May 29, 2019 - This Week

Rockfish in the 19 to 22 inch size are in the bay and Potomac in good numbers for trollers who scored consistently since the minimum size reduction last Thursday.

Fishing out of Tall Timbers, charter captains set up chum lines using ground alewives and had plenty of fish eager to hit cut bait. The Potomac minimum is 20 inches, and limits of two per person were easily obtanined. Trollers are finding rockfish using bucktails with twister tails and shad bodies for trailers.

The bay has good rockfish too, but the main body of stripers have gone north above the Gas Docks. Trollers from Cheaspeake Beach to Deale have had some tough days where limits were hard work. Surf casters from the shore and piers have found some stripers in shallow water, and the warm water outflow at the Power Plant has been consistent, but they are not jumping in the boat.

Catfishing is excellent most everywhere. The Pepper Langley fishing pier at the boat ramp under the Solomons Bridge has catfish everyday. Perch and rockfish are available too; there was a report of spot caught there this week, but we have not seen proof. The fishing area at Piney Point at the St. George Island Bridge has catfish and some rockfish. Point Lookout Pier and beaches have catfish, rockfish, and perch.

All Maryland waters open to rockfish harvest next Saturday, June 1. The Patuxent should be rich in stripers on the oyster bars and in the shallows for trollers and lure casters.

The weather forecast remains great for the next ten days, and the fish are biting.

Fresh water fishing for bass , bluegill, crappie, and pickerel continues to be excellent.

Eric Packard caught this striper off a pier in the bay near Cove Point.

John Garofalo with a rockfish from the Power Plant.

Richard Bell with one of many catfish from the Pepper Langley Pier under the Solomons Bridge.

Perch are in the creeks as water has warmed and the winter grass has left for the season.