Maryland Fishing Reports

Passing cold fronts with gusty winds, especially on weekends, have significantly hampered fishing activity in recent weeks. It’s often been uncomfortable, or even impossible, to fish. On days when the weather has been decent enough for anglers to hit the water, they have often come up with nice rockfish catches.

There have been striped bass on Susquehanna Flats. Most of them haven’t been big, but the 14- to 18-inch fish provide exciting light-tackle casting action. A few larger rockfish, including nice fish to more than 30 inches, have been ...

Fishing eels around the pilings of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is often productive on nice stripers this time of year. Trollers have reported catching stripers on bucktails, spoons and plastics. Casting soft plastics on leadhead jigs, and swimming plugs, in the shallows has triggered exciting rockfish strikes, especially in the early-morning and evening hours. Anglers have also had a blast searching out clouds of diving sea gulls and then casting to rampaging rockfish as they chase baitfish to the surface.

Working the shallows, and casting into the chaos of breaking fish and diving birds, have both produced ...

Wind, then heavy rain, slowed fishing action for a considerable stretch last week. Fishing was very good before the bad weather, and should pick up and even improve as conditions settle down. Chumming and trolling have both turned up good catches of nice stripers, and anglers have also had a blast following birds and casting to breaking fish. In the early-morning low-light conditions, rockfish can be caught in the shallows.

Captain Richie Gaines at Angler’s Connection Guide Service reported excellent fishing in Eastern Bay. “We’re working the shallows in the mornings with ...

Rain and wind washed out most fishing activity this past weekend. Plus, many outdoorsmen are now spending more time in the woods and a little less time on the water. However, there are still plenty of fish around. Rockfish continue to be caught by chummers and trollers. Light-tackle anglers report strong numbers of stripers in the shallows around islands and river mouths. Striped bass fishing should get even better in the weeks ahead when anglers can look forward to hooking up with big fall fish.
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Rockfish are in their annual fall pattern, providing exciting early-morning topwater action in the shallows and a strong jigging bite in deeper water. According to Captain Richie Gaines at Angler’s Connection Guide Service, “I’m catching good quality fish in the shallows on Stillwater Smack It Jr. poppers and then working hard bottom structure in six to 12 feet of water the rest of the day. Using 5-inch ...

Hit the shallows to find rockfish, according to Jonny at Angler’s Fishing Center, who said they’re now in the mouths of rivers, up in creeks and in other skinny-water locations. One particularly productive location has been in the Severn River between the Naval Academy Bridge and the Route 50 Bridge, near the green marker where the water depth drops quickly from 9 to 25 feet. Jonny has nailed nice 23- to 33-inch rockfish there while trolling tandem bucktails and spoons. He typically fishes tandem bucktail rigs featuring bucktails from ½-ounce to 2 ounces, depending on how deep the fish are. Also look for them on jetties, bulkheads and other shallow structure, where topwater baits and Rat-L-Traps will trigger lots of strikes. First light in the morning can be a very exciting time to fish. Rockfish continue to be available on the structure of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Fishing soft crab baits on piling ...