With all the traveling I have been doing and still being boatless I have not fished the Chesapeake all too much the last two months. Don called me the other day and asked if I wanted to hit the middle bay with him and do a little saltwater fly fishing, I took him up on the his offer. We launched out of Claiborne boat ramp around 3:00pm just at the top end of the incoming tide and headed to Poplar Island area in hope of finding some fly rod action. There were birds everywhere, first few cast we picked up some punk striped bass on the east side of the island. . Ran into old friend from the CBBT, Brian, who said he had been out since morning and had a great bite fly fishing the whole time. We visited for a while and then he headed to the barn and we headed over to the west side. Messed around with ton of birds and more punk striped bass. Ran into a few more friends who were having some luck on light tackle and the fly rod. We fished this area for a while and then the tide quit, when it quit so did the fish, well at least we lost track of them. Hung out and chilled for a while and then as the tide started so did the fish. By this time there were a few more boats around and between all the running around they were doing in the shallower water it was hard to stay on top of the stripers. So we took a chance and ran south of Poplar, the gamble paid off and we found acres of birds and breaking stripers and spanish and Continue Reading »

The Spanish are invading Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, Spanish Mackerel that is. Reports are in with excellent catches of Spanish Macs from the Maryland line all the way up to in and around the bay bridge area. Flounder pounding reports are in the from the middle and lower Chesapeake. It’s been a few years since I’ve heard such good reports coming in, but keeper flounder are back in Maryland’s Chesapeake waters. Punk (ie undersize) striped bass are all over the bay along with their friends the bluefish. The action has mainly concentrated from Sharps Island, Popular Island up to Thomas Point, mostly on the eastern side.
(pictured is Steve’s (aka michasp1) son Randy with a nice spanish mac caught in the middle bay. You can check their full report with more pictures here )

My Fishing Shop Visit
I was in Baltimore this week and stopped in to Tocherman’s Tackle located on Eastern Ave. in Baltimore. I heard about the the shop for years, it’s actually been there before I was even born. I was having lunch with a friend around the corner and decided it was time to stop in and check out the action. I had remembered that local well know fly angler Joe Bruce (formally of the Fisherman’s Edge) had told me he ties flies in the store on Fridays and sometimes on Thursdays. As soon as I walked into the shop I was overwhelmed, fishing tackle everywhere. A huge selection of lures, rods, reels, and a breath of fresh air as I kept walking and looked to my right and saw Joe tying flies surrounded by fly tying materials and tackle. I finally got to meet Tony Tocherman and his lovely wife. I hung out with Joe watching anglers steam in on a regular basis. A fly angler even came in and bought a Continue Reading »

Just last week I was driving in the car and thinking to myself what a cool beginning for the summer we had. Sure enough a day later our normal hot humid summer Maryland weather arrived. As I am sitting here writing a good summer thunder storm is rolling across the Chopank River. I wanted to welcome Charlie Taylor to my fishing reports Charlie does a great job summarizing what is going on and will be checking in weekly with great reports.

Fishing has not been as hot as the weather, but it’s been consistent though out Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake. The hottest fishing for striped bass has been in the middle of Maryland’s Chesapeake, while the lower portion of the bay has been producing some good fishing. Offshore fishing out of Ocean City has been good. If you are in Ocean City or along the Maryland Delaware Beaches be sure to check out the White Marlin Open weigh-ins at Harbour Island Marina at 14th St. and the Bay. The tournament is this week August 3-7th and is always great fun to see white marlin, sharks, tuna and dolphin weighed in. If you can not make it, they do have a live weigh in cam which you can check out here. http://www.wmophotos.com/marlincam/ Check the reports below for full details…

Maryland Fisheries News
August is vacation month, which means most everyone is out of town and not much happening. There is no Sport Fish Advisory Commission this month. However, the Man of War Shoal dredging topic still is a hot topic. This should heat up again in September. But check the section below for an informative meeting happening this week which you can attend if you want to learn more.(pictured is foster with a schoolie striper from the Bay Bridge. Check his full report here)

Tournaments, Events and Other Fishing Happenings

CCA Maryland’s Baltimore Chapter Meeting
When: Tuesday, August 4th at 6:30 PM
Where: Nick’s Inner Harbor Seafood, 2600 Insulator Drive in Baltimore
Cost: Free
Description: If you want to hear the facts and details regarding the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ pending permit application to dredge Man-O-War Shoal. In early July DNR submitted an application for a permit to dredge 5 million bushels of fossil oyster shell from Man-O-War Shoal, located off the the mouth of the Patapsco River, with the possibility of dredging up to 30 million bushels of shell over a longer period of time. The permit application review process provides the opportunity for public comment and requires a separate analysis by the Maryland Department of the Environment, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Maryland Board of Public Works.

