It's all good

Blue fishing in the bay remains excellent. Big blues are in the ship's channel most consistently south of the Target ship. There are smaller blues (2 to 3 pounds) in the mouth of the Patuxent and in the Potomac as far north as the 301 bridge.  Big blues love surgical eel lures in most any color.  The smaller ones hit trolled spoons as well.  When the fish are located on the surface, they will take most any lure. Metal jigs and spoons are favorites as they are hardy and stand up to razor sharp teeth, but many enjoy throwing surface lures and watching the big aggressive fish smash and grab.

Rockfish are in the Potomac around St. Clements Island, the mouth of Breton Bay, Swann Point, Dahlgren, Ragged Point and above the 301 bridge. Trollers using bucktails, spoons, and umbrellas are doing well.

Captain Bernie Shea out of Solomons is loading his fish box daily with a mixed bag. A little something for everyone.

 Lure casters around structure in the Potomac and Patuxent are finding slot rockfish evening and morning. Top water is the favorite lure at the moment. 

Gray trout (weakfish) are coming back.

Perch fishing is still not up to normal. I ventured out this week and caught enough for a dinner for two.  

I experimented with a sabiki rig and tipped the tiny hooks with a bit of bloodworm in a shallow water Patuxent creek. I cast this concoction in my usual perch holes and caught many tiny spot. I went to another location closer to the river entrance and found a big school of juvenile black drum about 5 inches long.   They had the black stripes of youth and resembled sheepshead.  I caught about a dozen and left them biting. There were tiny perch and spot mixed attacking the sabiki rig. This is the first time in 45 years of fishing that creek that I have encountered black drum there. 

Local ponds are producing crappie now like this beauty caught last week in Piney Point.

An old fisherman said to me once: "There is a lot of water out there, and we just see the top of it."