equal number of anglers and boats. Live-lining is still popular, and anglers are using eels, small white perch, and hard-to-find spot with excellent results. Casting and jigging with soft plastic and metal jigs is a good way to fish for striped bass near the pier bases, rock piles, and bridge abutments.
The channel edges that run from Bloody Point past Buoy 83 and down to the False Channel have been good for trolling. Tandem-rigged bucktails dressed with soft plastics and umbrella rigs using the same as trailers are a popular set up. All are pulled behind inline weights to get them down to where the striped bass are holding.
Water temperatures in the region’s tidal rivers have dipped to 51 degrees. Bay anchovies and juvenile menhaden continue exiting the rivers and are being swept along in the swift currents of the channels. The mouth of the Choptank River has been a premier location for anglers jigging with soft plastic and metal jigs. At times diving gulls will mark the way to fish when bait is pushed to the surface by striped bass. Anglers report this usually happens towards the evening.
Anglers are still finding striped bass action in the shallower waters along promising-looking shorelines in the Bay and in the lower sections of the region’s tidal rivers. Casting paddletails has been popular. Windy conditions and blow-out tides have not made fishing any easier.
White perch continue to school up over oyster lumps at the mouth of the tidal rivers, and some are beginning to venture out into the Bay seeking warmer water temperatures in deeper waters. They can be spotted on depth finders and caught by using bottom rigs baited with grass shrimp or pieces of bloodworm.
Lower Bay
Although bundled up against the cold these two anglers enjoyed a fun outing jigging for striped bass in the lower Bay. Photo by Travis Long
Fishing for striped bass has been good this week in the lower Bay. The lower Potomac and Patuxent rivers have been standouts, but the channel edges out in the Bay are providing good fishing also. The lower Potomac River from just below the Route 302 Bridge south along the steep channel edge from St. Georges Island past Piney Point has been a very good place to jig, troll, or live-line. Both large soft plastic jigs have been the most popular, but metal jigs will also work.
The lower Patuxent River from the Route 4 Bridge out to Cedar Point is a good place to jig with soft plastics along the channel edges. Trolling with tandem-rigged bucktails dressed with soft plastics or umbrella rigs using bucktails or storm shads as trailers behind heavy inline weights.
The cuts through Hoopers Island have been a very good place to cast paddletails or soft plastic jigs and work them across the current. The shallower waters of Tangier Sound continue to produce striped bass and a few speckled trout that have lingered in the region. Casting paddletails has been the most popular tactic.
Trolling the channel edges near Cedar Point and the eastern side of the main channel from Buoy 72 south to Buoy 68 and the main channel in Tangier Sound is a good tactic when searching for striped bass. Umbrella rigs and tandem-rigged bucktails pulled behind heavy inline weights are popular.
Fishing for white perch has been good at the mouth of the Nanticoke River and the northern area of Tangier Sound. The lower sections of the Potomac and Patuxent rivers are also good places to look for white perch schooling up over hard bottom or oyster bottom. Most anglers are finding good success when using bottom rigs baited with grass shrimp and pieces of bloodworm for bait.
Adam Krauss recently caught this 14-inch yellow perch in Loch Raven Reservoir. Photo courtesy of Adam Krauss
Our freshwater areas continue to see falling water temperatures and fish are responding in a variety of ways. Trout, for instance, are very comfortable with cooler water temperatures. The delayed harvest and catch-and-return trout management areas offer good fun fishing throughout the winter and spring months. There are still holdover trout to be found in the put-and-take waters; they just might be spread out, so casting spinners, small spoons, or streamers and nymphs are a good way to find them.
Smallmouth bass and walleye are very active in the upper Potomac River and Deep Creek Lake this week. In the upper Potomac casting tubes, swimbaits, and small crankbaits near current breaks and ledges is a good tactic. Rocky points and steep rocky shores are good places to target at Deep Creek Lake.
Landlocked striped bass at Liberty and Triadelphia reservoirs become very active during the cooler fall months and offer one of the best times to target them. Slow trolling with large diving crankbaits, bucktails dressed with sassy shads are common ways to fish for them. The minimum size for landlocked striped bass is 18 inches and only one fish may be longer than 30 inches.
Largemouth bass tend to be found patrolling transition waters between the shallower and deeper waters hoping to intercept small baitfish and crayfish seeking winter cover. Chain pickerel can be found holding near sunken wood and will strike almost any lure that comes along their way.
Fishing for blue catfish is very good during the cooler fall months in the Bay’s tidal rivers. The catfish are concentrating in channel areas and are aggressively feeding. They can be caught on cut bait, a wide variety of scent baits, and even soft plastic jigs and crankbaits.
The cold front that pushed through our region earlier this week looks like it will be with us until at least the weekend, with strong winds and rough offshore seas. The good news is that the strong winds are coming from a westerly direction so the surf should lay down. Anglers are catching some kingfish in the surf and a few striped bass.
At the Ocean City Inlet, striped bass are being caught along the jetties, bulkheads, and docks by anglers casting soft plastic jigs. At the Route 90 Bridge there is some striped bass action near the bridge piers and nearby marsh sedge banks. Most anglers are using soft plastic jigs and paddletails. Tautog are being caught inside the inlet; a fair percentage measure under the required 16 inches, but most anglers can go home with one or two legal fish. Pieces of green crab or sand fleas are the most popular baits.
It has been rough offshore in recent days, and this windy weather will definitely be a factor for venturing offshore. The last anglers to fish the wreck and reef sites did very well on black sea bass and large flounder. The canyon fishery is mostly centered around deep drop fishing for blueline tilefish and swordfish.
“The chief difference between big-game fishing and weightlifting is that weightlifters never clutter up their library walls with stuffed barbells.” – Ed Zern 1947.
Maryland Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
The Forecast Summary 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.
