Maryland Fishing Report: May 9

May 9, 2018

Those who fish know that the waters they love have many moods, and perhaps one of our favorites is when they are quiet and calm. This past weekend with overcast skies and little wind was one of those times that the waters we fish seem to talk to us – from the bubbling mountain streams, to the calmer waters of ponds, lakes and Chesapeake Bay. Weekly Fishing Conditions Forecast Summary: May 9-14 The continued blast of warm weather is quickly driving up bay water temperatures, as if we have moved from early spring directly to summer. As the bay comes alive, there are many fishing opportunities for excited anglers. The Maryland portion of the bay continues to have suitable oxygen conditions from surface to bottom. In addition, there are slightly warmer surface water temperatures so anglers may want to scan these shallower areas for fish during moving water and low light conditions after sunset and before sunrise. Main bay water temperatures are in the mid to upper 60s as reported from the buoys at Annapolis and Gooses Reef. However, expect the continued sunny, warm weather next week to cause water temperatures to approach 70 degrees. In addition, expect temperatures in smaller, dark-bottomed shallow creeks to hold much warmer temperatures. As tides empty the water in these warm creeks, look for nearby structure to target feeding gamefish. Expect average flows for the Susquehanna, Potomac and smaller rivers and streams entering the bay. There will be above average tidal currents Friday through Tuesday as a result of the new moon May 15. For the full weekly fishing conditions summary and more detailed and up-to-date fishing conditions in your area of the bay, be sure to check out Click Before You Cast . Also check out the new Bay Bottom Habitat Mapper that shows bottom type, fishing reefs, popular fishing areas, recent oyster planting sites and submerged aquatic vegetation. The depth/navigation charts backdrop allows you to see their relationship with nearby channel edges, points, humps, flats or other key contour features.

Upper Chesapeake Bay At the very top of the bay there has been good fishing for white perch in the lower Susquehanna River. Water temperatures are holding around 65 degrees in the river and 67 in Deer Creek. Hickory shad are being caught and released in Octararo Creek and American Shad up near the Conowingo Dam. There has been some hickory shad action at Deer Creek, but most anglers are waiting for a spawning run, which could happen any day. Department biologist Chuck Stence, who collects hickory shad brood stock from the Deer Creek/lower Susquehanna area for restoration work in other watersheds, filed this recent report: “We finished electro-fishing in the lower Susquehanna last week, Hickory shad were hard to come by this year. The water was extremely cold. White perch and herring just showed up last week. With all of the rain we had two weeks ago, Deer Creek was muddy. We had to fish out in the middle of the river. We muddled through, but it wasn’t easy.” The Conowingo Dam seems to be on a midday power generation schedule lately with very low flows at night. The striped bass in the area are starting to spawn, and this is good news for trolling in the upper bay below the Brewerton Channel. Department biologist Beth Versak was kind enough to send us a report from the field as she monitors the upper bay spawning action: “We were in a shallow water site off Aberdeen and the water was 65 degrees. They have definitely begun spawning, but not all. We caught three big females, two pre-spawn and one post. Males are a mix of pre and post-spawn. Finally!” Those trolling in the upper bay have been picking up a few large striped bass recently near traditional steep edges of the shipping channel. The outside edge near Love Point, the Triple Buoys, Podickory Point and the Dumping Grounds just north of the Bay Bridge are all popular spots to give trolling a try. As more striped bass spawn, more large post-spawn striped bass will be moving down the steeper shipping channel edges. Most angers are trolling large parachutes and bucktails in tandem and some are using umbrella rigs. All this trolling is done off planer boards or flat lines that are allowed to be far astern.

Middle Bay Surface water temperatures hit 60 degrees this week and are warmer in the tidal rivers and shallower areas. There is still a bit of spawning going on in the major rivers, but most of it is over, which means post-spawn striped bass are moving into the bay and headed south along channel edges. The steep edges where the current moves along at a good clip create a sort of interstate freeway for these large fish heading south and exiting the bay for their travels north to New England waters. These large girls are looking for big entrees on the Chesapeake Bay menu after more than a month in the upper reaches of the tidal rivers. Large parachutes and bucktails dressed with filleting size sassy shads will be the ticket to this party. Water clarity has been good, so white has been a popular color, but one can never go wrong with chartreuse in a trolling spread. These large girls are often close to the surface in the early morning hours, it pays to be trolling at the crack of dawn, since engine noise will send them down to deeper depths and has been known to cause lockjaw at times. The first licks at post-spawn striped bass leaving the Choptank River will be the False Channel and CP Buoy areas and then the steep channel edge south past R76. The light tackle jigging for striped bass continues to get better as warmer bay water temperatures prevail. The Bay Bridge piers and rock piles are holding some nice striped bass for some catch-and-release fun until May 16, after which fish under 35 inches can be kept (please be mindful of the new striped bass regulations). Striped bass can also be found suspended along some of the channel edges in the upper bay and the shallow water fishery should begin to develop as fish move about the shallower areas. The hickory shad run is still going strong in the upper Choptank this week and fisheries biologist that were doing some electrofishing survey work and mentioned there were no fishermen in sight. Great effort was undertaken early this year by fisheries and county personnel to open up the river above Greensboro for small boat traffic so it makes it an ideal location for those fishing from kayaks and canoes.