Maryland Fishing Report – August 27

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Forecast Summary: August 27 – September 2:

Expect warm and sunny fishing weather and stable conditions for Maryland Bay waters all week. As reported by the NOAA buoys, main Bay surface water temperatures are currently in the upper 70s but will be warming. River temperatures are slightly cooler in the lower 70s. 

Salinities are below normal for most Maryland waters this time of year. While from Swan Point to the Bay Bridge, there is adequate oxygen only down to between 15-25 feet, conditions throughout the rest of the main Bay are much improved. In the Potomac River, there will be adequate oxygen down to less than 15 feet in the Colonial Beach area but improving downstream towards Point Lookout. Recent breezy conditions, cooler nights, and shortened days have cooled Bay surface waters and improved low oxygen conditions in the main Bay waters.

Expect average water clarity for Maryland’s streams, rivers, and main Bay waters. Due to an algal bloom, expect reduced water clarity in the Patapsco and Back River area of the Bay. 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 Wednesday through Friday as a result of the recent new moon on August 23.

Upper Chesapeake Bay

Anglers using surf rods and braided lines are enjoying good fishing for striped bass at the Conowingo Dam pool by casting soft plastic jigs and paddletails into the turbine wash. Fishing for striped bass along the edges of the Susquehanna Flats during the early morning and late evening has improved slightly due to cooler water temperatures.

There continues to be good striped bass fishing in the Patapsco River. Anglers are finding fish holding near piers and rocks in the Baltimore Harbor area. Casting a mix of soft plastic jigs, paddletails, and crankbaits have been popular lures to cast during the morning and evening hours. The other tidal rivers in the upper Bay also offer shallow water shoreline fishing for striped bass.

There is still live-lining of spot going on along channel edges in the Patapsco River and Curtis Creek areas. The action has dropped off a bit from previous weeks but is still worth the effort. Striped bass anglers are exploring other locations in the upper Bay, Pooles Island, the Tolchester lumps, Swann Point and the Love Point Rocks are all worth checking out. If marks can be seen on depth finders, live lining spot is one of the best options for striped bass fishing this week. 

Spot are still being found in good numbers in the Chester River, the mouth of the Magothy River, and various hard-bottom areas within the upper Bay. There is some good white perch fishing this week at Curtis Creek and near Fort Carroll in the Patapsco River. The other tidal rivers in the upper bay are providing some shoreline fishing opportunities during the morning and evening hours. Some of the knolls out in the upper bay are holding white perch and once located with a depth finder, using dropper rigs is an excellent way to target them. 

Fishing for blue catfish in the upper Bay tidal rivers is always fruitful. The mouth of the Susquehanna and Elk rivers offer some of the best fishing, but the Chester River and Pooles Island can also be good places to find them.

Middle Bay

The best fishing for striped bass in the middle Bay is reported to be coming from those who fish the shallower waters along shorelines during the early morning and late evening hours. Casting poppers and paddletails are the two most popular lures being used. Eastern Bay. Poplar Island, the lower Choptank River, and the Dorchester County shorelines are some of the better places to target striped bass this week. Water temperatures have dropped into the upper 70s in most areas and the fish are responding favorably to those cooler water temperatures. 

Live-lining spot is a popular way to fish for striped bass this week, and a couple artificial reef sites and steep edges on the north side of Tilghman Island and Sharps Island Light are good places to check. A good depth finder is very important in locating striped bass suspended off the bottom. There is some on-and-off striped bass action at the Bay Bridge piers for anglers drifting live spot back to the pier bases. 

Anglers are finding plenty of spot on hard bottom areas in Eastern Bay, the lower Choptank, the Little Choptank, and off Taylors Island. Croakers are often mixed in, and a fair number are now measuring over the minimum 9-inch length. The spot are getting larger – an 8-inch spot is big enough to take home for table fare. 

