Maryland Fishing Report – July 30

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Forecast Summary: July 30 – August 5:

For more detailed and up-to-date fishing conditions in your area of the Bay, be sure to check out Eyes on the Bay’s Click Before You Cast.

Upper Chesapeake Bay

This weekend, anglers at the Conowingo Dam pool will once again be able to fish for striped bass in the turbine wash by casting soft plastic jigs and paddletails. The dam is currently on an afternoon/evening power generation schedule. Anglers will be exploring the edges of the Susquehanna Flats for striped bass during the early morning and late evening hours once the season starts again. Water temperatures are high so the best fishing success will most likely be at dawn and sunset for those casting topwater lures, paddletails, and jerkbaits. Deeper in the grass, anglers will also be encountering Chesapeake Channa and largemouth bass on topwater lures. Chesapeake Channa are beginning to feed aggressively and providing good fishing in the grassy areas in the middle to upper sections of the region’s tidal rivers. 

Live-lining spot will be a very popular way to fish for striped bass along channel edges and deep structure. Unfortunately, the bridge piers that remain from the Francis Scott Key Bridge are now off limits for boaters and anglers as demolition work begins. The channel edges leading into the Patapsco River will be worth exploring, the Tolchester Lumps, the Triple Buoys, Swan Point, Love Point rocks and the Baltimore Light are also good places to explore.

Blue catfish have been entertaining anglers this week and the action will continue indefinitely. As in other regions, the Bay crabs are moving into areas where anglers are fishing for blue catfish and can be a pesky annoyance as they chew on baits.

Fishing for spot has been very good in the Chester River, the mouth of the Magothy River, in front of Sandy Point State Park, and at the adjacent shallow western end of the Bay Bridge. Croakers can be mixed in but most fail to meet the 9-inch minimum. White perch can be found on some of the lumps and knolls in the upper Bay and in the tidal rivers.

Middle Bay

Middle Bay striped bass anglers will be checking out their favorite areas starting August 1. Water temperatures are in the upper 80s so shallow-water fishing will most likely be over once the sun clears the horizon. Speckled trout can be a welcomed addition to the mix and paddletails tend to be the most popular lure being used. 

Live-lining spot will be a popular way to fish during the daylight hours along channel edges. Bluefish can be found throughout the region so anglers will be trolling a mixed spread of red and green surgical tube lures for the bluefish and Drone spoons and bucktails for the striped bass.

Fishing for bluefish has been good near the mouth of the Choptank and the Sharps Island Light, and they will be found along the shipping channel edges. Anglers report spotting schools of bluefish chasing bay anchovies and small menhaden, and are enjoying casting into the action. Most of the bluefish are about 1.5 pounds to 2 pounds but some large ones show up now and then. A strong fluorocarbon leader or thin wire is needed to prevent being bitten off. 

Fishing for a mix of spot and croakers is very good this week in several hard-bottom locations throughout the middle Bay. Eastern Bay, in front of Chesapeake Beach and behind Black Walnut Point on Tilghman Island are just a few locations where they are being found. Most of the croakers are undersized but anglers are beginning to see some measure larger than the minimum 9-inch required to keep them. White perch can be found in the region’s tidal creeks and rivers and sometimes they will be mixed in with spot and croakers.

With the reopening of striped bass August 1, casting a mix of paddletails and soft plastic jigs along the deeper edges of shorelines of the lower Potomac, Patuxent, the Bay, and Tangier Sound will be popular. Speckled trout and bluefish will be a welcomed part of the mix. Jigging along channel edges and live-lining spot will be a very popular way to fish.

Bluefish are spread throughout the lower Bay and some of the better places to find them include the HS Buoy to the Target Ship, Cedar Point, the mouth of the Potomac, and the artificial reef sites. Trolling is a popular way to fish for them, but casting to breaking fish is a whole lot of fun. Anglers should watch their depth finders for heavy marks on the bottom under the breaking bluefish – they could be large red drum.

