Excellent Fishing; Dicey Weather
Plenty of redfish in all sizes; good rockfish in Maryland waters; perch are hot; speckled trout are about; spot are everywhere, but tiny ones interfere with filling the ice box with eating size; croaker are growing; spanish mackerel and bluefish abundant, and cobia should be increasing soon.
Erick Packard and friend, Zack, with Slot reds from lower Potomac.
Brad found rockfish, too in MD. Tributary.
Slot reds (18 to 27 inches) are in the lower Potomac, the St. Mary's River, Smith Creek and Breton Bay. The Patuxent has its share of redfish, too but most are puppy drum (under 18 inches) for most anglers; the slot fish are available for experienced anglers trolling small bucktails and jigs on the edges of the oyster bars in 3 to 5 feet of water. The big bull reds are in the bay but can be hard to find on any given day. The big reds are up the Potomac as far as St. George Island. One experienced fisherman was spooled by a big red that took a jig on the bottom in the mouth of the St. Mary's River last Thursday.
Carlos Falcon caught slot red in St. Mary's River.
Chris Madere with late evening rockfish caught casting popper in mouth of the Patuxent.
Some big speckled trout are mixed with the redfish. Trout love tiny spot, and live-liners have found some gator trout on structure in the mouth of the Potomac. One must fish at daybreak.
Bryan and Daniel Williamson with pair of speckled trout caught live lining small spot in lower Potomac.
Lazy tides, low water, and summer heat slowed much fishing activity to a crawl this week. Only early and late fishing was good.
Bryan Williamson with huge speck from structure in Potomac that ate a live spot.
Mackerel and blues were a bright spot in the bay all weekend. Charter boats did very well even though the water was rough and many landlubbers got sick. The mackerel are still stuck in the southern regions, although some made their way up to the Targets in Cedar Point Hollow late in the week. Perhaps they will make it to Cedar Point soon.
Hunter and Riley Tippett with Bull Red that took cast bucktail at bouy 72 in bay this week.
August has arrived and September is on its way. The cooler weather will make all species more comfortable and hungry.
Those Tippet boys again.
Speaking of weather, it looks rough later in the week and the upcoming weekend.
Greg Tippett the father and teacher.