A lot is happening in the world of fishing even though the week featured much rain, little sun and cooler than usual temperatures.
Let us remind you that Saturday will be the opening day of the Maryland trophy rockfish season; the 28-inch-and-over minimum size requirement applies through May 15. Here’s what the people over at the Tackle Box in Lexington Park had to say about the chance of hooking a good-sized striper: “There are tons of rockfish everywhere just waiting to take trolled lures on Saturday.” The store’s crew, including owner Ken Lamb, stays on top of fish catches throughout the region; they see many successful fishermen come into the shop, and members of the staff go out onto the water frequently.
And what about the news that croakers have arrived? Local angler Patrick Dodson and friends got into the croakers (aka hardheads) inside the Choptank River a few days ago. All these fish wanted were pieces of expensive bloodworms, fished from two-hook bottom rigs. Then comes Ken Lamb, who said the first croaker of the year in his area was checked in by Tracy Brooks of Avenue, Md., on Tuesday morning. Brooks and a party of four fished before sunup and found croaker in abundance in 8 feet of water in the Wicomico River near Bushwood. The best baits were shrimp and bloodworms.
If it’s largemouth bass you want, whopping catches have been made in the tidal Potomac and several of its feeder creeks. One bass buddy tournament that was held out of Smallwood State Park in the Mattawoman Creek was won with a total weight of over 30 pounds for seven fish. Another contest that was won by one angler with a five-bass Maryland limit had the weight scales rest on the 24-pound mark.
(Ratings key: ****Excellent fishing; *** Good; **Fair; *Poor)
AREA 1: D.C. AND VICINITY
TIDAL POTOMAC RIVER: 0-35 miles (***)/ Around Fletcher’s Cove (Georgetown, off Canal Road; call 202/244-0461) the river is murky from recent rains but should be nicely fishable by the weekend. The shad are there but not willing. The same holds for the white perch. Catfish, however, would love a bottom-fished slab of fish. Warmer water will help, and that is going to happen in the next several days. Meanwhile, in the tidal stretches between the District and western Charles County, exceptionally heavy bass are seen during various weekend tournaments. One buddy tournament in which only seven bass could be weighed in was won with a total weight of 30-plus pounds. Many of the emerging grass beds in the river and creeks have been turning up largemouths that appear to like shallow crankbaits, Chatterbaits and spinnerbaits, as well as soft plastics, such as the Paca Craw. White perch of size have been hooked near Marshall Hall and on the drop-offs along the Greenway Flats. Bottom-fished bloodworms are the ticket. Below the Harry W. Nice Bridge (U.S. 301), get ready for trophy striper season, when one 28-incher can be kept a day. Good news also is coming from the Wicomico River around Bushwood, where croakers have started biting.
WICOMICO RIVER: 55 miles (***)/ The first croaker of the year was checked into Lexington Park’s Tackle Box store on Tuesday by Tracy Brooks of Avenue, Md. Brooks and a party of four fished before sunup and found croaker in abundance in eight feet of water in the river near Bushwood. The total catch was well over 50 fish, they said. The largest measured 21 inches; it had a 14-inch girth.
MATTAWOMAN CREEK: 40 miles (***)/ Emerging grass beds are home to many bass, but stay away from the Marsh Island area because I saw the Maryland Department of Natural Resources shocking boat there removing bass to take to the Cedarville Hatchery, where they will become brood stock. Shallow crankbaits and soft plastic craws can bring hits from the largemouths.
SOUTHERN MARYLAND LAKES: 40-50 miles (***)/ Gilbert Run Park’s Wheatley Lake (Route 6, east of La Plata) could deliver a stocked trout or two, along with sunfish and young bass. At St. Mary’s Lake (south on Route 5, past Leonardtown to Camp Cosoma Road), the crappie catches continue and various methods work, from live minnows under a bobber to little jigs and grubs under a float to plain Mepps spinners that can be fished around waterlogged brush and trees.
LITTLE SENECA LAKE: 30 miles (***)/ Black Hill Regional Park (off Route 117 near Boyds, 301/972-9396) and nearby Seneca Creek Lake (Clopper Road, Gaithersburg, 301/924-2127) Catfish, a few hefty bass and panfish make these impoundments a good choice for the weekend. The water will be mostly clear by then.
WSSC RESERVOIRS: 20-30 miles (***)/ (Triadelphia, off Route 97 or Route 650 in Montgomery County; Rocky Gorge, off Route 29 in Montgomery County) It rained and stained some of the upper portions of the lakes, but the catching and releasing of bass (keeper season doesn’t come until June 15) will go on. Crankbaits, slow-rolled spinnerbaits and soft plastics will work around stick-ups, lake points and in the backs of coves, where some spawning attempts will be made. Crappies should cooperate this weekend.