This event is not an official meeting or hearing as part of the permit review process, but an opportunity to hear a factual summary of the permit application presented by the CCA Baltimore Chapter, to discuss the issue with others and an opportunity for members to let CCA’s volunteer leadership know their thoughts about the permit application and how they believe the organization should respond during the public comment period.

More Information: For more information please email baltimore@ccamd.org
MSSA Essex Chapter Meeting: Brandon White (me) Speaking on Light Tackle Fishing for Striped Bass in the Chesapeake Bay
When: Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Cost: Free

Upper Chesapeake Bay Region (Susquehanna River/Flats to Bay Bridge Waters)
Most of any of the action in and around the Susquehanna Flats is fishing for largemouth bass. There are some stripers, but most all are small and not many anglers are targeting them this time of year.
A little further down the bay in and around Still Pond down to Worton Point and Hart Miller Island area light tackle anglers have had some success with Continue Reading »

This is a picture of Randy with his Uncle and the 39 inch rockfish Randy caught at the mouth of the Choptank River (Chesapeake Bay) while trolling recently.  For those reading this not from the Chesapeake Bay area, we get a spring run of these trophy stripers every year. The season usually opens in the middle of April and it’s game on in search of these beautiful monsters. While some light tackle and fly fishing anglers chase them, the most effective method is trolling umbrella rigs, bucktails and spoons.

The Lateral Line hat Randy has on is cool, but it pales in comparison to that trophy striper. Way to go Randy! (click on pic for larger version)

The Spring Trophy Striped Bass season ended Friday May 15th and we now move into a new set of regulations that last until Dec.15th: The striped bass season regulations are now 2 stripers 18”-28” or 1 striper at 18”-28” and 1 larger than 28” per person per day. Fishing is still restricted to the main-stem Chesapeake Bay from a line between Tolchester to the south pt. of Hart-Miller Island south to the MD/ VA Line plus areas of the Chester, Choptank and Patuxent Rivers.

While the big spawning striped bass are making their way out of the Chesapeake there are still good sized fish around. What is really exciting is that this time of year the stripers start to school a bit more which brings on the ability to target stripers with my favorite methods, light tackle and fly fishing.  The light tackle bite reports are pretty hot this week. Anglers are doing well from Breezy Point all the way down to Cedar Point Rip working the western edge of the bay in 30’-45’ of water. The key is to cruise this area and watch your fish finder for some good marks. Once you find the marks, drop the jigs and you are in business. There have also been some reports of bird activity and one of the biggest give-aways has been the sightings of large pods of bait/menhaden. Find the bait you find the fish more often then not this time of year, the birds will usually help you in this quest. With the recent warm weather water temperatures have risen; Thomas Point Light had a reading of 64.2F which is starting to get high, however with the approaching cold front this weekend it should curtail the water temperature from rising too much and prolong the good light tackle/fly fishing.

Trolling certainly has not stopped and anglers continue to catch keeper striped bass from the upper bay reaches in and around the Triple Buoy area down the eastern side in and around Love Point and following that edge all the way down past the bay bridge. Blue/white and chartreuse parachutes fished off planer boards seem to be a theme this week in the way of baits that are working well.

