Artificial Lure here with your June 21, 2025, Chesapeake Bay fishing report for Baltimore and the D.C. area.

We’re rolling out of a warm, mostly clear night with sunrise at 5:45AM and sunset at 8:27PM. The big story today is the tide—high at 4:51AM and again at 5:29PM, with low slack around 10:50AM. These moving tide windows are where you want to be tossing your baits, especially early and late in the day. Water temps are pushing 80 degrees, which is putting a lot of our summer species on the move, and the tidal coefficient sits right around 60, meaning we’ve got enough current to stir up a solid bite.

Striped bass are the marquee target right now, and the main stem of the Bay—especially near the Bay Bridge pilings, Thomas Point, and the Hill at Eastern Bay—is producing solid fish in the 19 to 24 inch slot. The Patapsco River and the stretch from Love Point to Tolchester are also red hot, especially on topwater plugs at dawn and dusk or soft plastics jigged along channel edges and structure. Live spot, soft plastics, and bucktails are the lures of choice, with white and chartreuse paddletails getting tons of attention. Early reports from Anglers Sport Center also mention bridge pilings and rock piles as prime real estate—don’t forget your heavier jigheads if the current’s ripping.

Bluefish are starting to mix in, with some impressive catches up to 31 inches reported near the Target Ship and around the main shipping channel between buoys 8 and 10. Spanish mackerel are creeping up from the south; anglers trolling gold or silver spoons at 6-8 knots are seeing increasing numbers, with the action expected to heat up as we close in on July.

For you multi-species anglers, white perch and snakeheads are very active in the upper bay creeks and tidal rivers. A small spinner, grass shrimp, or bloodworm under a float will put perch in the cooler, while frog-pattern topwaters draw explosive strikes from snakeheads in thick grass.

Special mention for the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers—Eric Packard reports jigging over open-water structure and rocky piles has produced banner days, with boats catching 30 to 60 stripers and speckled trout mixed in, including some trout up to 27 inches. For the trout and puppy drum, toss popping corks with soft-plastic shrimp or paddletails, especially over grass beds and during running tides.

Hot spots for today:
- Bay Bridge pilings (striped bass, live spot and jigs)
- Thomas Point and The Hill (stripers, speckled trout, jigging and topwaters)
- Target Ship and channel buoys 8-10 (bluefish, mackerel on trolled spoons)
- Upper Bay creeks (white perch, snakeheads, small spinners, live bait)

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