Now is probably your best shot at ticking off a few species from your "catch list" or even complete a "Chesapeake Slam" — whatever your take happens to be. My point being that over the past several days I've received many reports of not only quality fish but exciting diversity: Spanish macks, red drum, bluefish, kingfish, spot and even some speckled trout and weakfish as far north as the Choptank River. And on this waning moon, crabs are on the move — doublers are seemingly everywhere. It's worth sharing for those thinking about fishing the lower bay and coastal bays that anglers are scoring puppy drum on soft plastics, and the flounder action is pretty good on nearshore wrecks.
Locally, the cold front that pushed through Sunday night has the fish on the feed, so we should expect the action only to get better. The topwater bite in the shallows has turned back on in recent days, while in open water breaking schools of blues, mack and rock are blitzing bay anchovies from Sharp's Island to Pooles Island. Check out our online Fishing Photo Gallery at capitalgazette.com for a visual tour of what I'm talking about.
As a side note, be courteous out there. Take your time when approaching a school of gamefish busting bait. Approach up tide and wind, throttle way down, or even turn off your motor. Roaring up to the action, or trolling through it, will only sound the fish and ruin the bite for everyone, including you. Otherwise, here's what folks are talking about:
Jim Bieler from Marty's Bait & Tackle was on the water when I caught up with him on Wednesday. He and Bill Cartney were fishing at the mouth of the Choptank River where they got into "a lot of breakers (and) a lot of links (small stripers)." But Bill did haul in a nice 21-inch mack. Jim adds the crabbing remains good in local rivers.
Last weekend, Mike Killelea first took some out-of-town friends out for a quick trip off Swan Point (near Rock Hall) where they ran into a nice school of 3- to 5-pound bluefish roaming in about 36 feet of water.
"We (then) spent all day on Saturday fishing from the Severn to the Choptank. Found all the blues and rockfish you could want. The boys bailed fish and dipped crabs from Poplar to Brannocks Bay," he said, adding that he's pretty sure they saw bull reds in the stump field south of Choptank. "Big swirls and a flash of gold was all I could make out." He does regret his last-minute decision not to bring the (Spanish) mack gear since they saw these speedsters jumping among the acres of breaking fish just south of Poplar.
Also fishing the eastern side of the Chesapeake, light-tackle guide Richie Gaines reports that fishing "continues to be good in Eastern Bay and south to Sharps Island. We're catching some quality rockfish early in the shallows and then chasing breaking fish the rest of the day. Seeing less blues and more Spanish. Small baits are the key."
Capt. Mark Galasso of Tuna the Tide Charters, who sails out of Kent Narrows, reports there are still some quality rockfish north of Love Point.
"I noticed the other day the head boats were catching plenty of spot and perch in Eastern Bay," he says, adding there are "tons" of small bluefish and stripers as well as Spanish mackerel all the way north of the Triple Buoys. He trolled red hoses, though adds live lining spot "seems to be the best bet for the larger rockfish…though the chummers are still having good catches."
"The summer bite is still in full swing out of Chesapeake Beach. Bottom fishing is good in the Choptank River for anglers that are targeting spot and white perch on bottom rigs," says Capt. LJ of G-Eye Jigs. "Trollers are scoring on Spanish mackerel and bluefish using planer boards with small Drones and Clarke spoons. There are plenty of breakers for anglers that want to run-and-gun after them. When you find breakers, be as quiet as you can when you get your boat positioned in front of the schools of fish." If you do, he promises you'll be "rewarded with rockfish, bluefish, mackerel, and the occasional trout (weakfish)."
Also fishing out of Chesapeake Beach, Capt. Randy Dean on Bay Hunter says the live lining is "very good and the kingfish bite in the Choptank is very good. We also caught a very nice red drum (of) 45 inches and 42 pounds. It was caught by Josh Cochran from Virginia." Late last week Capt. Randy had a nice catch of rockfish and spotted sea trout that inhaled live spot around Sharp's Island lighthouse.
Also across the bay, while trolling at the False Channel, Capt. Rick Blackwell of Cambridge, (and formally of the Miss Margaret Fowl Play Charters out of Happy Harbor Deale) checked in with some pictures of really nice red drum.