PATUXENT RIVER: 25-60 miles (**)/ The upper portions of the river will not be fruitful this weekend. The rain has discolored much of the water, but all the same, some leftover perch, crappies and a few bass are available in the feeder creeks, such as Western Branch, Mattaponi and Hall’s. The mouth will be a beehive of activity; rockfish boats will come out of every marina this weekend to partake in trophy striper season.
OCCOQUAN RESERVOIR: 25-30 miles (***)/ Of the Fountainhead Park portion (Route 123, Fairfax County) of the reservoir, ranger Smokey Davis said: ?The cold, windy and rainy weather may have affected the fishermen, but it had little or no effect on the fish. Several five-fish limits that weighed over 20 pounds were reported over the weekend. Buck bass are hanging close to shore getting ready to prepare a bed, and the larger females are lying off the nearest structure in deeper water. Spinnerbaits, swimbaits, jig’n’pigs and soft plastics have taken quality fish the last few days. No word on the crappie bite, but channel catfish go for cut bait, big shiners and chicken livers. The reservoir is at full pool, stained with surface temperatures in the high 50s to low 60s.
BURKE LAKE: 29 miles (***)/[Emp] ? (Ox Road, Route 123, Fairfax County) The crappies, bass and sunfish have stirred. Reader Steve Kalinowski had a good number of crappies take small, white Dollfly jigs fished about 3 feet under a bobber in sunken brush.
AREA 2: CENTRAL, WESTERN MARYLAND
UPPER POTOMAC RIVER: 35-100 miles (**) Rising water and some discoloration probably won’t help smallmouth bass and walleye fishermen this weekend.
DEEP CREEK LAKE: 179 miles (***)/ Lake guide Brent Nelson (240/460-8839) said there’s a decent chance for bass and walleyes, not to mention fat yellow perch. The DNR reports it will be conducting its annual spring walleye survey this week. A Deep Creek Volunteer Fire Company Walleye Tournament also is scheduled.
SUSQUEHANNA RIVER: 65-100 miles (***)/ Hickory shad are abundant in the river, and they will be biting big-time in Deer Creek this weekend. The DNR’s Keith Lockwood said the best shad fishing right now in the river itself is around Lapidum and up at Roberts Island. By the way, there will be a 191-boat bass tournament in the upper Bay’s waters this weekend, and there will be bass boaters beating the water to a froth there, as well as in the Sassafras, Bush, Elk and every other waterway in the northern Chesapeake.
AREA 3: CHESAPEAKE BAY
MARYLAND: 45-75 miles (***)/[Emp] ? The entire Chesapeake Bay will be humming with hundreds of boaters attempting to catch a trophy-sized rockfish of 28 inches or longer. One such fish per day can be kept, and the catches should be reasonably good. Try it along the channel edges anywhere from the Bay Bridges down to Point Lookout. Popular trolling methods will be umbrella rigs loaded with chartreuse or white Sassy Shad bodies, but only one of them will have a hook embedded in the soft plastic. Others will drag large chartreuse and white parachute bucktails and typical dropweights on the trolling rigs will range between 8 and 16 ounces.
VIRGINIA: 75-150 miles (***)/ Northern Neck charter fishing captain Billy Pipkin (captbilly[AT]captbillyscharters.com) will join his Maryland counterparts and go after rockfish in Maryland waters, as will other captains. Ken Neill of the Peninsula Salt Water Sport Fisherman’s Association down in Virginia Beach, said local angler James Breen fished for flounder near the Third Island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and hooked a flounder that weighed 10 pounds, 9 ounces. Flounder, said Neill, are currently caught the Bridge-Tunnel, on Buoy 36A and near the Back River Reef. “Some croakers are being caught up in the rivers,” he said. “Tautog are being caught on structure in the Bay and the bridge-tunnnel’s high rise area has been producing some nice ’togs lately. Incidentally, to keep a flounder it has to measure 19 inches in length.
AREA 4: EASTERN SHORE/MARYLAND
CHOPTANK RIVER: 120 miles (***)/ (Route 50 east to Cambridge) Patrick Dodson and friends fished a lower river portion from shore and hooked good numbers of fat croakers, many of them in the 18- and 19-inch range. Some rockfish of note have been hooked and released in the river. Upper river where the bass hang out is discolored from rains.
POCOMOKE RIVER: 140-170 miles (***)/(From Snow Hill down to Shad Landing) One of the best bass rivers in the state. It can’t compete with the Potomac, but it offers plenty of action if you cast and retrieve shallow crannkbaits or use short plastic worms in the waterlogged tree roots and brushy areas of the river anywhere from Snow Hill down to Shad Landing. There’s a public boat ramp in Snow Hill.
NANTICOKE RIVER: 120 miles (***)/ (Sharptown ramp off Route 313, or use the Marshyhope Creek ramp outside Federalsburg) Rockfish will be seen around the Vienna sector, but most of the boaters here want bass from the Marshyhope Creek and upper river parts ? and some are doing just fine with crankbaits and spinnerbaits.
