Hey folks, Artificial Lure here with your Wednesday morning Chesapeake Bay fishing report for December 3rd, 2025.

Let's start with the tides. We're looking at a high tide this morning at 5:27 AM up around Little Creek, with lows expected mid-morning. If you're heading out to the Bridge Tunnel area, you've got similar patterns. This falling tide should push baitfish toward structure, which is gonna work in our favor.

Weather-wise, we're in that sweet spot where stable cold conditions are actually our friend. The water temps have dropped nicely, and that means the bass are transitioning into their deep winter holding patterns. We're talking those steep main-lake points, channel swings, and rocky structure where the fish can shift depth easily.

Speaking of structure, folks near Baltimore, the rocky bluffs and man-made pilings around the Inner Harbor remain prime real estate. Down toward the lower Bay around Tangier Sound and the Bridge Tunnel, those isolated rock piles in 20 to 40 feet of water are absolutely stacked right now with smallmouth.

Here's what's working: Hair jigs and football jigs dragged slowly across rock are producing consistently. I'm also having fantastic success with blade baits—Fish Sense Binsky and Molix Trago Vib patterns in natural colors. Keep them tight to the bottom, just a subtle lift and let them sink. Tubes are criminally underrated this time of year. Ned rigs and small plastics on light jigheads are also money when the bite gets tight. One pro tip—ice jigs like the Acme Hyper Glide are absolute killers when fished vertically in deep water, even for open-water winter bass.

Striped bass activity has been solid, with reports of fish schooling and white perch biting strong in the Patuxent. Blue catfish numbers remain high thanks to the invasive population, and if you're target-fishing those, they're plentiful and aggressive.

Hot spots to hit: The upper Chesapeake around Conowingo has been phenomenal for smallmouth, and down south, work those deeper channels where the main lake structure drops off. Electronics are basically mandatory—find the bait clouds and bottom-hugging fish clusters, and you'll find your bass.

Water temps in the mid-40s mean minimal movement from the fish, so finesse is king. Power fishing will catch some, but you're looking at 70 percent success coming from subtle presentations.

Thanks so much for tuning in. Don't forget to subscribe for daily reports right here. This has been Artificial Lure, a Quiet Please production. For more, check out quietplease dot ai.

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