Here’s today’s Chesapeake Bay fishing report for Monday, October 27, 2025.

We kicked off at sunrise, 7:23 AM, with a brisk fall chill—air temperatures starting in the high 50s, rising into the mid-60s by midday, with light northerly winds around 5 knots and calm waters. Sunset tonight will be at 6:12 PM. The tidal schedule is in anglers’ favor: low tide hit just before 6 AM, and you’ll see a high around 12:35 PM. That incoming tide through the late morning into early afternoon usually brings a feeding window for most species, so plan your top efforts from 10:30 to 1:30 today.

Speckled trout have been hot all week in Rudee Inlet, Lynnhaven, and Back River, with steady reports from Captain Todd Beck and local shops. Soft plastics—Z-Man or Gulp! paddletails in root beer or chartreuse—are sticking fish; MirrOlure MR17s do the job in cleaner water. Live shrimp and mud minnows knocked on a slip float have been consistent, especially closer to slack tides. Good numbers have come through with fish from 17 to 22 inches, and most boats are seeing limits or near-limits per trip the past three days.

Red drum are still pushing along the southern beaches and especially around the 1st Island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Paige II reported some bruisers landed over the weekend, the biggest stretching past the 46-inch mark. Cut menhaden on 8/0 circle hooks is the standard, but the old school bucktail tipped with crab hasn’t let anyone down, especially after dark. Surf casters working Sandbridge and Croatan are connecting with drum on both cut mullet and gulps, chunked for a stinky trail.

Puppy drum (juvenile reds) and stripers light up inside Lynnhaven River and along the CBBT islands. For stripers, Swimming plugs (Bomber Long A, Yozuri Mag Minnow) and 5-inch paddletails on 3/8 oz jigheads are getting bit. Schools of 22–28 inch stripers are cruising bridge pilings from dawn till about 10 AM, with bird activity spotted around higher tide.

Tautog are waking up—active on bay structures and rockpiles, especially the tube piles of the CBBT and the HRBT. Green crab or fiddler crab is the go-to on a tautog rig. Several reports over the weekend showed solid fish in the 3–5 lb range; if you can find the structure, tautog are waiting.

Offshore reefs are thick with black sea bass right now. Jigging with 2–4 oz diamond jigs and squid strips is filling coolers fast. Keep in mind Rudee Inlet is still a bit shallow near low tide, so adjust departure times if heading out on a headboat. Tilefish and even a few late dolphin (mahi) have been caught by deep drop crews, and swordfish action continues strong.

Bait colors: Speckled trout and puppy drum are hitting best on “Electric Chicken,” root beer/gold, and pearl white for plastics. On the plugs, silver sides and mullet patterns win. Striper and drum often want natural: think bunker, menhaden, and crab chunk.

Best baits:
- Live shrimp and mud minnows for trout
- Cut menhaden for drum
- Green crab or fiddler crab for tautog
- Squid strips for offshore black sea bass

Hot spots today:
- Chick's Beach and CBBT 1st Island for red drum and tautog
- Lynnhaven River for speckled trout and puppy drum
- Back River and Rudee Inlet early for trout on the rising tide
- Eastern Shore bayside flats for late fall flounder—look for warm, shallow pockets mid-morning.

With bay temperatures hovering near 62°F, and juvenile stripers showing encouraging numbers per VIMS, this fall run is shaping up nicely. Bass migration is just starting but plenty of oversize fish are getting released. If you’re out for stripers, look for bird clusters and rising bait on the surface, especially mid-tide.

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