Herb Floyd enjoyed some light tackle fishing in the Chesapeake Bay recently, catching this red drum. Photo by Rhonda Floyd
A change of seasons is all around us this week, vibrant colors abound, the mornings have a little more chill in them, and anglers are enjoying fishing across Maryland.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced results of this year’s juvenile striped bass survey, which tracks the reproductive success of Maryland’s state fish in the Chesapeake Bay. The 2024 young-of-year index is 2.0, well below the long-term average of 11.0, and marks the sixth consecutive year of poor reproduction.
Efforts to rebuild the Atlantic Coast population of striped bass have been ongoing for several years. Although recent population estimates indicate improvement, low levels of reproduction will influence future conservation measures under consideration by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
Forecast Summary: October 30 – November 5:
Expect sunny and breezy weather for the first week in November. As reported from the NOAA buoys, shorter daylight periods and cooler daytime air temperatures have cooled main Bay surface water temperatures to the low 60s with the rivers running cooler.
Salinity in waters south of the Bay Bridge continues to run fresher than average. Areas north of the Bay Bridge are slightly above average. Due to the cooled waters and windy conditions in the past week, turnover has occurred, and the Bay waters have mixed from surface to bottom resulting in good oxygen conditions and uniform water temperatures throughout the water column. This will result in fish being able to move more vertically in many areas and be more scattered until turnover conditions stabilize. Once stabilized, anglers will be rewarded with great fishing conditions and more opportunities to catch fish in shallower waters (as well as breaking fish) and the traditional places deeper in the water column such as channel edges, underwater points, hard bottom, and drop-offs.
Expect average water clarity for most of the Maryland portion of the Bay. To see the latest water clarity conditions, check Eyes on the Bay Satellite Maps. Expect average flows for the Maryland rivers and streams. There will be above average tidal currents all week as a result of the new moon on November 1. For more detailed and up-to-date fishing conditions in your area, be sure to check out Eyes on the Bay’s Click Before You Cast.
Photo courtesy of Mark Hanson
Anglers continue to enjoy good fishing for striped bass at the Conowingo Dam pool this week. Late afternoon and evening power generation water releases have been sporadic recently, but the fishing remains good. The turbines must keep moving so even a little release is enough to attract striped bass. It takes a long cast, powerful spinning rods, and a thin braided line to reach the turbine wash. Casting paddletails, soft plastic jigs, crankbaits, and jerkbaits all tend to work.
The dam pool and the nearby lower Susquehanna River are also providing opportunities for smallmouth bass, walleye, blue catfish, and flathead catfish. The smallmouth bass and walleye will go after jigs, crankbaits and paddletails fished deep. The blue catfish and flathead catfish prefer live bait or fresh cut bait fished close to the bottom.
In the upper Bay south of the Susquehanna River, striped bass action this week tends to be focused at the mouth of the Patapsco River, the Love Point rocks, and the edges of the main channels. Jigging is very popular this week at the Patapsco River and Love Point. Trolling umbrella rigs behind heavy inline weight along the channel edges in about 30 feet of water is a good way to pick up striped bass. Bucktails with white twister tails or sassy shads is one of the most popular lures to use as a trailer behind an umbrella rig.
This is a good time of the year to fish for blue catfish in the region’s tidal rivers and in the Bay. The mouth of the Susquehanna near Port Deposit and Havre de Grace is an excellent place to fish for some of the largest blue catfish. They are around Pooles Island and the Chester River from Chestertown to Crumpton are also excellent places to fish. Mark Hanson caught this large blue catfish in the lower Susquehanna River recently.
As water temperatures in the tidal rivers drop to the low 60s, the white perch are moving from their typical summer habitat in the shallower areas of tidal creeks and rivers to the deeper portions of the tidal rivers. Anglers will find them starting to school up near channel edges and in the channels. Fishing with grass shrimp, small minnows, peeler crab or pieces of bloodworm or bloodworm alternatives on a bottom rig is one of the best ways to target them. Dropper rigs with small flies or plastic jigs can also be a good choice when jigged close to the bottom.
Tianjiao Li caught this large white perch while jigging. Photo courtesy of Tianjiao Li
Striped bass fishing in the middle Bay has undergone some changes in the past two weeks as water temperatures in the tidal rivers decline to the upper 50s. Due to chilly weather recently, the water temperatures at the Gooses Reef data buoy dropped from 65 degrees to about 63 degrees in the last few days. The striped bass shallow water fishery has slowed down as fish move to deeper waters. Anglers do report that they are picking up a few striped bass and puppy drum.
The typical fall fishery is for the striped bass to be staged near the mouth of the tidal rivers and baitfish in the form of juvenile menhaden move out of the tidal rivers and migrate down the bay. Any angler who has been present when the schools of menhaden collide with striped bass and diving gulls will never forget the experience. It is hoped that this event will happen this week.
