Change of Season
Fall is here.
The bigger redfish are fleeing, the spot and croaker have migrated, blues are scarce, the speckled trout are giving us one last chance before skedaddling to warmer climes.
The Patuxent is yielding rockfish for trollers from market 11 all the way to Sheridan Point. This beauty was landed on Capt. Bernie Shea's charter out of Solomons.
The good news is the rockfish are loving the cool and are on a healthy bite. Both the Patuxent and Potomac had good reports of rockfish this week by trollers using small umbrella rigs, tandems, and single bucktails dressed with shad bodies.
More from Patuxent.
There are opportunities for jiggers and lure casters as the rockfish are coming to the surface, feeding and drawing birds at dawn and dusk. It is a brief window. There are still rockfish on the edges in ten to fifteen feet of water for light trollers using single bucktails dressed with plastic curly tails.
Many rockfish are released as they exceed the 24 inch maximum.
Bait fishermen from the shoreline can find rockfish at Cedar Point and Point Lookout at anytime; overall this action is pretty slow. White perch and an occasional bluefish can spark the action.
Mike Jordan was still getting slot red drum last week in the Tangier area of the bay. These southern fish will migrate as the waters cool.
Catfish are plentiful and hungry in the Potomac and Patuxent. The drought has made the river water salty enough to discourage the catfish from descending too far down river. They love cut alewife and a variety of prepared baits available in tackle shops.
Steve Fagan found ribbon fish in the Potomac this week landing an even dozen.
The white perch are scheduled to be schooled up in the Patuxent in the vicinity of the Solomons bridge this week. Bloodworms and small shiny metal jigs will bring home dinner.
Ribbon fish will vanish into the Atlantic to seek warm water soon.