Photo by Rich Watts
Welcome to “Rocktober!”
Heavy rains continued through much of last week, but we finally had some beautiful sunny weather over the weekend. Many anglers got out on the bay to enjoy action with striped bass, bluefish and southern visitors such as speckled trout and red drum.
Forecast Summary: Oct. 3-9
This begins a special time of year. No, it isn’t pumpkin spice season. It is Rocktober – a time of cooling waters, shorter days and acres of breaking fish and screaming gulls. This week, anglers will be treated to stable weather with moderate temperatures, low winds and a very low chance of rain. Expect improving water conditions for gamefish, including the mighty rockfish. With uniformly mixed waters, there will be plenty of cool, well oxygenated water from the surface down into deeper waters of at least 30 feet for hungry fish to roam. However, the Don’t Fish Below Depth at Swan Point and the Bay Bridge is 16 and 25 feet, respectively.
At the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoys, water temperatures are cool, with the Susquehanna River at 65 degrees, Gooses Reef at 73 degrees, Point Lookout at 73 degrees. Temperatures should remain stable as the week of moderate temperatures continue. Expect poor water clarity from the high flows coming from most rivers and streams. The Susquehanna River’s muddy water will likely extend down to near Gooses Reef. In addition, there is poor water clarity on the Potomac River down below Breton Bay with the worst water clarity from Mattawoman Creek upriver from the high flows. There will be above average tidal currents Friday through Tuesday as a result of the new moon Oct. 9.
For the full weekly fishing conditions summary and more, pleasure be sure to check out Click Before You Cast.
At the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoys, water temperatures are cool, with the Susquehanna River at 65 degrees, Gooses Reef at 73 degrees, Point Lookout at 73 degrees. Temperatures should remain stable as the week of moderate temperatures continue. Expect poor water clarity from the high flows coming from most rivers and streams. The Susquehanna River’s muddy water will likely extend down to near Gooses Reef. In addition, there is poor water clarity on the Potomac River down below Breton Bay with the worst water clarity from Mattawoman Creek upriver from the high flows. There will be above average tidal currents Friday through Tuesday as a result of the new moon Oct. 9.
For the full weekly fishing conditions summary and more, pleasure be sure to check out Click Before You Cast.
Upper Chesapeake Bay
There is still some debris in the upper bay due to the Conowingo Dam operating with as many as eight spill gates open last week, however the size and the quantity of the debris has decreased. Water continues to be stained from runoff and the flow is higher than average, but the situation should steadily improve with dryer, sunny weather.
According to local tackle shops, chumming and fishing with cut menhaden chunks continues to produce striped bass in the usual locations, along the 20-foot to 25-foot channel edges at Swan, Love and Podickory points. Live-lining with spot and jigging has been good around the Bay Bridge pilings and rock islands. Numbers of bluefish seems to be down this year due to high freshwater flows and low salinity.
For those seeking live baits, spot will be harder to find as water temperatures slowly go down in early October. They can still be found in the lower Magothy River and the shallower side of the Bay Bridge in about 15 feet of water, including the area around Sandy Point and Dolly’s Lump/Hackett’s Bar.
We have also received reports that striped bass are starting to move up into the various rivers, such as the Patapsco, and are being caught from shore on bloodworms and peeler crabs and also from boats while jigging. Top water baits, or poppers, are working near piers and structures in the rivers, especially during low light periods like mornings, evenings and overcast days. Trolling the mouth of rivers is also producing with light bucktails and small paddletail swimbaits.
Fishing for large white perch continues to be good in the tidal rivers and along shoreline structure for those casting small spinners, spinnerbaits such as Perch Pounders and Super Rooster Tails, and smalljigs with plastic Twister Tails. Some anglers like to tip their jigs and spinners with small pieces of blood work to provide a scent trail. Channel catfish have been active and aggressive from the Susquehanna Flats down to Matapeake and can be caught in all of the region’s tidal rivers. Some larger channel catfish are being reported from the Podickory Point area on cut bait.
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Here is a surprise catch of a young spotted sea trout from the upper bay, caught in a cast net. Photo by Rich Watts
There is still some debris in the upper bay due to the Conowingo Dam operating with as many as eight spill gates open last week, however the size and the quantity of the debris has decreased. Water continues to be stained from runoff and the flow is higher than average, but the situation should steadily improve with dryer, sunny weather.
According to local tackle shops, chumming and fishing with cut menhaden chunks continues to produce striped bass in the usual locations, along the 20-foot to 25-foot channel edges at Swan, Love and Podickory points. Live-lining with spot and jigging has been good around the Bay Bridge pilings and rock islands. Numbers of bluefish seems to be down this year due to high freshwater flows and low salinity.
For those seeking live baits, spot will be harder to find as water temperatures slowly go down in early October. They can still be found in the lower Magothy River and the shallower side of the Bay Bridge in about 15 feet of water, including the area around Sandy Point and Dolly’s Lump/Hackett’s Bar.
We have also received reports that striped bass are starting to move up into the various rivers, such as the Patapsco, and are being caught from shore on bloodworms and peeler crabs and also from boats while jigging. Top water baits, or poppers, are working near piers and structures in the rivers, especially during low light periods like mornings, evenings and overcast days. Trolling the mouth of rivers is also producing with light bucktails and small paddletail swimbaits.
Fishing for large white perch continues to be good in the tidal rivers and along shoreline structure for those casting small spinners, spinnerbaits such as Perch Pounders and Super Rooster Tails, and smalljigs with plastic Twister Tails. Some anglers like to tip their jigs and spinners with small pieces of blood work to provide a scent trail. Channel catfish have been active and aggressive from the Susquehanna Flats down to Matapeake and can be caught in all of the region’s tidal rivers. Some larger channel catfish are being reported from the Podickory Point area on cut bait.
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Thanks, Joe. Do you put this together just from the .gov site? Can't believe they'd be so helpful and this is super comprehensive.
ReplyDeleteBest,
Norm