AREA 5: CENTRAL VIRGINIA
LAKE ANNA: 82 miles (***) (Route 208, Spotsylvania County) Crappie fishermen can do very well around brushpiles inside some of the boat docks or around beaver huts. The bass are serious about spawning, so check out the backs of creeks and coves, though fair numbers of largemouths are hooked around rocky riprap and lake points on shallow to medium depth crankbaits.
RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER: 47-100 miles (**)/ Catfish bite will be OK in Fredericksburg, but rains have changed the shad situation somewhat. Perhaps the shad fishing will be back in swing by the weekend. A few white perch are found in town and if it’s tidal bass you’re after you’ll probably do better if you wait a few more days, then try the Hicks Landing to Green Bay sector of the river.
LAKE BRITTLE: 59 miles (***)/ (Route 793, off Route 29) Maybe the lake will be good and fishable by Saturday or Sunday, but the rains did discolor the water some. Crappies, bass and catfish are available.
LAKE ORANGE: 75 miles (***)/ (Concessionaire: 540/672-3997; look for left turn sign on Route 20 before entering town of Orange) Good chances for crappies and some pre-spawn and spawning bass. Plastic lizards will anger a bedding bass. She’ll try to kill your bait, but please let her go when hooking a spawning female. Let her finish her reproductive chores.
LAKE GASTON: 179 miles (***)/ (Route 46, Gasburg) “The various creeks’ water temperatures are near 60 degrees, sending some bass into the bedding areas,” lake specialist Marty Magone said. He recommends that bass anglers should look for gravel banks in the back of the feeder creeks. “Paca Craws and jig worms are the best choice,” he said. “Early morning topwater action is also heating up with Rico-type poppers cast to stump-filled points.”
KERR RESERVOIR: 185 miles (***)/ (Route 58, Clarksville) Bass are on the beds in many sectors of the lake. Crankbaits and smartly fished lizards and crawfish imitations work well in the backs of coves and in the creeks. Whopper catfish continue to delight bottom fishermen who use cut bait.
JAMES RIVER: 115 miles (***)/ (Tidal Richmond area and downstream) Heavy catfish are in the deep channel waters below Richmond, and some decent shad activity is available in the Richmond falls line waters.
CHICKAHOMINY RIVER: 135 miles (***)/ (Williamsburg area) Upper river still gives up some yellow perch, white perch and crappies. The shoreline trees and marsh edge drop-offs will deliver good numbers of mostly small bass, but a few good ones are taken daily.
AREA 6: WESTERN VIRGINIA
SHENANDOAH RIVER: 75-85 miles (***)/ (Route 340, Front Royal, Luray and Bentonville areas) Dick Fox of Front Royal said that the river is discolored but fishable, with large- and smallmouth bass going after crankbaits and soft plastic jigs.
SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE: 210 miles (**)/ (Route 122, east of Roanoke) The Bassmaster Elite Series tournament comes to the lake April 23-26, headquartered in Moneta. But conditions will be different than those back in 2007, when the tour last visited. Expect pre-spawn and possibly spawning conditions on the clear waters of this 20,600-acre lake.
UPPER JAMES RIVER: 130 miles (***)/ (Route 6, south of Charlottesville, Scottsville) We don’t know how much rain fell in the mountain parts of the river, but if the water isn’t all that dingy, you’ll catch smallmouths galore this weekend.
AREA 7: ATLANTIC OCEAN
MARYLAND: 153-175 miles (***)/ (Route 50 to Ocean City) The DNR’s Lockwood reported that Ocean City visitors are hooking a few rockfish in the back bay areas as well as some flounder. Tautogs are hanging around the inshore wrecks and artificial reefs, but they’re also beginning to show up around the Ocean City Inlet. Not much is happening yet among the surf species unless it’s spiny dogfish and skates you’re after.
VIRGINIA: 210 miles to Virginia Beach (***)/Julie Ball said that the deep water off the Virginia coast is still the place to be if you want plenty of blueline tilefish, grouper and sea bass in more than 200 feet of water. “Nice-sized sea bass are also beginning to move closer to shore. Offshore anglers are eyeing some warmer water moving close to the Cigar area,” she said. “Although the weather does not appear to present a break anytime soon, boats will head out to investigate the area with hopes of tuna when they are able.” Check out Julie’s Web site, www.drjball.com. For charters, call the Virginia Beach Fishing Center, 757/491-8000.
Look for Gene Mueller’s Outdoors column Sunday and Wednesday, and his Fishing Report on Thursday, only in The Washington Times. E-mail: gmueller[Bullet]washingtontimes.com. Also check out Inside Outside, Gene Mueller’s blogs about outdoors happenings here and elsewhere. Go to www.washingtontimes.com/sports and click on Inside Outside.
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