Cooler weather is beginning to blanket Maryland, making for more comfortable temperatures.
The cooler nighttime temperatures will begin to lower water temperatures in the Chesapeake Bay and freshwater areas and stimulate fish to be more active.
Forecast Summary: September 16 – September 22
Main Bay surface and river mouth water temperatures have dropped to the upper 70s. Temperatures in smaller rivers and streams have dropped to the low 70s and will likely continue falling all week. Currently there is adequate oxygen in most Bay bottom waters except near Indian Head to the Colonial Beach (Potomac River), and in the upper Bay from the Sassafras River down to the mouth of the Rhode River area. Due to the continued dry conditions, Bay salinities are running higher than normal throughout Maryland waters.
Expect average flows for most Maryland rivers and streams. Expect average clarity for most Maryland portions of the Bay and rivers. However, expect poor water clarity in the Bush, Back, North East, Sassafras, and Elk River due to algal blooms. To see the latest water clarity conditions on NOAA satellite maps, check Eyes on the Bay Satellite Maps. There will be above average tidal currents on Wednesday because of the new moon on September 10-11.
As always, the best fishing areas could be further refined by intersecting them with underwater points, hard bottom, drop-offs, and large schools of baitfish.
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
The Conowingo Dam pool and the lower Susquehanna River continue to be a draw for anglers fishing for a mix of blue catfish, flathead catfish, and Chesapeake Channa. A mix of fresh cut bait or live bait works well for the catfish. Casting paddletails and chatterbaits are the most popular way to fish for the Chesapeake Channa. When fishing for catfish in the dam pool, most anglers are using medium-sized surf rods to make the long casts that are required, and to fight the heavy catfish in the swift current.
Water temperatures are slowly declining, and anglers are reporting some welcome striped bass action in the dam pool and along the edges of the Susquehanna Flats during the early morning and evening hours. Poppers are a popular topwater lure, while paddletails, and crankbaits are good lures to use in slightly deeper waters.
Anglers fishing for striped bass in the upper Bay are seeing better results in the shallows of the Bay shores and lower sections of the region’s tidal rivers this week. Cooler water temperatures are beginning to make it more comfortable for striped bass to be in the shallower areas. The best fishing remains early in the morning and late evening. Topwater lures are always a fun way to fish, but paddletails and crankbaits can be excellent choices.
Chesapeake Channa are feeding aggressively this month and offer good fishing along grass flats in the tidal rivers and the Susquehanna Flats. Casting chatterbaits and frogs over grass or paddletails along grass edges is a great way to fish for them.
Spot are still available and many anglers continue to live-line wherever they can find striped bass suspended off the edges of channels and dropoffs. Swan Point, Love Point, and Pooles Island have been good locations. Live-lining eels is also a popular tactic in the upper Bay near Pooles Island.
There are slim pickings for white perch in the upper Bay, but with their narrowing habitat options anglers can find them. Old structure with plenty of growth and moving water are key elements in fishing white perch. The morning and evening hours offer the best opportunities, and it is hard to beat fresh grass shrimp for bait on a slip bobber or simple bottom rig. Casting small spinnerbaits and spin-jigs is a fun way to work shoreline structure during the early morning and late evening hours.
Middle Bay
The Bay Bridge piers and rock piles are a good location to check for striped bass this week. A moving tide during the morning and evening hours offers opportunities to drift live spot and eels or cut bait to pier bases, rock piles, and the concrete bridge abutments. Spot can be found at the shallower waters on the western side of the bridge. Casting skirted soft plastics to the pier bases is another good option for striped bass fishing.
The 30-foot channel edges off Kent Island, Thomas Point, Breezy Point, and south of Bloody Point past Buoy 83 to the False Channel are good places to look for striped bass suspended off the bottom. Live-lining spot will remain a very popular tactic until the spot begin to thin out.
Water temperatures in the region’s tidal rivers need to drop another 10 degrees before anglers will begin to see bait exiting the rivers into a gauntlet of waiting striped bass. Water temperatures in the main portion of the Bay have slipped below 80 degrees this week. Anglers are seeing schools of bay anchovies attracting the attention of a mix of striped bass and bluefish in the open waters of the Bay. Diving gulls will often lead the way to them. Slicks can offer hints of something going on below the surface, so depth finders are an essential tool. Jigging with soft plastic or metal jigs is the best option to reach the striped bass.
Shallow water fishing for striped bass is getting better, and lasting longer into the morning and starting earlier during the evening as water temperatures slowly decline. This is a fun and exciting way to fish for light tackle anglers casting poppers over grass beds. Casting paddletails and crankbaits is another option for anglers. The lower sections of the tidal rivers and Bay shores where structure and good current flows can be found offer the best opportunities.
The Kent Narrows area offers good fishing opportunities for a mix of striped bass and white perch. The striped bass are being caught by jigging or live-lining spot. During the early morning and late evening, casting poppers and paddletails near bulkheads, piers and bridge piers is a fun way to fish for striped bass. The white perch are being caught on dropper rigs baited with grass shrimp or peeler crab.
White perch and a mix of croakers, small, speckled trout, and spot are being caught near Kent Island, Eastern Bay, and locations throughout the middle Bay. Peeler crab is a good bait for white perch and croakers; grass shrimp is also a good bait for white perch and spot love their bloodworms.
