September 13, 2018 - This Week

The fish are intermingled from Cedar Point to Smith Point and move around at a lightning pace.

The drum and cobia are mainly on the lumps below the Target Ship, but some drum were taken north of Point No Point on spoons last Tuesday.

Spanish mackerel are all over. A big school of Spanish moved into the Patuxent and were feeding on a bait ball of peanut bunker at the shoal marker just south of the Solomon's Bridge last Thursday. One party boat caught an astounding sixty-four mackerel trolling spoons in a circle from Sandy Point to the shoal in about an hour.

Many cobia less than the minimum 40 inches have been caught from buoy 72 south to Smith Point, but there are enough in the keeper size for many boats to get their limit of three. Surgical eels in all sizes and shapes are the key here for trollers. Many anglers are gathering the materials to make their own eels in special colors that have worked for them. Orange was hot last week; who knows what the fickle cobia will want next.

Bottom fishing for perch and spot is excellent now most everywhere. The fish are schooled up on the oyster bars of the Patuxent and Potomac taking blood worm, shrimp, and squid baits. There are a few croaker mixed in.

We have a huge storm heading our way. If the main body of wind goes south of us as currently predicted, we will could get six inches of rain residual effect. This will change everything in the bay. The cobia and redfish may take out for the open Atlantic, but they may stick around for a couple more weeks since the bait is here and we have seen them in October before. The storm may be a catalyst to send the rockfish that have stubbornly remained north of us all summer to come back to their familiar haunts here at the Gas Docks, Cove Point, Cedar Point ,and the Targets. Perch fishing will continue to be great, spot will retreat south.

There is plenty of good fishing this fall, so don't let the storm tempt you to give up on the season. The fall run of rockfish from the Atlantic is due in November and the big ocean-run 40 inchers will be taking trolled umbrella rigs and parachute tandems well into December.