Maryland Fishing Report – July 1

The lower Susquehanna River and Conowingo Dam pool continue to draw anglers fishing for a mix of striped bass, Chesapeake Channa, and blue, flathead and channel catfish. The best striped bass fishing is during the early morning and late evening in the dam pool and along the east and west edges of the Susquehanna Flats and channel edges. Casting a mix of lures and drifting cut bait in the dam pool is a popular way to fish. The Chesapeake Channa can be encountered in the dam pool and in the Susquehanna Flats grass beds. Paddletails and noisy topwater lures work best. 

Striped bass are being found in a variety of locations in the upper Bay this week and most involve channel edges at about a 30-foot depth. The channels leading into the Northeast River, the Elk River are worth exploring. The lumps around Pooles Island, the Tolchester Channel, Swan Point, and Love Point are places anglers are finding striped bass. Locating them on a depth finder and live-lining spot or drifting cut bait is a popular method to fish for them. Other anglers are having luck by jigging and trolling. Air and water temperatures are elevating this week, and anglers should release striped bass outside of the slot sizes and limit catch without removing them from the water to ensure released striped bass survive. Safe catch-and-release tips are on the DNR website.

Anglers have been fishing in the region’s tidal rivers for a mix of Chesapeake Channa, blue and channel catfish and white perch. The Chesapeake Channa, aka snakeheads, can be found in the middle to upper sections of the tidal rivers, usually in thick grass. Buzzbaits, chatterbaits, and soft frogs are excellent lures to use when covering grass. White paddletails work well around the edges of the grass in more open water.

All the tidal rivers have populations of blue and channel catfish, and the larger female blue catfish are showing signs of being finished with spawning; they are now on the prowl to build up body stores. The channels are good places to fish during the day and shoal edges along the channels in the evenings. As water temperatures elevate, catfish will tend to stay in deeper waters as long as there is plenty of oxygen down there. 

Fishing for white perch in the tidal rivers and creeks offers some quiet and often secluded fishing. Fish for them in deeper waters with grass shrimp or pieces of peeler crab or bloodworms near structure in the form of oyster beds, hard bottom and deep structure in the form of dock piers and pilings. Casting spin jigs, spinners, and small spinnerbaits along promising shorelines during the early morning and evening hours with ultra-light tackle is always a fun way to target the larger white perch. Spot can be found at the mouth of the Magothy River, the Chester River, and near Sandy Point State Park. 

The Bay Bridge continues to attract anglers and for a good reason – there are fish there. Striped bass are attracted to the bridge pier bases and the rock piles. The 30-foot edge on the east side of the bridge is a favorite location to live line spot or drift soft crab baits or cut bait back to the pier bases.  

Hopefully because of drought conditions and the lower amounts of nutrient runoff, we will not see prominent dead zones this summer. Anglers should be aware that it can happen in some areas and striped bass and other fish will have to move to often shallower waters for relief at the cost of warmer water temperatures which puts them at risk when additional stress occurs, such as catch and release by anglers. Once water temperatures exceed 80 degrees and air temperatures are hot, survival rates for striped bass caught and taken out of the water are not good. Ethical anglers should limit their fishing during these times, do not remove fish from the water that are to be released, and limit catch-and-release fishing. 

Most anglers in the middle Bay who are fishing during the day are focusing on channel edges of 30 feet or more. The steeper channel edges off Kent Island and south of Bloody Point to Stone Rock, the Clay Banks, and below the mouth of the Choptank and Thomas Point are good places to explore for striped bass. Depth finders are an important tool to locate striped bass suspended off the bottom along these channel edges. 

Water temperatures in the middle Bay are generally around 79 degrees this week and most likely will top 80 degrees by the end of the week. Salinity values remain high due to the lack of rain and make it more comfortable for bluefish to move in. Trolling Drone spoons and surge tube lures are a good way to target them. You can catch them by jigging or casting to breaking fish with soft plastic jigs and paddletails and they will zoom in on live spot, but the bluefish extract a price with their sharp teeth on soft plastics and live spot. Cownose rays have been pesky neighbors to anyone fishing in the Bay; when they swarm through an area, they can snag lines and churn up shallow waters. 

The striped bass shallow water fishery is moving to an early morning and late evening fishing opportunity due to warm water conditions and intense sun. Casting poppers, Zara Spooks and similar topwater lures is a great way to fish over grass and enjoy the excitement of surface strikes. Paddletails and jerkbaits offer alternatives. 

Fishing for a mix of spot and croaker in the middle Bay offers some fun fishing. Many of the spot are large enough to eat and a fair portion of the croakers manage to sneak over the 9-inch minimum. Most hardbottom and shallow waters will hold spot and croaker. A few locations include Whitehall Bay, Holland Point, Eastern Bay, Bar Neck Point, inside of Blank Walnut Point, and the mouth of the Little Choptank.

The tidal rivers and creeks offer quiet and accessible fishing opportunities for light tackle anglers. Fishing with grass shrimp or pieces of peeler crab or bloodworms on a simple bottom rig near deep water piers and docks or oyster reefs is a fun option. Drifting along shorelines and casting a variety of spin-jigs and small spinnerbaits during the morning and evening hours is always a fun outing.

