UPPER BAY - FROM THE BAY BRIDGES NORTH, INCLUDING THE SUSQUEHANNA FLATS AND RIVER

UPPER BAY MAP
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Floodgates at Conowingo Dam closed late last week and with it came the return of good fishing for shad, white perch, bass, and catfish. Time is quickly running out for catching American shad. Soon the water temperature will in the 70's, which is when we will witness their departure. Shad darts, small spoons, and twister tails are lure options for American shad. White shad flies (1/0 hook, chartreuse body with a red head) or red and #8 yellow streamer flies. When fly fishing for shad in the river a sinking line (200 or 250) on a 6 or 7 weight rod is recommended. White perch fishing picked up where it left off before the floodgates opened. Good results have come from using shad darts, spinners, small twisters, and hooks baited with bloodworms. Mike Patton of Paradise, PA, caught the 1 pound, 12.5 inch long white perch pictured on the right while flyfishing with a Dave Alwine's Perch fly. Mike was fishing near The Old Bridge Piers. Small white perch have also been caught at Turkey Point using bloodworms and nightcrawlers. Tubes and rubber worms are good lure options for tidal smallmouth bass. Fish islands and structure in the Susquehanna River, North East River, Sassafras River, and Elk River. Pictured on the top left is Rick Drummond with a largemouth bass he caught on May 25th using a 4 inch tube near Garrett Island. Plenty of catfish are being caught in the Upper Bay. Fishing cutbait in deep water is one technique for catching catfish. Shrimp, clam snouts, nightcrawlers are also good bait options. Down the Bay, chumming and trolling for striped bass has been good for many anglers. Trolled catches have come from a variety of depths with no predictable pattern. This were the old adage "bigger baits catch bigger fish" comes in. Charter boat captains continued to use 6 inch chartreuse and white 6 inch sassy shads. Down sizing has resulted in many sublegal catches. Chumming over mud bottom on the ebb tide in the usual places such as Love Point and Swan Point has been catching keepers between 18 and 24 inches along with throwbacks. An occasional big rockfish as well as some bluefish have been caught using both methods. A few croakers have been caught above the Bay Bridge. Pictured on the left is Brian Payne with a croaker he caught this past Saturday evening (5/25) in the Chester River off Eastern Neck Island. He was using squid strips fished on the bottom. The North Bay CBOS Buoy indicates that surface water temperature is 66.9 degrees Fahrenheit as of May 29, 2002. At 40 feet water temperature is 66.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Salinity is 0.1 ppt at 8 feet and 0 at 40 feet.

DNR Biologist, Jim Thompson - Fish Passage, created a shad and herring identification sheet.

Click for real time water flows on Deer Creek and at Conowingo Dam.

MIDDLE BAY - FROM THE CHESAPEAKE BAY BRIDGES TO DRUM POINT

MID BAY MAP
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Chumming for striped bass on The Hill turned on last week. Anglers using razor clams for hook bait were out catching those using menhaden. Grinding fresh fish was also a technique used by those doing well. Chumming at the Gas Docks has also been good using razor clams for hook bait. Trolling below the Bay Bridge to Bloody Point and outside of Chesapeake Beach was also productive for striped bass along with some bluefish and an occasional weakfish. Pictured on the right is Duane Sorrel and his coworkers from Metro Elevator/Escalator. These striped bass were caught outside of Chesapeake Beach. Angler Bill Athoff provided the following Cape Saint Claire report. I have been fishing every night for the last 5 days. I have been catching hundreds of small rock from 8-10 inches. (barbless hooks of course). For the last 2 nights I have noticed the average size going up (10-12 inches). Huge numbers of small bait in the water (1-3 inches) These small Rock have been eating very well. White perch up to 9.5 inches have been caught of Tolly's using bloodworms and razor clams. A slightly larger grade of white perch was caught just above Thomas Point Light on The Roof. Bottom fishing in the Choptank River has been spotty. Red Buoy #2 has been slow and the Diamonds fair for white perch up to 11.5 inches and an occasional spot. Razor clams, peeler crab, and bloodworms have been the baits to have on board. While bottom fishing aboard a Deale charter boat at Buoy 16 in the Choptank River on May 25, 2002, angler William M. Davis of Edgewater, Maryland caught a 22 inch, 5 pound flounder (pictured on the left). This fish hit a bloodworm on a standard bottom rig with a 2 ounce sinker. Angler Ron Louzon provided the following fishing report. We fished the Choptank River from 2 boats on Saturday from 7am till 7pm. Croaker were very abundant at the 12 and 12A buoys and the big ones were at the Sharp Island flats. Near the buoys, we caught 50 fish that ranged from 13 to 16 inches and, at the flats, my brother, Rocky, caught 2 that were 18 inches long. We also caught 4 small white perch and a 16 inch bluefish. We were using bottom rigs baited with bloodworm, squid, soft crab or combinations of the 3 baits and all worked equally well. Almost all of the fish were caught in about 25 feet of water and the best fishing was before noon and after 3pm. It also appeared that snapper blues were in the area because quite a few times we saw fish jumping out of the water. I have been fishing the bay for 37 years and this was the second time since I was a kid that I have literally filled a cooler with fish. Croaker fishing has been better in the evenings at the Gooses and Breezy Point. Daytime action has been slow. Popular baits include soft crab, squid, bloodworms, and razor clams. In Eastern Bay some croakers have been caught using plastics but more would have been taken using bait. Ten to 15 inch striped bass were also biting in Eastern Bay. A few larger ones were caught over hard bottom while searching for white perch. A 17.5 inch flounder was hooked in Eastern Bay last weekend using a Silver Buddy. White perch have been biting well in the Wye River around docks on bloodworms, grass shrimp, squid, and razor clams. Another option is drifting the edges and channel. Croakers have been caught drifting the channel in the Wye River. The Choptank River Pier reports that anglers are catching many cownose rays with an occasional croaker, spot, and bluefish. Some small white perch have also been caught. Experienced recreational crabbers using collapsible traps in the Wye River caught up to 3 dozen. The Mid Bay CBOS Buoy indicates that surface water temperature is 69.5 degrees Fahrenheit as of May 29, 2002.

LOWER BAY - FROM DRUM POINT SOUTH TO THE VIRGINIA LINE