We also received a few reports of speckled trout being caught in and around the Honga River area. Most light tackle and fly anglers are fishing for striped bass, but the specks also in occupy the same areas and are finding the jig or fly. All this fishing has been fishing structure in less then Continue Reading »

Tons of fishing reports this week from all over the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake. Reports from different tributaries around the Maryland bay region suggested a large amount of spawning activity took place. Once these striped bass “do their thing” in the tributaries, it generally means the stripers are hungry and heavily feed as they make their exit out of Chesapeake. This most likely is what we can account for the hot bite that has been happening up and down the bay.  We received our first reports from some light tackle jiggers who found good concentrations of stripers below the Choptank River. Trolling anglers have been having their best luck with fish hitting in the upper part of the water column and fishing in less then 40ft of water.  (in the pictures Paul S and his friend George took their daughters fishing. They fished out of Breezy Point and managed to catch some nice fish and as importantly had a great day on the Chesapeake with their daughters. Click on the image for a larger version. Check their full report.)

Weekend/Upcoming Fishing Events
The MSSA Spring Fishing Tournament is in full swing this weekend with over 600 boats entered. Also this weekend is the Rod and Reel Fishing Tournament.

Maryland Fishing Reports

Upper Chesapeake Bay Region (Susquehanna River/Flats to Bay Bridge Waters)
The Susquehanna Flats season is winding down ending on Sunday May 3, 2008. There were many reports that the stripers were spawning south of the flats area in the main part of the bay in shallower water on the western shore and the eastern shore in the Elk River all the way down in and around the Sassafras River. Usually this is good news in that after the fish spawn the males will return to the flats to feed for a day or two to fuel up before heading back to the ocean. The females on the other hand will also head to the flats to feed, but generally only stick around for one or two tides and then head back out to sea. This pattern has not played out as much as anglers have hoped with some slower then expected catches. There have been moments of excitement with anglers catching a good pod of fish they have been able to catch with plastics, swimming plug, flies and in some cases top water lures.  Remember, fishing on the Susquehanna Flats ends on Sunday when it is no longer legal to target striped bass.

There are reports that the hickory shad are in and around Deer Creek and up ni the Susquehanna River. I had lunch with a friend yesterday who has been going up to Deer Creek on a regular basis and he said the shad have really been thick, so thick that he said it was hard not to snag them. Small flies in chartreuse, rootbeer and off white have been the trick.

Striped bass fishing just above the Bay Bridge has been steady. Most anglers are fishing the Continue Reading »

On Saturday April 18,2008, the opening day of the Spring Rockfish/Striped Bass season I flew from the top of the Chesapeake at the Susquehanna Flats almost all the way down the bay to the Maryland Virginia line, making our turn to head back home at the Cove Point (aka the gas docks). What we witnessed was an incredible sight of the Chesapeake Bay filled with fishing boats chasing the elusive monster spring striped bass. It was an amazing sight. The pictures tell some of the story, but even they do not do the incredible amount of boats we saw justice. I shot over 500 aerial shots and a bunch of HD aerial video. Below are a sampling of some of the aerial photos. I will post more over the next two days as I get time to edit them. All the pictures are geocoded, however it was hard to be able to show you them in that format, so I took my handy Spot GPS tracker up and our entire trip is mapped as the last picture so you can see our route. Enjoy the sights.

* You can click on the photos and they will pop up in a new window. Each photo is 1200 pixels wide.
**Please note that all the photos are copyright of Brandon White and may not be used with out his express written permission.

The picture below is a view looking north up the Susquehanna River. Havre De Grace is on the left below the first bridge and extending left. The Rt95 bridge is the far bridge in the background. When you enlarge the photo by clocking on it you will see all the boats at the top of the flats easier.

The aerial picture below is a view looking northeast across the Susquehanna Flats. The point in the upper right is Continue Reading »

I, Brandon White,  will be on CalZone Outdoors with Cal Sutphin on Fox 1370 Sports Radio in Baltimore, MD from 6 – 8 AM this Saturday April 18, 2008 for the Opening Day of the Spring Rockfish Season in Maryland’s Chesapeake bay.

If you do not get he signal you can tune in live through the internet at here, just click where it says “Listen Live” and a player will come up.
just want to talk fishing you can call in at: (410) 481-1370

The show will be rerun at 6pm on Saturday night in case you miss the morning broadcast.

We’ll be talking Opening Day of Striped Bass Season in Maryland, trolling for stripers, light tackle fishing, saltwater fly fishing, TidalFish.com, Lateral Line and whatever else fishing comes up.

Thanks
Brandon