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Maryland
Fishing Report JULY 2010
By Keith Kaufman
Rockfish have been leaving the rivers and Eastern Bay and setting up
in their summer patterns in the main stem of the bay, according to Captain
Richie Gaines at Angler’s Connection Guide Service. He recommends
looking for fish on and around main bay structure in 22 to 28 feet of
water. “I will usually focus on the areas in the main bay right out
in front of the mouths of the spawning rivers.
The first spot of the year are pouring in and they like hard bottom areas
in slightly shallower depths that the stripers hold in. Look for fingers
of deeper water in 18 to 25-foot depths that run up into a large flat
with a hard bottom.” Captain Richie said small spot feed and hold
on the flats and the deeper fingers serve as a “highway” for
stripers to move in and out. “They visit the flats in the evenings
and hold where the fingers meet the channel during the daytime.”
Richie said it will take some time and patience to cruise around and look
for these locations on the sonar.
Once a fishy-looking location is found, drop down a live spot, or ½-ounce
bucktails (Specialized Baits) and 6-inch plastics (Bass Kandy Delight).
“A bit of yellow on the bucktail helps as the spot have yellow bellies
and BKD’s in albino or alewife do the trick.” By the end of
July, Captain Richie said “the young-of-the-year anchovies and silversides
migrate out of the bays and rivers and breaking stripers become a steady
pattern on the bay. Again, concentrate on the main bay where the rivers
enter.
Best days are those with no wind and a hot, bright sun.” Captain
Richie recommends the area from Bloody Point down to Sharps Island Light,
which is usually “productive from late July right through fall.”
He also passed along this very important advice that will help you, and
others, catch more fish: “When chasing breaking fish please be sure
to practice good manners. Don’t run through the school of fish at
any time. Best practice is to motor upwind and then drift down alongside
the school. If we all do this, four to five boats can share a school for
hours. All it takes is one knucklehead to run through the school and this
can put the fish down for hours.
When you see someone do this don’t yell at them, instead enlighten
them so they know better next time. Knowledge has no value unless it’s
shared!” Thanks to Captain Richie for an extremely detailed and informative
report. He can be reached on his cell phone at (410) 310-1700, while his
home number is (410) 827-7210.
After trolling up good numbers of 30-inch rockfish in June, Captain Hank
DeVito on the Afternoon Delight is looking forward to liveliving spot
for rockfish in July. He expects plenty of 25- to 30-inch fish to be available
this month. Hank said one problem that has been encountered in recent
years is that once a school of rockfish is located, hook and line anglers
show up and fish them hard until the school is “wiped out” in
only a couple of days.
In June, Captain Hank and others trolled up rockfish on umbrella rigs
with bucktails tipped with 4- and 6-inch plastic shads, parachutes dressed
with 6- and 9-inch shads, and tandems. Call Captain Hank on his cell at
(410) 382-9141.
“I’ve been catching rock, speckled trout, flounder and croaker
on the Chesapeake out of Crisfield,” reported Captain Walt at Light
Tackle Charters. He’s also been catching flounder on the seaside
inlets at Ocean City, Chincoteague and Wachapreague. That action will
continue through July. “Low-wind days in July will allow me to take
my clients 30 to 50 miles offshore of Chincoteague and Wachapreague for
dolphin and wahoo on light tackle under the lobster pot floats, sea bass
pot floats and any other flotsam we come across. July also offers cobia
fishing out of Cape Charles.” Email Captain Walt at CapnWalt@gmail.com,
or call him at (410) 957-1664.
“There’s been a nice striper bite just about everywhere you
look, yet there’s no one or two hot spots that really stand out.”
Lenny Rudow at Geared Up Publications said catches have been “consistent
but mediocre whether you’re chumming at the Hill, jigging off 84A,
trolling outside Chesapeake Beach, or fishing Hacketts or the bridges.”
Lenny said “The best I’ve experienced has been the Hill for
22- to 32-inch fish, slow and steady with just one or two bites per hour,
and the best I’ve heard of is breaking fish in the mid 20s outside
the radar towers.” Call Lenny at (410) 798-6503 or visit www.GETGUP.com.