Small bluefish can be found throughout the middle Bay – some are as small as 12 inches in length. Trolling has been a popular way to fish for them, and anglers are managing to be able to catch one-to-two-pound bluefish while trolling along the main channel edges with surg tube lures and spoons. 

White perch fishing tends to be fair to good in many of the tidal rivers and creeks within the middle Bay. All the tidal rivers have white perch in them, often holding over oyster bottom or tight to docks, piers and submerged rocks.

Bluefish can be found in good numbers throughout the lower Bay, with some of the best fishing success occurring on the eastern side from the HS Buoy south to the Middle Grounds and Tangier Sound. The mouth of the Potomac and Point Lookout to Cedar Point has also been a good place to fish for bluefish. Trolling surg tube lures and spoons are the two most popular lures to use. Anglers are also encountering schools of bluefish on the surface chasing bait schools and catching them by casting metal jigs. 

Trolling Drone and Clark spoons at slightly higher speeds with planers is a productive way to catch Spanish mackerel this week. The Spanish mackerel will also mix it up with bluefish when chasing bait and a lightning-fast retrieve of a metal jig is a proven way to target them. Anglers should keep a watch on depth finders looking for heavy marks indicating there might be large red drum or cobia holding close to the bottom underneath the surface mayhem. Large soft plastic jigs or a live eel is a great way to find out who is down there. 

Seasoned anglers know that when you cast your line into the water, you never know what you might catch. Carlos Matus was trolling for bluefish in the lower Bay when he hooked up with this adult tarpon. After a strenuous fight, the tarpon was quickly released in the water. Historically there has been a late summer tarpon fishery on the lower eastern shore of Virginia that does not get much attention, which suits the locals just fine. This author fished there in the mid-1970s and jumped two but lost them both when they threw the hook, which is very common in tarpon fishing. It is not a stretch that some of these tarpon would wander into our waters. It is a common scientific fact that the largest of a species will tend to wander the farthest north. 

The shallow water fishery for a mix of striped bass, slot-size red drum, speckled trout, and bluefish is doing well this week. Slightly cooler water temperatures may be a factor in that fishery doing so well. The traditional locations along the lower Potomac and Patuxent rivers, shorelines of the Eastern Shore shorelines, and Tangier and Pocomoke sounds are all producing good fishing. Poppers, paddletails and popping corks trailing soft plastic shrimp are all good ways to fish. 

Fishing for cobia has been good for those sight fishing on windless days or more traditional chumming and fishing a live eel at the back of the chum slick on the bottom. The Target Ship and Middle Grounds are good places to give cobia fishing a try. Large red drum are also in the area and can provide some exciting catch and release action when jigging, fishing bait or trolling large spoons. Large red drum will sometimes give their presence away with slicks, disturbed water or chasing schools of bait on the surface. 

Sheepshead are being caught near the Target Ship on fiddler crab or peeler crab baits. A few legal-sized flounder are being caught by those who target them near Point Lookout and the Tangier and Pocomoke sounds. Fishing for spot could hardly be any better, and many are large now, and the croakers are measuring more than 9 inches. A mix of blowfish, kingfish, and small black sea bass can also be in the mix. The mouth of the Patuxent, Tangier Sound, and the lower Potomac are some of the popular places to fish this week. Look for hard bottom in 15-20 feet of water.

Blue Crabs:

The lack of any appreciable rain has caused higher salinity waters to move up the tidal rivers and creeks and blue crabs have followed. Recreational crabbers are doing well with trotlines, collapsible crab traps, and net rings. Razor clams continue to be the bait of choice, while others are doing well with fish parts and chicken necks. The shallower waters tend to be holding a lot of sooks and small crabs and 8-12 feet seems to be the sweet spot for larger male crabs.

Freshwater Fishing

September is in sight and with that anglers will start to see cooler weather, which will lower water temperatures in streams, rivers, reservoirs, and ponds across Maryland. Cooler water temperatures will mean increased fish activity and better fishing. 