Jigging soft plastic or metal jigs to striped bass holding deep or casting to breaking fish will be the most popular way to fish and is the most fun. Diving sea gulls will often point the way but slicks, resting sea gulls and a careful watch on depth finders can reveal striped bass suspended below the surface. Braided line will help with sensitivity and a fast action fishing rod provides some backbone for jigging.
Trolling umbrella rigs pulled behind heavy inline weights will be another way anglers will fish for striped bass along the deeper edges of the channels. This tends to be a more comfortable way to fish as the weather turns colder as we enter November; a warm cabin out of the wind can be very inviting. This type of fishing comes with a price, heavy tackle is required and boats usually keep moving as fish are cranked in.
A popular spot to look for the menhaden migration is the Choptank River and channels out in the bay. Tidal rivers on the western shore will also see similar events of striped bass chasing the menhaden. Eastern Bay is another good place to look for action as well as the Little Choptank. Strong ebbing tides will help the juvenile menhaden on their journey down the bay and out into the ocean, so steep channel edges will be a good place to look for suspended striped bass.
White perch are also feeling the urge to head to deeper and warmer waters this week. They can be found in the lower sections of the region’s tidal rivers holding over oyster reefs and similar knolls. Fishing a bottom rig baited with grass shrimp, peeler crab or pieces of bloodworm is the most popular and productive way to fish for them. Anglers can also have success with dropper rigs that combine a metal jig, and a dropper fly or small plastic jig tied above.
Adrienne Boyes and Melissa Broadway Hissey had fun fishing together in the lower bay recently. Photo by Travis Long
Lower Bay water temperatures are holding in the mid 60s this week and the tidal rivers and creeks are at 60 degrees or slightly below. There is still a productive shallow water fishery in the lower bay region where anglers are catching a mix of striped bass, puppy drum and speckled trout. Casting a mix of paddletails, crankbaits, jerkbaits and soft plastic jigs are the most popular lures to cast near promising shorelines and structure. Drifting peeler crab baits in current areas and fishing plastic shrimp under a popping cork are good ways to fish for speckled trout and puppy drum in about four to six feet of water over grass beds. The lower Potomac, Patuxent, Nanticoke rivers and Tangier and Pocomoke sounds are all good places to cast lures. Traditional locations such as the Cedar Point rocks, Point Lookout rips and the cuts through Hoopers Island are all worth exploring.
Striped bass are holding along steep channel edges out in the bay to intercept schools of small menhaden being swept along by swift currents. Jigging with soft plastics or metal jigs is a very popular and exciting way to fish these channel edges. At times anglers may be lucky enough to encounter breaking fish when the striped bass push the schools of bait to the surface. This action can often be spotted at a distance by diving seagulls, so it is a good idea to have binoculars onboard.
Trolling with umbrella rigs pulled behind heavy inline weights will become more popular as we enter the month of November. The heavy inline weights will be needed to get down to the 30-foot depths where most striped bass will be found suspended off the bottom of the channel edges. Bucktails dressed with white or chartreuse sassy shads will be popular as an umbrella rig trailer. Tandem rigged bucktails/sassy shad rigs can also be a good choice and can be pulled behind a No. 2 planer in most cases.
White perch are headed for deeper and warmer waters this week, the lower sections of the tidal rivers are a good place to look for them schooled up over oyster reefs and lumps. Bridge piers help provide structure, so the Route 4 bridge over the Patuxent River is a great place to look for them. Bottom rigs baited with peeler crab, grass shrimp, pieces of blood worm or artificial bloodworm baits are good choices. Dropper rigs with a metal jig and a small soft plastic jig tied above is another good choice when targeting the larger white perch.
Recreational crabbers are finding crabs moving to deeper and warmer waters this week. Depths of about 15 feet of water tend to be the best areas to crab and drop-off edges have been the most productive. Those using trotlines report a significant number of crabs are dropping off the line before they can be netted, so it can be a good idea to utilize collapsible crab traps during the same outing. The placement of collapsible crab traps in different water depths can also lead to better placement of traps and trotlines.
Photo by Ryan Siwinski
Fall put and take trout stocking activity has now concluded for the season. In total, 27 water bodies were stocked with 15,000 brown, rainbow, and golden rainbow trout, averaging more than a pound each, to provide trout fishing opportunities throughout the fall. Although the fall stocking has wrapped up, staff are busy preparing for future production and the 2025 spring season. Anglers are encouraged to check the trout stocking webpage for stocking updates as pre-season stocking gets underway early in 2025.
The upper Potomac River is running very low and clear this week. Anglers are warned to be careful of water hazards lying beneath the surface when fishing from boats. Those wishing to wade will now have to use waders as water temperatures are now around 54-degrees. All should be careful of cold-water immersion and although the regulation does not become mandatory till November 15, anglers should consider wearing a personal flotation device.
