?Rockfish and bluefish have been very active this past week as cooler temperatures have encouraged the fish to school and feed up for the coming winter.
Good catches of bluefish have been made from the shore by surf casters in the Potomac around St. George Island and in the Patuxent at Cedar Point. The blues are in the 1 to 4-pound range and love fresh-cut bait. The blues are also breaking in the bay and rivers and can be caught on almost any shiny lure. There are a lot of 10 to 12-inch blues feeding on the peanut bunker on the surface. Metal jigs fished below the breaking feeding juveniles can result in hook-ups of bigger blues, rockfish, and an occasional bull redfish.
The spawn of menhaden this season seems excellent. There is a school of bunker rippling the water almost anywhere you look. These baitfish that cleanse the water and provide food for predator fish are the lifeline of the bay. These baitfish are called alewives, menhaden, and bunker; all the same fish.
The big reds are still around and both catches and sightings were reported all week.
Rockfish are very active for lure casters and trollers in all areas.
Trollers have found stripers in the 20 to 28-inch range off Piney Point, Breton bay, and Ragged Point. Catfish are competing for the lures meant for the rockfish, and they can easily weigh eight to twenty pounds. Some have reported eight out of ten fish landed have been catfish in the deeper waters of the Potomac.
The spot and perch caught in the Patuxent have slacked off the past ten days. The water has been stirred up with very high tides due to hurricane Sam way out in the Atlantic, and the transition to fall temperatures seems to have slowed them up.
Very good catches of the largemouth bass were made this week at St. Mary’s Lake. Wacky worm rigs and swimming baits have worked very well.