The Target Ship area is one of the best places to fish for cobia recently and large red drum can also be found close by. A few large sheepshead and speckled trout are being caught on peeler crab close to the Target Ship. 

Fishing for a mix of spot, croakers, kingfish, small black sea bass, and a few flounder has been good near Point Lookout and Tangier Sound. White perch continue to be found in the tidal rivers and creeks.

Blue Crabs

Recreational crabbers are doing well this week; there seem to be enough large 7-inch-plus crabs to keep crabbers happy. The crabs have moved up the tidal rivers and will be found deep where the salinities are higher. Generally, the largest crabs are coming from waters 12-15 feet deep and trotlines continue to report crabs falling off as they come up to very warm surface temperatures. Crabbers are reporting a lot of small crabs in shallower waters.

Freshwater Fishing

There is some cooling sanctuary from the mid-summer heat in the streams, rivers and reservoirs of western Maryland. Fishing is good at Deep Creek Lake and some concerned trout anglers are holding off on catch-and-release fishing in the rivers and streams due to elevated water temperatures and low flows. There is rain in the distant forecast and that will help flows and water temperatures.

Largemouth bass are perhaps the most popular freshwater fish for most areas and if one fishes the summer patterns of behavior, there is a lot of fun to be had. Largemouth bass are feeding at night in shallow water and holed up in cool shade wherever they can find it. The early morning and evening hours are good times to fish in the shallower and nearby waters. Topwater frogs, poppers, and chatterbaits are always fun in the shallows and spinnerbaits, paddletails, jerkbaits, and lipless crankbaits work well in deeper waters. Targeting grass mats, docks, over hanging brush and deep sunken wood with wacky rigged worms is a good tactic. 

In tidal waters Chesapeake Channa will be found in the thick grassy shallows and along the edges of those shallows. Casting the same soft frogs and chatterbaits is a great way to attract the attention of these ambush predators. Fry balls are starting to break up and those protective parent fish are starting to aggressively look for food. 

Just when we think we’ve seen everything in regard to crazy fish showing up in our waters, we’ve got a new one. Wyatt Biensach and William Potter were out bowfishing on the Bush River when they shot an alligator gar. Alligator gar are native to Texas and the Gulf States, and can grow as large as 10 feet long and weigh 350 pounds. The fish was most likely an aquarium release, but the fascinating thing is that it survived for several years in the Bush River. 

Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays

Surf anglers fishing with small baits of bloodworms and artificial bloodworms, peeler crab, squid, and sand fleas are catching a mix of spot, croakers, kingfish, flounder, and pompano. Those fishing larger baits of cut mullet or menhaden are catching bluefish, large red drum, stingrays, and inshore sharks. 

At the inlet and Route 50 Bridge area, bluefish are being caught by casting metal and bucktails or drifting cut bait at night. Striped bass are being caught on soft plastic jigs and paddletails. Sheepshead are becoming more common at the South Jetty and are being caught on sand fleas. Flounder are always in play in the inlet and working Gulp baits along the bottom is the way to catch them. 

The back bay channels are offering good fishing for flounder this week; Gulp baits and live spot or mullet are catching the largest flounder. Small black sea bass and croakers are being caught by anglers using squid for bait. In the evenings casting paddletails near the bridge piers of the Route 90 Bridge and the Verrazzano Bridge offer fun catch-and-release action with sublegal striped bass.

Outside the inlet out to the 30-fathom line, anglers trolling a variety of lures are catching false albacore, small dolphin, and Spanish mackerel. Fishing at the inshore wrecks is providing good catches of large flounder. The wreck and reefs sites farther offshore offer good fishing for black sea bass, small dolphin and triggerfish. There have been two state record false albacore caught recently near the 20-fathom line, both extraordinary fish. 

A mix of yellowfin tuna, dolphin, and white marlin are being caught at the canyons and even a few wahoo and blue marlin have been caught. Deep drop anglers are catching a mix of blueline tilefish and golden tilefish.