Trout anglers fishing the catch and release and fly fishing only trout management waters of the western and central regions are seeing lower flows but enjoyable fishing. Tricos are usually a steady hatch between July and October and fly anglers are also doing well with a variety of terrestrial flies and streamers.

The upper Potomac River is showing typical late summer conditions with relatively low flow conditions, clear water and water temperatures are slowly declining. The early morning and evening hours still offer the best fishing opportunities and cloudy days are a bonus. On cloudy days smallmouth bass may feed all day long, on sunny days they will seek shade and well oxygenated waters. Smallmouth bass are feeding on a variety of prey items. They will search for crayfish near grass edges and insect hatches near shaded banks will draw baitfish which will intern draw smallmouth bass. Poppers are an excellent lure to use in low light conditions, using them can reduce snags and fouling grass and smallmouth bass are attracted to noise. 

Recent surveys in the Monocacy revealed that smallmouth bass juvenile numbers were below average, and fish collected were smaller than those typically seen in mid-summer. High flow events and flooding in May were likely a major factor responsible for limited spawning success and late spawning. Additional surveys will be conducted on Conococheague Creek and the upper Potomac River when conditions allow. The warm water hatchery program has recently stocked juvenile smallmouth bass in several areas of the upper Potomac recently in an ongoing program.

Fishing for largemouth bass and Chesapeake Channa is getting better as water temperatures decline and feeding activity increases. The good fishing that the morning hours provide last longer into the day, and on cloudy days largemouth bass may be active all day long. Topwater lures, soft plastics, jerkbaits, and spinnerbaits are all good lures to use in specific areas. 

Anglers are enjoying good fishing for blue catfish in the tidal rivers and creeks of the Chesapeake Bay. Fishing for Chesapeake Channa in the tidal rivers is about as good as it gets. The parent fish are no longer guarding fry balls and are aggressively feeding near or in thick grass beds and emergent aquatic vegetation. Soft-bodied frogs are an excellent lure to use when fishing in the grass and paddletails are the most popular lure when fishing grass edges and broken grass patches. 

Southern Region biologists launched a QR-code Volunteer Angler Survey at eleven angler access sites in the region that were chosen to represent a mixture of large, medium, and small impoundments, as well as tidal freshwater, low- and high-use. This survey will help bolster our data collection in waterbodies seldom sampled, provide long-term stock assessment trends, help ground-truth our survey results, and give statistics to display on our regional website.

Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays

The coastal waters off Ocean City received a significant heave last week, and sometimes in late summer a little stir to our ocean waters is a good thing. Surf anglers have seen the surf calm down and fishing for a mix of kingfish, croakers, spot, blowfish, and flounder picked up right where it left off. Bluefish are in the surf and are being caught on cut bait and finger mullet. A few pompano were caught recently in the Assateague surf on sand fleas.

There are bluefish and striped bass to be caught in the inlet and Route 50 Bridge area for those casting soft plastic jigs. Paddletails or drifting cut bait. Sheepshead are being caught near jetty rocks on fiddler crabs, peeler crab and pieces of green crab.

The bay waters have cleared up and flounder fishing prospects for this week look very good. It is going to be a busy boating weekend so be careful when fishing in the channels. Live bait and Gulp baits are catching the largest flounder. Squid and minnow baits work well and provide the added entertainment of small black sea bass and croakers. 

The near-shore wreck and reef sites are providing good fishing for larger flounder and that good flounder fishing extends out to the wreck and reef sites that are farther offshore. At those offshore sites fishing for black sea bass has been very good lately with many anglers coming close to catching limits. Triggerfish have also been part of the mix and small dolphin tend to be a bit scarce.

At the canyons, anglers who are trolling are experiencing multiple white marlin catch and releases along with some large dolphin. Yellowfin tuna have been a bit sparse but that could change any day. Deep drop anglers are enjoying bringing blueline tilefish back to the docks to round out their canyon trips.