As you have probably heard by now, several people have recently spotted a manatee in the area of Havre De Grace. Boaters are urged to keep an eye out for this large gentle creature which may spend a great deal of time in shallow water or near the surface. Use caution to avoid injuring this animal!
This is usually the toughest time of the year to produce consistent catches of largemouth bass – the dog days of summer. Early morning and evening are the best times to target these fish, but occasionally schools of fish can be found off deeper points suspended over structure, especially off points near the mouths of rivers/creeks. Locating one of these schools can be tough, but will yield great results.
The best bet for stripers in the upper bay continues to be the Conowingo dam area when water is being released. During no or low-flow periods, don’t waste your time! Occasionally anglers fishing in the evening for largemouth bass are reporting a few sporadic catches of striped bass and even walleye. If fishing the river either from shore or boat in the evening, use extreme caution!
Love Point and Swan Point are still producing lots of striped bass for anglers who are chumming, but many of them are sub-legal fish.
Remember, you don’t need a fancy boat to take a kid fishing. Many local ponds have outstanding bluegill and bass fishing that will entertain kids and adults alike. Seek permission from the landowner before fishing or trespassing on private property and never leave litter or fishing line regardless of where you’re fishing. In fact, start of habit of picking up litter you find while you’re out, it will improve the area you fish and may encourage others to do the same.
Middle Bay Region
Striper fishing remains good from Chesapeake Beach to Cove Point. Anglers have been successfully finding breaking 
fish and casting swim shads, bucktails, and spoons to catch them. Lots of breaking fish have been reported in Eastern Bay and south of Poplar Island. Anglers are telling me that if one school of fish is consistently producing small fish, you may want to leave and try your luck at other schools. Most of the schools have bluefish mixed in so anglers are deciding to use bucktails and spoons or be forced to change plastic baits often.
Steve Land of Odenton was live lining spot with his brother Jerry off of Breezy Point when he landed this healthy 34 inch striper.
Bottom fishing for spot, white perch and croaker was productive in the Severn river this past week on hard bottom bars using blood worms. An occasional flounder can be mixed in almost everywhere when bottom fishing for croaker, spot, or perch, but you’re more likely to hook up with flounder in Eastern Bay, especially off Claiborne.
Crabbing has been productive in the Choptank River and tribs. This lucky crabber had a nice dinner following a morning of work.
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Lower Bay/Tangier Sound Region:
We are seeing a mixed bag in the lower bay right now, much to the delight of the anglers focusing their attention down there right now! I’ve seen reports of black drum, red drum, mackerel, striped bass, flounder, croaker, spot and speckled trout.
Jim O’Leary sent in this report. On Saturday (July 18) twelve University of Maryland alumni met at Schiebels in Wynne, MD for a reunion and fished the mouth of Smith Creek to Point Lookout. They caught large white perch, croaker, a few good-sized flounder, and several undersized rockfish and bluefish. The main event, though, was the landing of a 44 inch black drum which weighed over 70lbs. Andy Halstead visiting from Dunedin, FL hooked the drum using light tackle (15lbs test), and it took about an hour to reel in with the help of first mate Glen, taking over duties halfway through. The line finally broke just as Captain Bruce Scheibel got a net under the fish.
The shallow bays and flats are producing striped bass, speckled trout, and red drum to anglers casting topwater baits and bass assassin or bass kandy delight plastics on light jig heads. Jay Fleming sent in this photo of a red drum he caught from his kayak in some shallows near the Bay Bridge Tunnel.
Jim Thompson
Fisheries Biologist
MD DNR Fisheries Service
Click here for information concerning harmful algae blooms
Click here to view recent bay satellite images at mddnr.chesapeakebay.net/NASAimagery/EyesInTheSky.cfm
