Fishing Report
Chesapeake Bay (middle), VA
Summary: The middle Bay will be open to catch-and-release fishing for striped bass through March 31. Most anglers will be jigging with large soft plastic jigs along channel edges. The Calvert Cliffs Power Plant warm water discharge is always a popular place to fish this time of the year and will often be crowded. Observe the boats in the drift line before moving in and never anchor or hold your spot with a GPS operated trolling motor. Although trolling with six rods or less and no stinger hooks is allowed, few will find any point in this type of fishing if it is catch-and-release only. Soft plastic jigs of 8-10 inches will be popular and anglers are urged to use heavy spinning or conventional tackle to reduce the fight time. These arriving striped bass are making the difficult transition from ocean waters of high salinity to the relatively low salinity Bay waters. Fortunately, cold water temperatures help with minimizing the stress of catch and release for the fish. If you want to get a picture, make sure someone on the boat is ready with a camera to lessen the time the fish is out of the water, and always cradle the fish since the females are full of eggs and hold the future of your striped bass fishing. Anglers are urged to review the catch-and-release recommendations on the DNR website. The Choptank River is now off limits to all catch-and-release fishing because it is a spawning river for striped bass. Right now the smaller male fish are moving up the river to be followed by the larger females towards the end of the month. The water temperature in the lower Choptank is about 45 degrees and middle Bay temperatures are about 42 degrees right now. Yellow perch are moving up the Choptank River and Tuckahoe Creek this week and should have arrived at Hillsboro on the Tuckahoe and the upper Choptank. White perch are moving past the Denton area and anglers this past Sunday were catching them at the Greensboro area of the Choptank. Anglers are finding a mix of white catfish, channel catfish, and blue catfish in the Choptank River this week. The best action for blue catfish tends to be near the Denton area in the deeper channel waters. Cut baits such as gizzard shad, menhaden, white perch, or American eel are good choices and chicken liver can work well also. Brining your chicken livers in salt will help stiffen them up so they stay on the hook better.