SOLOMONS, Md. – Striped bass flooded the lower Patuxent and Potomac rivers this past week in concentrations anglers say have not been seen in more than ten years, according to Ken Lamb, owner of The Tackle Box in Lexington Park.
Lamb reported that rockfish stacked from bottom to surface near the mouth of the Patuxent River through mid-week. Fish fed aggressively in large schools until weekend boat traffic scattered them.
“When the word got out, the weekend brought hordes of boaters,” Lamb said. “The fish responded by breaking up into small schools and sulking on the bottom. Trollers were still successful, but everyone had to work for them.”
Experienced captains who moved upriver to oyster bars, wrecks, and deeper holes continued to limit out on keeper stripers measuring 20 to 28 inches. The Maryland season allows one fish per angler between 19 and 31 inches through December 10 in the Chesapeake Bay mainstem and tributaries.
The Potomac River mirrored conditions on the Patuxent. Most boats reached limits, though many needed several hours. Large schools that had staged near Port Tobacco and Ragged Point overnight shifted south toward Virginia’s Sandy Point and Maryland’s Cornfield Point by dawn Saturday. Scattered fish remained along the Maryland shoreline and surfaced to feed during the final hour of daylight.
Trollers pulled umbrella rigs, tandem bucktails, and heavy inline weights with parachute jigs or soft plastics. White, chartreuse, and blue-and-white combinations produced the most consistent strikes.
Warm water discharge from the Cove Point power plant held good numbers of rockfish. Anglers reported a high percentage of sub-legal fish under 19 inches, but enough keepers made the run worthwhile.
Blue catfish provided steady action farther up both the Potomac and Patuxent rivers. Fresh cut bait and chicken liver fished on the bottom near channel edges produced fish from 5 to more than 30 pounds.
Largemouth bass turned active on sunny afternoons. Anglers caught quality fish in the Potomac River, St. Mary’s Lake, and local farm ponds using lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and soft plastics worked slowly around wood cover and drop-offs.
Water temperatures in the lower Patuxent hovered near 54 degrees and the Potomac registered 56 degrees this weekend. Clear skies and light winds earlier in the week gave way to stronger northwest flow Saturday that muddied some upper-river sections.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources reminds anglers that all striped bass must have heads and tails intact while aboard vessels in Maryland waters. Crew and charter captains may not keep a personal limit when paying customers are aboard.