Just south, steaming from Breezy Point, Travis Long emailed me to report that he and friends Jake Tannehill and Adam Smith had a great day on the bay. They registered what Travis called a drum "slam." They hooked and released four nice reds on light tackle as well as released a grey trout (weakfish), and boxed keeper rockfish, blues and Spanish mackerel.
According to Capt. Harry on the charter fish Kingfish II says they're getting "catches of nice kingfish, spot, sea trout and a few croaker. The Spanish and blues are here and biting well but not much in the striper department."
Capt. Kevin Josenhans continues to fish in waters from the Little Choptank to Sharps Island, though in past day or so the rockfish have only been running in the 16- to 19-inch range for the most part. Perhaps that due to people running over fish, since earlier in the week they had rock to 26 inches with lots in the low 20-inch slot.
Over on the coast, on Tuesday Rudy Lukacovic and his wife went out with Capt. Monty on his party boat Morning Star.
"We did well on flounder — one shy of our limit and good quality (around 20 inches). The rest of the boat appeared to have done well also," Rudy shared. "One of his (Monty's) clients caught the biggest sea bass I've ever seen — well over five pounds. Monty said it's probably the biggest sea bass caught this year in OC."
Also fishing along the Atlantic, MSSA's Rob Pellicot reports there has been a good flounder bite on Blackfish Banks off Chincoteague. Bobby Hurt, fishing on his boat Reelaxin, decked a couple real beauties.
From Virginia Beach to Oregon Inlet the offshore fleet has been flying white, sail and blue marlin flags, says Ric Burnley. "And dolphin fishing has been good for guys trolling small ballyhoo on inshore lumps. Sight casters are scoring good numbers of cobia in the lower bay and along the Oceanfront," he says, and "big schools of red drum are popping up and a few schools of big crevalle jacks are in the mix. Along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel anglers are pulling sheepshead, triggerfish and spadefish." For spades and triggers, he recommends a 2/0 live bait hook, on a single-hook bottomrig, with clam or fiddler crab being the best bait.
OUTDOORS CALENDAR
Through Sept. 17: Chesapeake Summer Slam. Five species, throughout the Bay. Sign up at technicalfisherman.com.
Sept. 1-Oct. 8: Mourning Dove Season. Daily bag limit is 15. Possession limit is 45 birds. Shooting hours are noon to sunset.
Sept: 7: Free State Fly Fishers, Dusty Wissmath on "Fly Fishing The Greater Yellowstone." 7:30 p.m. at the Davidsonville Family Recreation Center.
Sept. 17-18: MSSA's sixth annual Mid-Atlantic Flounder Tournament. Register at mssa.net.
Sept. 24-25: CCA MD's fourth annual "Red Trout Catch & Release" tournament. Awards ceremony at American Legion, Crisfield. Register at ccamd.org.
Oct. 1: Anne Arundel County North Chapter of Ducks Unlimited's first "Ducktoberfest" at Earleigh Heights VFD, 161 Ritchie Highway. Severna Park. Contact Jamie Roell at 410-215-1425.
Oct. 15-22: First Split of Regular Duck Season. Max. six ducks, no more than four mallards (only two hens), three wood ducks, two scaup, two redheads. No black ducks.
Oct. 22: CCA Baltimore chapter's "Little Havana Rocktober Cup." Little Havana restaurant, 1325 Key Hwy., Baltimore. Register at ccamd.org.
Nov. 5: "Fish For A Cure" Rockfish Tournament. Register and details at fishforacure.org.
Nov. 12-25: Second Split of Duck Season. Black duck season open.
Nov. 18-20: MSSA's 24th Annual "Chesapeake Bay Fall Classic." Anglers can fish two of three days, "Lay Day" rule in effect. Register at mssa.net.
Nov. 19-25: First Split of Migratory (Atlantic Population) Canada Goose Season. Daily bag limit is two geese and the possession limit six.
Dec. 13-Jan. 28: Final Split of Duck Season.
Dec. 16-Feb. 4: Final Split of Migratory (Atlantic Population) Canada Goose Season. Daily bag limit is two geese and the possession limit six.