Captain C.D. Dollar at CD Outdoors said the bay’s summer visitors,
including black and red drum, speckled trout, flounder, croaker and bluefish,
arrived last month. “I’ll be leading skiff and kayak fishing
trips on the Honga River, Eastern Bay and Tangier Sound. Once the Spanish
mackerel arrive we’ll chase them with spoons and flies. It’s
prime time for speckled trout in the grass flats of the lower Maryland
bay.” Email Captain C.D. at cdollar@cdollaroutdoors.com, or call
him at (410) 991-8468.
Maryland Fresh and
Saltwater Fishing Reports
MAY 2010
As this report was written,
catch-and-release striped bass fishing on Susquehanna Flats was slower
than many had expected, and trollers were gearing up for the beginning
of the spring trophy season on Chesapeake Bay.
Captain Hank DeVito on the Afternoon was looking forward to trolling for
striped bass and one of his favorites is a daisy chain with a parachute
or tandem parachutes on the end. He also pulls two to four umbrella rigs.
To avoid some of the heavy boat traffic at the very beginning of the season,
Captain Hank was planning to run to the mouth of the Choptank River where
he would set up and troll down the 60-foot line. Just prior to the beginning
of the spring trophy season, Hank said the better reports were coming
from 35 feet of water on the western side south of the Chesapeake Bay
Bridges.
Captain Hank also reported that the Maryland Charter Boat Association
had reached an agreement with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources
in that captains would have planer board lines no longer than 150 feet,
would paint planers a visible color, and if possible the captains would
put flags on their planer boards.
Captain Sonney Forrest on the Reel Relief was in Marathon, Florida early
last month, putting the finishing touches on his winter and springtime
tarpon fishing adventures. He was looking forward to returning to Maryland
and fishing for rockfish in Chesapeake Bay. Sonney had received reports
that pre-season fishermen had been trolling up about 10 to 13 fish on
half-day trips. Sonney said big bunker, with gannets over them, had been
reported along the Western Shore in 45 to 65 feet of water. In the lower
Potomac, fishermen had been hooking some croaker, especially right at
dark and at night on squid baits.
During the spring trophy season that opened April 17 and continues until
May 15, an angler is allowed one fish of at least 28 inches per day. Beginning
May 16, anglers are allowed two fish per day of 18 to 28 inches, or one
18- to 28-inch fish and one fish larger than 28 inches.
Some really big rockfish were caught on Susquehanna Flats and in the lower
Susquehanna River during the spring catch-and-release season, however
many anglers and captains commented that by mid-April, the fish were not
nearly as plentiful as everyone had hoped, despite water temperatures
near 60 degrees and decent water clarity.
Anglers with Captain Walt at Light Tackle Charters caught huge stripers
to 54 pounds, and a vast majority of them had come on live herring and
whole fresh dead herring while only a very few had been hooked on lures.
The catch-and-release season on the flats closes during the first week
of May.
In May, Captain Chris Dollar will be splitting his time between his Kent
Island Kayak shop, Eastern Bay, and the Honga River/Tangier Sound marshes.
“In Eastern Bay, we’ll fish on the passing schools of rockfish,
mostly males to 12 pounds, that flood out of the Chester and Miles rivers.
Specialized Baits with BKDs or Bass Assassins work well for me.”
White perch action should be available to anglers fishing the Tuckahoe
and Choptank rivers. Productive perch baits include spinners and shad
darts tipped with grass shrimp. Captain Chris is also looking forward
to the annual big black drum bite, which is usually best approximately
a week prior to Memorial Day until the week after. Drum are caught just
south of Poplar Island and inside Eastern Bay on soft crabs and peeler
crabs. “Farther south, speckled trout are cruising the marsh points
and grass flats on the Eastern Shore rivers, such as Manokin, Honga and
Annemessex.” Chris’ favorite baits include 3- to 4-inch soft
plastic curly-tail grubs in glow white, tooty fruity, and rootbeer. Specks
can also be caught on yellow, pink and glow white Clouser flies in sizes
#1 to 1/0.
REGULATIONS
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