Big Fish Are Here!
The fall run of striped bass has shifted into overdrive.
Big stripers from the Atlantic arrived last week, and trollers in the bay and lower Potomac have caught them up to 48 inches. There were big fish filtering in below Smith Point in late November and now have advanced well up into the bay and Potomac.
Some 40+ inch stripers have shown up in the lower Potomac.
The Maryland season for stripers closed on December 10th. The Potomac stays open until December 31st. The Potomac allows two rockfish per day, minimum 20 inches and maximum 31 inches. The big fish are catch and release. Please get a quick photo, and release gently; these fish are our future.
Robert Lagrange shows off beautiful stripers.
Trollers and jiggers are all doing well. Trollers are using tandem rigs with big in-line sinkers (the big fish are on the bottom below the smaller breakers on the surface), and umbrella rigs with the smaller teasers and lures. Jiggers are pulling up to the edge of breaking fish and dropping big jig heads dressed with paddle tail shads or BKDs. Jiggers also offer metal jigs up to four ounces. Blue was the favored color last week, along with chartreuse and white.
The Potomac is loaded with hefty rockfish.
The schools of rockfish, mostly in the 20-to-30-inch range are scattered from Cobb Island to the mouth of the Potomac. That is 40 miles of wide river. The main concentration of big schools will be from Piney Point on the Maryland side and Sandy Point on the Virginia side, to the mouth of the river.
Fabulous fishing!
We have a little less than three weeks left to enjoy these fish and gather some fish dinners.