As water temperatures elevate, anglers are finding increased opportunities for striped bass fishing along channel edges in 30 feet of water or more. There are still shallow-water fishing opportunities for striped bass, but they tend to be limited to the early morning and late evening hours. 

The 30-foot steep channel edges of the lower Potomac River near St. Georges Island, Piney Point and Cornfield Point, Cedar Point and Cove Point, and in the Patuxent River below the Route 4 Bridge are good locations to look for striped bass. Live-lining spot and jigging with soft plastics are popular ways to fish these locations. There is also action on the eastern side of the Bay near the HS Buoy and the Target Ship area. 

Anglers are seeing increased numbers of bluefish this week, which for many are a welcomed sight and offer additional fishing opportunities. At times anglers are encountering breaking fish, at other times they can be caught while chumming for cobia, jigging, or trolling. If you do encounter breaking fish, sometimes large red drum, striped bass and cobia can be found holding close to the bottom attracted by the action above. 

Large red drum are providing catch-and-release fishing for anglers near the mouth of the Potomac River, the Middle Grounds and near the Target Ship. Schools of red drum can be spotted by breaking fish action, slicks and by depth finders. Most anglers are jigging with large soft plastics with good success. Others are fishing with soft crab baits or trolling with large chrome spoons. Trolling is an option for anglers in the lower Bay and spreads can contain Drone spoons for bluefish, surgical tube lures for cobia, and chrome spoons for large red drum. 

Anglers have been chumming for cobia near the Target Ship, Smith Point, and Point Lookout. Most are drifting live eels into the back of their chum slicks. While waiting for a cobia, drifting cut baits can provide some entertainment with bluefish and perhaps a striped bass. Most of the cobia being caught are falling a little short of the 43-inch minimum. When conditions are calm, sight fishing and casting soft plastic jigs or live eels to cobia are an option.

Fishing for a mix of spot and croaker are delighting adults and our younger anglers this week. There is plenty of good fishing action and many of the spot are table fare size. The throwback ratio on the croakers is significant, but a decent percentage measure over the 9-inch minimum. The areas around Cob Island, the mouth of the Wicomico, Cornfield Harbor, the lower Patuxent, waters near Hoopers Island, and Tangier Sound are just a few of the locations where spot and croaker can be found. 

White perch can be found in the tidal rivers and creeks, sometimes mixed in with the spot and croaker. The shoreline areas are places where fishing with spin-jigs, small spinnerbaits can account for some fun light tackle fishing. Chartreuse Clouser flies with some crystal flash in them is an exciting way to fly fish for white perch in the evenings along shorelines.

Blue Crabs

It has been a tough week for many recreational crabbers. The crabs that are being caught in deep water are large, often 8 inches, but the supply is dwindling fast as they get caught up. A couple of sheds are going to be needed to get crabbing back to where crabbers would like. The lower Bay tends to have the best catches and those crabbing with razor clams are having a difficult time with cownose rays chewing up the clam bags. For those recreational crabbers under pressure to provide crabs for July 4 festivities, we wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. 

Freshwater Fishing

Fish and anglers are adjusting to summer temperatures. In the central region and parts of the western region, trout will do their best to find cool shady pools to wait out the daytime sun and heat and feed mostly at night. Catch-and-release trout anglers might consider limiting handling to avoid added stress to them.

Many of the reservoirs in western Maryland are excellent places to fish for a variety of species. Deep Creek Lake is perhaps one of the most widely known and is very popular with summer vacationers. Lake Habeeb at Rocky Gap State Park is another. Tucked in between them in Garrett County is Piney Reservoir, which has the novelty of holding a population of saugeye, which are a cross between walleye and sauger. They were stocked there to help control the yellow perch populations in the lake.

Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass will be feeding mostly at night so the early morning hours and evening hours will be the best times to find them out on the prowl for prey. A variety of topwater lures and spinnerbaits can be good choices when working near shallow structure and grass. Wacky rigged stick worms and soft plastics are a good choice when fishing through floating grass mats and shady structure where bass may be holding during the sunny parts of the day. 

Chesapeake Channa are finishing up their spawning activities this month and will be actively feeding. Large grass bed fields and small backwater ditches in the tidal waters of the state is where to find them. A mix of soft frogs, buzzbaits, and chatterbaits are good choices when fishing grass. White paddletails are a popular choice when fishing more open water along the edges of the grass. 

The summer months and sunfish species naturally go together and offer plenty of fun fishing for light tackle. A variety of small lures and natural baits will get their attention. It presents an excellent opportunity for fly casters to enjoy some fun. A lightweight fly rod, a floating fly line, and some small rubber-legged poppers or floating ants set the stage for some fun. Bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish can be found in almost every freshwater pond in Maryland and other species such as redbreast sunfish can also be found in the more western regions. 

Randy Buzilow holds a nice yellowfin tuna he caught at the Wilmington Canyon. Photo courtesy of Randy Buzilow