April 28th, 2021 - Rockfish Season This Week!
The striped bass season begins on Saturday, May 1, for both Maryland and the Potomac River with a 35 inch minimum.
This trophy season is limited to the Maryland portion of the bay only, and the main stem of the Potomac below the Nice Bridge at Route 301.
We will all be pioneers when the season opens as no targeted fishing for rockfish has been permitted in all of April. The question to be settled is whether the big spawners will be hitting trolled lures. In previous decades there have been copious amounts of big fish in the 30 to 50 inch range. But the past few season have found good populations of stripers in the 24 to 30 inch range with only a few of the huge fish.
The smaller fish have changed the favorite lures to troll, like the big 20 ounce Mojos and big parachutes with nine inch shads armed with stinger hooks have given way to smaller tandems and umbrellas with smaller lure arrangements. On opening day it would probably be best if all sizes were in the spread.
There have been white perch caught by bait fishermen using bloodworms off the shorelines. This activity will improve with the warming weather this week.
Spot have shown up in the nets of pound netters in the lower Potomac. There was a report of a catch of 300 last Sunday.
Catfishing remains excellent almost everywhere in both the Potomac and Patuxent. Surfcasters using hunks of fresh alewife are landing plenty of big catfish in Bushwood, Breton Bay in the Potomac, and at Benedict in the Patuxent.
The bass, crappie, pickerel, and bluegill are active in ponds and at St. Mary's Lake.
Mike Proctor with another string of perch from the bayshore.
Eric Packard with a nice bass from St. Mary’s Lake on Monday.
Come spend a weekend charter fishing here in St. Mary’s County! Let us help coordinate you with are local charter fishing companies for a weekend of fun!