Today is July 14, 2020

This is the podcast where we talk about fishing throughout the great state of Maryland. 

The Maryland fishing line is a production of The Angler Magazine, Chesapeake Edition. 

The Chesapeake Angler can be found throughout southern Maryland, Anne Arundel County, and the Eastern Shore. If you would like to see it in your area and it’s not there let us know!

Welcome to the Maryland Fishing Line Episode 07

 

Today is July 7, 2020

 

This is the podcast where we talk about fishing throughout the great state of Maryland. 

 

The Maryland fishing line is a production of The Angler Magazine, Chesapeake Edition. 

 

The Chesapeake Angler can be found throughout southern Maryland, Anne Arundel County, and the Eastern Shore. If you would like to see it in your area and it’s not there let us know! 

 

Greetings and introductions

 

Let’s take a look at what’s going on around the state.

 

Chesapeake surface temps keep climbing and are now sitting in the low 80’s.

 

River temps are also heating up - This means rockfish are going to be moving to deeper more oxygenated water.  White perch are going to be holding in 20 feet of water or less on mud, clay or sand bottoms. White perch can be found in the tidal creeks and rivers throughout the bay.

 

With higher water temps also comes algae blooms and reduced water clarity.

 

Upper Chesapeake Bay

 

The Conowingo Dam early in the morning is prime topwater action for striped bass. This action continues down the river and out along the edge of the Susquehanna Flats. As the morning hours progress, switch to soft plastic jigs.

 

All types catfish are providing plenty of action for those fishing cut bait. 

 

Striped bass fishing has been good in the upper bay whether one is trolling, live-lining, jigging, or casting lures.

 

Tolchester Lumps has seen a lot of boats live-lining and chumming for striped bass but this has also led to a lot of discarded dead floaters - use your circle hooks and handle the fish quickly and get them back in the water.

 

The Spot bite has now reached the Bay Bridge - bloodworms on the bottom will provide tons and tons of action.

 

Jigging is good also at the Love Point rocks, the Bay Bridge piers and rock piles with skirted soft plastic jigs in white, pearl or chartreuse combinations with a little sparkle are working well. Jigs are either worked close to the bridge piers or the rocks

 

Middle Bay

 

In the middle bay, striped bass fishing including trolling, live-lining, jigging, and casting lures near shoreline structure has been producing.

 

Trolling weighted umbrella rigs along the 30-foot edge of the shipping channel is providing a slow pick of fish longer than 19 inches. Several traditional locations have been popular, including Buoy 83 and Bloody, Breezy, Hacketts, and Thomas points. White bucktails and swimshads are the favorite color as trailers.

 

The shallow-water striped bass fishery that many light-tackle anglers love is beginning to slip into a typical summer mode. This means the best fishing success occurs at the crack of dawn or late in the evening. Striped bass do not feel comfortable in waters above 80 degrees.

 

Lower Bay

 

Striped bass fishing in the Potomac River from the Route 301 Bridge south to the St. Marys River has been good and should continue. Trolling along the steeper channel edges with tandem rigged bucktails dressed with twister tails is working well. Umbrella rigs with bucktails or swimshads as trailers are also favorites. There is also some spotty striped bass trolling going on along the shipping channel edges and in the Patuxent River.

 

There has been a little bit of live-lining activity along the steep channel edge between St. George Island and Piney Point in the lower Potomac River. A few anglers are trying to chum off of Point Lookout for a mix of striped bass and bluefish with the added hope of luring a cobia into a chum slick. 

 

Spot are spread out along both sides of the bay. Some of the spot are now getting large enough to consider as table fare. White perch are mixed in at these same locations and every tidal river and creek in the region.

 

Fishing for speckled trout continues to be extremely good with most of the action occurring from Hoopers Island south to Tangier and Pocomoke sounds. Casting pink, white, or pearl/sparkle co

Your one-stop weekly fishing report podcast for the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland.

This is the podcast where we talk about fishing throughout the great state of Maryland.

Welcome to the Maryland Fishing Line Episode 04

 

Today is June 16, 2020

 

This is the podcast where we talk about fishing throughout the great state of Maryland. 

 

The Maryland fishing line is a production of The Angler Magazine, Chesapeake Edition. 

 

The Chesapeake Angler can be found throughout southern Maryland, Anne Arundel County, and the Eastern Shore. If you would like to see it in your area and it’s not there let us know! 

 

Here’s Joey...welcome!

 

Intro 

 

Let’s take a look at what’s going on around the state.

 

Air temperatures and water temperatures are on the rise and fish throughout the state are moving towards their summer time patterns.

 

Upper Chesapeake Bay

 

Conowingo dam pool is holding stripers with your best bet in the early morning hours and bottom fished cut bait is producing all types of catfish.

 

Remember circle hooks reduce fish mortality when fishing live or cut bait.

 

White perch are being caught on spinners or bloodworm or grass shrimp on the bottom or under bobbers close to structure.

 

Middle Bay

 

Trolling the channel edges with umbrella rigs or medium sized bucktails will be successful for rockfish.

 

Chumming season is upon us but keep in mind it will also attract catfish and rays.  Spot are showing up in the Middle Bay so begin to think about livelining white perch or spot if you can find them.

 

Shallow water light tackle rockfish are a thing now too in the early mornings or evenings.