Spanish mackerel have left the middle Bay for the most part, but bluefish are still in the region. Trolling surge tube lures or Drone spoons behind planers tends to be one of the best ways to fish for them. Chumming and drifting cut bait is another good way to fish for them along channel edges. The area around Sharps Island continues to be a good location to target bluefish.
Lower Bay
Lower bay anglers are reporting that the Spanish mackerel are heading south this week. There is still a chance to catch a few off Smith Point and near the Target Ship and the outside edges of the Middle Grounds by trolling Drone and gold Clark spoons behind planers. Pulling surge tube lures behind planers is a great way to catch the plentiful bluefish that are still in the region. The larger bluefish are being found in the main channels, especially below the HS Buoy. Smaller bluefish are spread along the shallower waters of the Bay.
Schools of large red drum are still present in the lower Bay this week, but anglers report they tend to be moving around a lot and chances of encountering them can be hit or miss. If you’re lucky enough, you may encounter them working over a school of menhaden. Casting large soft plastic jigs will get you into the action whether they are on top or down deep.
Striped bass are being found along steep channel edges, usually suspended at about 30 feet. The steep channel edge from St. Georges Island to Piney Point has been a good place to find them and live-line spot. Anglers report the steep channel edge of St. Clements Island is also holding some striped bass. The shallow water fishery for striped bass in the lower sections of the region’s tidal rivers and Bay shores is good this week for anglers casting paddletails and topwater lures. The early morning and evening hours offer some of the best fishing successes.
Fishing for a mix of spot, croaker, speckled trout, and the occasional kingfish and blowfish continues to be very good in the lower Potomac, the lower Patuxent, the lower Eastern Shore, and Tangier Sound. The spot are as large as they’re going to be before they exit south and a good number of the croaker are measuring over the 9-inch minimum. Fishing for blue catfish is as good as ever in the lower Potomac River, the Patuxent from Jug Bay south, the Nanticoke River, and the Wicomico River.
Blue Crabs
It is still a great time for recreational crabbers to catch a mess of large heavy crabs this week. Many of the commercial crabbers have stopped crabbing due to a poor market so there is more room out there for recreational crabbers. This will be a crab season that will be remembered and let us hope that it leads us into another outstanding season next year.
Freshwater Fishing
Deep Creek Lake is showing signs of calming down from the summer frenzy of vacationers and boaters. The lake has now become a quieter place to fish and anglers are beginning to take advantage of slightly cooler temperatures. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are still holding to summer patterns of behavior, but anglers are reporting that they are not as sluggish.
The water flows in the upper Potomac River are remaining steady this week and water temperatures are beginning to be affected by cool nighttime air temperatures. Fishing for smallmouth bass is good for anglers casting a mix of tubes, swimbaits, paddletails, and small crankbaits.
Construction and renovations are at a brisk pace at the Albert Powell Trout Hatchery this month. If you wish to visit the hatchery it is open by appointment only during construction. There will be many new improvements to the hatchery including a new hatchery building to increase production capacity. A very important water recirculating system that will greatly help during low water flows coming into the hatchery. The recirculated water will be filtered and UV treated. Even though the spring feeding the hatchery is the second-largest in Maryland there have been times in the past where low flows have hindered trout growth in the raceways.
Other improvements will be upgraded wastewater treatment, electrical systems, security, office space and a new visitor center with live fish and educational displays. The coldwater hatcheries produce about 270,000 adult rainbow, golden rainbow and brown trout annually for the put-and-take trout stocking program. The improvements are expected to increase production of adult trout for stocking by 37%. The $15 million capital improvement is planned to be completed by the spring of 2028.
Anglers are enjoying cooler weather this week as they fish for largemouth bass and other freshwater species. The largemouth bass are still holding to a summer pattern of behavior, but the evening activity is starting earlier and the morning activity progressing later. As water temperatures slowly drop, all manner of fish activity will increase.
Atlantic Ocean and Coastal Bays
Surf fishing along Assateague beaches has settled into fishing for a mix of kingfish, spot, croaker, and flounder. During the evening a mix of inshore shark species provide some entertainment. As we approach the end of September anglers are anticipating a run of large red drum along the Atlantic beaches.
At the Ocean City Inlet, anglers are catching some impressive sheepshead when fishing live sand fleas close to the jetty rocks. Tautog can be part of the mix, although most have a hard time meeting the 16-inch minimum size. Flounder are always in play at the inlet and anglers casting soft plastic jigs are enjoying catching a few striped bass during the early morning and late evening hours.
The channels leading from the inlet and those in front of the Ocean City Airport are providing good fishing for flounder this week. Anglers using squid for bait are also catching some large croakers.
Outside the inlet and inshore, large flounder are being caught on lumps and shoals, such as Fenwick and Little Gull shoals. The inshore wreck and reef sites are also holding large flounder. The wreck and reef sites that are farther offshore also hold large flounder and a few black sea bass. Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and false albacore are being caught relatively close to shore by trolling Clark spoons behind inline weights and planers. Anglers are also placing small feather trolling lures in their trolling spreads and catching small dolphin near the offshore wreck and reef sites.
Farther offshore at the canyons, anglers are experiencing multiple catch and release action with white marlin and a few blue marlin. Small dolphin are entertaining anglers near lobster and black sea bass buoys. Deep-drop fishing for blueline tilefish is providing anglers with fish to bring back to the docks.
“No angler merely watches nature in a passive way. He enters into its very existence.” – John Bailey
Maryland Fishing Report is written and compiled by Keith Lockwood, fisheries biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
The Forecast Summary is written by Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment Director Tom Parham.