Rockfish Season Opens Thursday, May 16
There are plenty of stripers (rockfish) for eager fishermen when the season opens in the Bay and Potomac this Thursday.
The Patuxent rockfish season above Point Patience does not begin until June 1. The slot limit on rockfish is 19 to 24 inches, with a creel limit of one per day.
Phoenix Spaulding leads The Tackle Box perch contest for May with this 10 incher caught in Breton Bay.
Word has it that the striped bass are in all their usual haunts now in abundance. Trollers in the channels and on the shoreline and lure casters on structure will find hungry fish.
Slot red drum form the beach; took bloodworm bait at bridge to Solomon's Island.
Puppy drum and redfish have invaded local waters in the mouths of creeks in the Potomac and in the Patuxent. The reds will take paddle tail jigs, spoons, bucktails, and even surface poppers. They are bottom feeders and will take bloodworm bits, clams, squid, and cut alewife or spot.
There are different rules for Maryland waters and the Potomac. Maryland allows one per day in a slot of 18 to 27 inches. The Potomac has a shorter maximum (25 inches), but allows five per day.
The Powell's loaded up on blue catfish off a pier in Wicomico Shores in the Potomac.
Catfish are biting hard in the Potomac and Patuxent.
White perch are in the creeks and rivers.
The cold snap over the weekend seemed to dull the appetites of the perch and spot. The return of warmth this week should make them hungry.