The grass beds in the upper Potomac are starting to break up and baitfish and crayfish are headed to deeper waters looking for safe haven for the winter months. Because of the low and clear water long casts are a must with light lines when casting for smallmouth bass and walleye. Small crankbaits, craw jigs, grubs and tubes are good choices for lures, all need to be fished close to the bottom.
Colder water temperatures have baitfish and crayfish on the move from shallower areas to deeper waters where they hope to settle in for the winter months. Transition areas are a good place to fish with a variety of crankbaits and jigs that mimic crayfish and spinnerbaits and jerkbaits to represent baitfish. Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass will be working over these transition areas to intercept the movement of bait to deep water structure.
Some of the more popular western region areas that provide good fishing this week are Deep Creek Lake, Greenbrier Lake, and the Cunningham Falls Reservoir. In the central region, Loch Raven, Piney Run, Liberty and Triadelphia reservoirs offer excellent fishing prospects. In the southern region, lakes Wheatley, Artemesia, and St. Mary’s are excellent places to fish for largemouth bass. Tuckahoe and Smithville lakes are just two of the many good places to fish in the eastern region. The upper sections of the tidal rivers also offer a wide range of fishing opportunities for largemouth bass and Chesapeake Channa.
Angler Ryan Siwinski recently caught a fish rarely seen in Maryland waters, a bowfin, found in a tributary of the Patapsco River. The scientific name for the bowfin is Amia calva. They are native to North America and first appeared during the early Triassic Period which is about 250 million years ago. This is a bony fish and can breathe air like gars through a gas bladder when needed. Their preferred habitat includes lowland rivers and lakes, swamps, and backwater areas and occasionally are found in brackish water. They are an ambush predator and are known to slowly move through grass at night feeding on a variety of items, including fish, frogs, insects, and crayfish. They are long-living and are documented to live 30 years or more.
As water temperatures drop in the upper sections of the Chesapeake Bay tidal rivers and the many nontidal waters across the state, fishing for chain pickerel will begin to take center stage. As grass beds diminish chain pickerel will begin to look for structure in the form of sunken wood. As ambush predators they will hold near structure. Chain pickerel can offer a lot of exciting fishing fun through the winter months and because of their hard-hitting approach to lures, anglers are encouraged to remove treble hooks on their lures and replace them with single inline hooks. Chain pickerel will often engulf lures, and treble hooks will become lodged on the fish’s gill arches which is usually fatal.
Fishing for blue catfish in the upper sections of the Chesapeake Bay’s tidal rivers offer plenty of fishing excitement and good eating this month. The lack of rain has caused salinity values to be unusually high in the lower sections of the tidal rivers and blue catfish can be concentrated in generally low salinity waters. Colder water temperatures also will push blue catfish to move farther up the tidal rivers and hold in some of the deeper channel areas. Every tidal river now has populations of blue catfish, but the lower Susquehanna, Chester, Potomac, Patuxent, and Nanticoke rivers hold some of the largest concentrations.
Ryan Kaley caught this big bluefin tuna recently within 6 miles of Ocean City Inlet.. Photo courtesy of Scott Lenox
Surf anglers continue to pick away at a few large red drum moving down the beaches on their way south. The peak of the migration has passed but there are always a few bringing up the rear. Sting rays have been keeping anglers busy and soon spiny dogfish will be on the scene along with clearnose skates. Most anglers are fishing with cut mullet baits, menhaden will work also.
At the inlet anglers are catching sheepshead and tautog on sand fleas near the jetty rocks, bulkheads, bridge and dock piers. Those casting a mix of bucktails dressed with twister tails, or sassy shads are catching striped bass and puppy drum. Flounder are moving through the inlet so drifting strip baits of mullet, squid or using live spot are catching the largest flounder. Casting white or pink Gulp baits on a jig head is also a good choice.
The back bay channels leading towards the inlet are perhaps the best places to drift for flounder this week. The Thorofare and East Channel are at the top of the list. There is some striped bass action this week at the Route 90 bridge piers. Anglers are enjoying some fun catch and release action since most of the striped bass fail to meet the 28-inch minimum. Casting a mix of soft plastic jigs and paddletails near the bases of the bridge piers gets the job done.
Fishing for black sea bass is good this week with some anglers achieving limit catches at the wreck and reef sites. Flounder can also be part of the mix at times. Now and then large bluefish can show up and when they do, reeling in a sea bass bit in half is a tell tale sign they’re up to no good.
The fall migration of bluefin tuna has begun off the coast of Maryland and anglers are catching some hefty bluefins within a few miles of the coast. Usually they will stay within the 30 Fathom line on their migration south but will move in close to shore to feed on menhaden.
Yellowfin tuna are moving south also, and some beautiful yellowfins are being caught at the canyons by trolling, chunking or jigging. Deep drop fishing for a mix of blueline and golden tilefish always helps round out a day of fishing at the canyons.
“In the autumn, fishing is coming to an end and each day you are parting with it- for a long time, for a whole six months.” – Sergei Aksakov, 1791-1859
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.”
