Virginia Fishing Report. Tautog catches have been very good for those targeting sheepshead at the CBBT. They have had to release those fish but that changed as of September 20 when the tautog season re-opens. While tautog opens up, sea bass closes for a month. The sea bass season is closed as of September 22. The other season changes include the closure of cobia…make sure to get your catch reports in….and the opening of the bay striped bass season on October 4.

Virginia fishing for striped bass has not been all that good for big stripers. There are a lot of small striped bass in the bay. Last fall, they were mostly too small to keep. This fall, there will be a lot 20-plus inch available. We are having very good spot run. Nice spot are being caught in all of the rivers and inlets. Speckled trout and puppy drum are on the flats and around anywhere there is grass. Any dock with a light on it is a good location to look for specks, pups, and striped bass. Big red drum are being caught at the CBBT.

Spanish mackerel continue to be caught along the oceanfront along with false albacore. The coastal wrecks are holding sea bass, triggerfish and flounder. Just remember the sea bass closure.

The offshore bite is mixed-bag. Billfish are being caught but it has not been the epic September bite we have become used to. Dolphin, wahoo and some tuna are being caught. It is a good time to try for swordfish. Bottom fishing is producing good catches of tilefish and some grouper.

The next Peninsula Salt Water Sport Fisherman’s Association tournament will be the Grafton Fishing Supply Spot Tournament September 23 and 24. It will conclude with a club picnic at Dare Marina on September 24. Bring your spot to the picnic to be weighed-in (and eaten). The awards for July’s Youth and Ladies Tournament will also be presented at the picnic. 

Thanks Capt.Ken Neill for the Virginia fishing report!

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Help is needed with a genetic population study of sheepshead. The study is being conducted out of the University of South Alabama. They need anglers willing to collect fin clips when they return to the Chesapeake Bay next summer.

If you fish for sheepshead and are willing to help, contact Pearce Cooper at pcooper@disl.org and he will get you a sampling kit.

Thank you for your sheepshead fishing 🙂

Dr. Ken Neill sent over a fishing report with a few short not and picture of big red drum that about sums up all the action.

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There is not much more to say about the weather we have been having Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay the last few weeks other then, its’ stinking HOT. The water temperature at Thomas Point Lighthouse registered at 84.0 degrees as I write this, that’s some warm water folks. Despite the heat anglers have been getting out on the water and having decent catches of striped bass, croaker, some large perch, spot and in the lower Maryland Chesapeake Bay reports of some nice sized red drum caught by light tackle, bait and trolling anglers. Read the full Maryland fishing report for details.

On the fisheries front this past week we had a joint meeting of the Sport Fish Advisory Commission and Tidal Fish Advisory Commission. There were not that many hot topics brought up other then the issue of spot traps in the bay which have gained popularity over the last few years as live lining has come into vogue. Nothing was decided at the meeting, but a committee of members of both commissions will convene and develop recommendations to be made to the Department of Natural Resources. The commissions take off the month of August and reconvene in September.

Also this past week was an ASMFC hearing in Annapolis on the topic of increasing the commercial catch of striped bass along the Atlantic coast. Recreational anglers came out in full force opposing any increase in the commercial catch. Many recreational anglers as well as groups like the Maryland Saltwater Sportsman Association (MSSA), Coastal Conservation Association of MD (CCA), Maryland Charter Boat Association (MCBA) turned out and testified against the increase as well. Reasons cited were numerous and hard to ignore. The fact that its been estimated that over 75% of striped bass in the Chesapeake have mycobacterium (often called myco) which essentially has 100% mortality is a hard thing to dismiss; it essentially makes these fish walking dead, it’s not if they will die it’s when. (if you are interested in learning more check the VIMS site on myco.

Also noted was the trending decrease in the young of the year index. The increase in pollution in our coastal waters and of immediate concern of the unknown effects that the oil spill in the Gulf will have on our coastal fish populations. Poaching by all groups, both commercial and recreational not being taken into account. The wide unknown how many fish are harvested in the Virginia winter recreational fishery, estimated to be between 200,000 – 800,000 fish, basically we have no grip on the real number. The large Virginia winter commercial striped bass fishery that intercepts the large breeding striped bass on their way to the breeding grounds in the upper Chesapeake Bay.  And the effect that Shifting Baseline Syndrome
is having on all our perceptions of what a healthy population of fish is and/or should be.

Hearings will continue in other coastal states over the next few months and feedback and analysis brought before the ASMFC in the Fall/Winter meetings.

Upcoming Fishing Events, Fishing Tournaments and Other Fishing Meetings
White Marlin Open
When: August 2nd-6th, 2010
Where; Ocean City, MD
More Information, Registration and Details
http://www.whitemarlinopen.com/

MSSA Fall Classic
When: Nov 20- 21st , 2010
Where: Maryland Chesapeake bay
More Information and Registration
http://www.mssa.net/fallclassic.html

Upper Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reports
I have not heard much in the way of striped bass fishing for any keepers in and around the Susquehanna Flats and a few miles south. There are mixed results for live lining spot for striped bass in and around the Bay Bridge and Bay Bridge pilings. Spot have generally been on the smaller side and at times hard to catch. Some anglers fishing out of Sandy Point are heading to Hackets Bar outside the Severn River and catching their way though white perch to get some spot of size and then running back up to the Bay Bridge to dunk the spot on the pilings. With current you’re likely to find some keeper striped bass.