 

Of course, white perch are falling victim to bloodworms or grass shrimp on bottom rigs.

 

Lower Bay

 

Rockfish patterns are the same as the middle bay but here’s the big news - speckled trout are showing up in 5 feet of water along the marshes and islands of the eastern shore.  Paddle tails, Gulps, MirrOlures, and Zara Spooks in the shallows is producing some nice catches of speckled trout. A few striped bass are also in the mix.

 

Freshwater

 

Largemouth are moving into summer patterns so early morning and evenings are your best bet.  If you are fishing tidal rivers dropping worms into holes in the grass seems to work on a high tide while working grass edges is the key when the tide is out.

 

Snakeheads are in the middle of their spawn or protecting fry balls.  Spawning fish will move way back into cover and can be hard to reach while paired fish protecting fry balls will take a lot of convincing.  Finding those solo, left out fish is your best bet.

 

If you want to be “in the know” on Snakehead invasion check out SnakeheadLife.com - Eddie and Gary provide great info and then Caz is there too… just kidding

 

Personal fishing weekly updates

 

Joey

 

Brian

 

BuBye

 

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This is the podcast where we talk about fishing throughout the state.  It’s a place for you whether you chase rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay, snakehead on the Potomac River, white marlin off the coast of Ocean City or trout on the fly in Western Maryland streams.

Welcome to Episode 002 of the Maryland Fishing Line 

This is the podcast where we talk about fishing throughout the state. 

It’s a place for you whether you chase rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay, snakehead on the Potomac River, white marlin off the coast of Ocean City or trout on the fly in Western Maryland streams. 

Every week we will bring you fishing reports, news, the information you need and discussions and interviews with folks throughout the state. 

The Maryland fishing line is a production of The Angler Magazine, Chesapeake Edition. 

The Chesapeake Angler can be found throughout southern Maryland, Anne Arundel County and the Eastern Shore. If you would like to see it in your area and it’s not there let us know! 

Thanks to our sponsor 

This week’s episode is sponsored by Waterfront Marine in Edgewater, Maryland. 

Waterfront Marine was once again named the #1 Dealer in the world for Chaparral and Robalo boats for the 2nd year in a row in 2019. 

They offer the largest inventory of new and used boats in the area, including Robalo and Chaparral, along with Bennington pontoons and Carver & Marquis yachts. Their experienced and professional sales staff is there to help you through the buying decision process in a friendly, no-pressure manner. 

You can find them online at waterfrontmarine.com or call them at 443-949-9041.  All of this information will be available in the show notes. 

It’s December just a few days before Christmas – so probably not many of us are out there fishing. 

Rockfish season in Maryland waters is over – it closed out Dec 15 and fishing was great right up until the dinner bell if you knew where to look. 

But if you are one of the hardy souls that can’t stop and needs to scratch that itch here we go... 

You can still get out there for a little while longer - The Potomac remains open for two fish per day with a minimum on 20 inches until December 31st.  The lower Potomac on the Virginia side continues to produce excellent catches.  Trollers are doing very well in the 40 foot depth using small umbrella rigs.  The fish are from 20 to 28 inches on average.  Cold, clear weather will find the fish not as eager to bite.  while warmer, overcast days should good. 

The main stem of  the bay below Smith Point has plenty of fish up to 32 inches, and some of the big sea run stipers are in the mix.  The Virginia season is open until the end of the year, but the minimum is 20 inches and there is a maximum of 36 inches.  There is a one fish per day limit in Virginia. 

Hardy freshwater fishermen are catching some fine chain pickerel in ponds and at St. Mary's Lake.  Crappie are still hitting live minnows at St. Mary's. 

Thanks, Ken over at the tackle box for that report. 

Everyone has heard the phrase “Save the Bay” and my guess is many of us have a love/hate relationship with the term.   

We all want to be responsible with our resource while at the same time being able to enjoy it and preserve it for future generations. 

So how can we as responsible anglers do both? How about by eating more fish? 

Sounds strange – it's not really.  Maryland waters are home to 3 invasive fish species and the best way to save the bay is going to involve harvesting those fish. 

They pose a wide array of problems for the Bay and Maryland waters. 

But the good news is these fish taste good! 

Let’s back up – an invasive species is non-native and has the potential to cause ecological harm to the environment where it doesn’t belong. 

Blue and flathead catfish were introduced in the 1960s to create a recreational fishing opportunity.   

This was a common practice during that time period. 

Invasive species many times do not have natural predators so their number increase drastically. 

They tend to eat native fish or crabs and mussels and can spread viruses and pathogens. 

One such example is the largemouth bass virus and mycobacteria are found in parts of the Chesapeake Bay, but these pathogens could expand their ranges by hitchhiking a

Welcome to episode 001 of the Maryland Fishing Line!

This is the podcast where we talk about fishing throughout the state.

It’s a place for you whether you chase rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay, snakehead on the Potomac River, white marlin off the coast of Ocean City or trout on the fly in Western Maryland streams.

Every week we will bring you fishing reports, news, the information you need and discussions and interviews with folks throughout the state.

The Maryland fishing line is a production of The Angler Magazine, Chesapeake Edition.

The Chesapeake Angler can be found throughout southern Maryland, Anne Arundel County and the Eastern Shore. If you would like to see it in your area and it’s not there let us know!