As Good As It Gets

​Rockfish and catfish are on the menu in Southern Maryland.

The rockfish bite is over-the-top good in the Potomac from above the 301 Bridge to Ragged Point. Both sides of the river have stripers in the hefty 24-to-32-inch range. Casters and jiggers find them on structure in 30 feet and in the shallows depending on time of day and tide movement. The fish are always on the move feeding somewhere.

Plenty of big rockfish from Miss Susie Charters.

The Patuxent has stripers cruising around looking for a meal most everywhere. The fish were breaking from marker 5 to Cedar Point almost every morning this week. The rocks at the old lighthouse are holding some fish over 30 inches. Little Cove Point is another good location.

If you like to troll, you can catch your limit of two in excess of 20 inches in the Potomac most any day. Small umbrellas and tandem rigs are favored trolling lures. The mouth of the Patuxent has plenty of rock for trollers where the limit is one per day and a 19-inch minimum.

Eric Packard fished the Target Ship last week. Casting white paddle tails on Hard Head custom.

Bryan Dorsey catches catfish on artificial lures (chatter baits) in the Potomac.

There are rockfish eager to hit lures around the Target Ship and at Point No Point Lighthouse. Both the bay side and the creek side of the mouth St. Jerome's Creek is producing excellent rockfish action for lure casters at dusk and dawn.

Plenty of rockfish in the shallows.

Kayakers find stripers blind casting near Little Cove Point.

Blue catfish are now very active in the Potomac. Mallows Bay is ground zero for catfish that will take cast lures and cut bait. The big fish are on the bottom seeking bloody cut alewife bait; the smaller catfish love cast chatter bait lures on the surface.

Catfish and snakeheads will now become primary targets for fishermen as the water has cooled.

Blue cats in Mallows Bay, Potomac River.

Johnny Caldwell and his 32-inch striper from Cedar point.

Related Partners