There have also been a few reports from in and around the Middle River, Knolls  (6ft Knolls) area of lots of schoolie stripers and some smaller bluefish mixed in. Check your map for the lumps and humps in the Knolls area and with current drop some jigs.

Reports of jumbo white perch are available throughout the upper bay. Grass shrimp and bloodworms remain the bait of choice. Some of the better locations are the Bay Hackets Point, Bridge pilings, Magothy River mouth, Mountain Bar off Gibson Island, Key Bridge, Pooles Island, Swan Point Bar, Belvedere Shoals, Chester River and Corsica River.

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reports
Breaking striped bass has been the name of the game in the evenings in and around the mouth of Eastern Bay and over the last few days more in the Bloody Point area. Light tackle anglers have had the best luck with poppers while trolling anglers have had good luck with 15 and 17 Tony Accetta  spoons.

Charlie S from TidalFish.com’s Maryland fishing forum filed this report from Thursday: We left Tilghman at 5:30am with intentions of drowning some spot down at the Gas Docks. Some last minute intel changed our minds and we went out into the “Hook” to look for some breakers. WE went from the So. end of Poplar all the way to Stone Rock without marking anything worth working over. Reversed course and headed north with the idea to look at E bay and see what was happening up there. Almost to 84 and there they were Continue Reading »

The Maryland trophy striped bass season is just a few weeks away and with the advent of great weather throughout the Chesapeake anglers are uncovering their boats and have fishing on the mind. While light tackle and fly fishing can be great fun, the preferred method by many anglers is trolling. You can cover a lot of water and with the stripers moving like they are this time of year it is usually a very effective method. Some light tackle and fly anglers employ trolling until they find a school of fish, then shut down the boat and the light tackle fishing anglers start jigging and fly anglers start dredging sinking lines or casting to breaking fish. Here is a great article by one a well known captains, Capt. Mark Galasso, on the Chesapeake where he explains several trolling set ups to get you started this spring on your hunt for that monster striped bass. (Note the link will take you to another site, TidalFish.com, for the full article with illustrations.  Click here for the trolling set ups article)

DNR Helps Build New Public Access Site On Elk River
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has awarded a grant to Cecil County to construct a new boating facility on the Elk River and dredge the adjoining channel. The facility will provide recreational boaters with access to the Elk River and Chesapeake Bay, and other residents will enjoy the landside facilities.

“Everyone at the federal, state and local level pulled together to make this project happen,” Said DNR’s Boating Service Director Bob Gaudette. “This new boating facility will be enjoyed by local residents as well as boaters throughout Maryland.”

The Elk River Park Boating Facility was substantially completed and opened in July 2009 with $437,700 in Waterway Improvement Funds. The entire project, including dredging, will cost just over $2.3 million and also includes funding from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cecil County, and Program Open Space. $86,000 in Program Open Space funds helped provide landside park facilities including a picnic pavilion, barbeque pits, and a swing set. Boy Scout troop 131 designed and installed the pavilion and swings.

The facility boasts a new two-lane boat ramp with a 5 feet by 60 feet floating dock, two ADA accessible car/trailer parking spaces, and a new access road and turning area. Additionally, DNR included Continue Reading »

Waterkeepers Chesapeake of Maryland and Waterkeeper Alliance (collectively “Waterkeepers”) today filed a detailed, 58 page petition seeking major changes in the way Maryland operates and enforces the Clean Water Act in order to better protect the Chesapeake Bay.

The petition asks the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw Maryland’s delegated authority to administer the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) pollution permitting program for dischargers in the state. Under the CWA, EPA retains ultimate authority to monitor and control point source discharges of pollutants across the nation through its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program; the Agency typically delegates this authority to the states for implementation. In the petition, filed on behalf of the Waterkeepers by the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic, Waterkeepers request that the EPA evaluate the systematic failure of Maryland’s Department of the Environment to properly and effectively administer and enforce the CWA’s NPDES permitting program.

Organizations represented in the petition include: Anacostia Riverkeeper, Assateague Coastkeeper, Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper, Chester Riverkeeper, Choptank Riverkeeper, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, Patuxent Riverkeeper, Potomac Riverkeeper, Sassafras Riverkeeper, Severn Riverkeeper, South Riverkeeper, West/Rhode Riverkeeper, and Waterkeeper Alliance.

“If you want to see proof of the failure of Maryland to enforce the CWA within its borders, look no further than the spiraling health of the Chesapeake Bay,” said Michele Merkel, Waterkeepers Chesapeake regional Coordinator “Over the last twelve years, MDE has failed to properly administer the CWA in Continue Reading »

A good article on what the EPA is doing to determine where we need to clean up in the Chesapeake Bay first, i.e. where are the most polluted areas. Check this link for audio and the article.