Fall Fishing
Rockfish and bluefish have been very active this past week as cooler temperatures have encouraged the fish to school and feed up for the coming winter.
Good catches of bluefish have been made from the shore by surf casters in the Potomac around St. George Island and in the Patuxent at Cedar Point. The blues are in the 1 to 4 pound range and love fresh cut bait. The blues are also breaking in the bay and rivers and can be caught on most any shiny lure. There are a lot of 10 to 12 inch blues feeding on peanut bunker on the surface. Metal jigs fished below the breaking feeding juveniles can result in hook-ups of bigger blues, rockfish and an occasional bull redfish.
The spawn of menhaden this season seems excellent. There is a school of bunker rippling the water most anywhere you look. These bait fish that cleanse the water and provide food for predator fish are the lifeline of the bay. These bait fish are called alewives, menhaden, and bunker; all the same fish.
C J landed this 4 pound largemouth at St. Mary's Lake.
Pat Hepner and his 13 inch white perch from Solomons Island that took a white Beetle Spin.
The big reds are still around and both catches and sightings were reported all week.
Rockfish are very active for lure casters and trollers in all areas.
Trollers have found stripers in the 20 to 28 inch range off Piney Point, Breton bay and Ragged Point. Catfish are competing for the lures meant for the rockfish, and they can easily weigh eight to twenty pounds. Some have reported eight out of ten fish landed have been catfish in the deeper waters of the Potomac.
Speckled trout like this are in the mouth of creeks. This one took a paddle tail jig in Mill Creek in the Patuxent this week.
Erick Packard landed this six and one half pound bass at St. Mary's Lake.
The spot and perch catches in the Patuxent have slacked off the past ten days. The water has been stirred up with very high tides due to hurricane Sam way out in the Atlantic ,and the transition to fall temperatures seems to have slowed them up.
Very good catches of large mouth bass were made this week at St. Mary's Lake. Wacky worm rigs and swimming baits have worked very well.
Typical bluefish this week.
Plenty of keeper rockfish in the Patuxent.