Cover Image: Anglers employee Ryan has found a great Kayak fishing bite on the Magothy River including Rockfish, White Perch and Pickerel!
Rockfish: The rockfish bite has really picked up this week and you can target them a variety of places around the bay and with a variety of techniques. There’s a good bite inside of the rivers including the Severn, Magothy, Patapsco and Chester, at the mouths of the rivers, and at classic points in our area such as Hackett Point, Love Point, Tolly Point, Thomas Point and Tilghman Point. The six foot knoll and seven foot knoll are also producing fish, as is Eastern Bay and Poplar Island. In these areas, top water lures or sub surface lures such as jerk baits and Rat-L-Traps work best this time of year. Early morning seems to be the best bet! You can also mark fish in deeper water in the rivers and at the mouths of the rivers. Use 1/2 to 1 oz jig heads with 5″ paddletails. There’s also still a great open water jigging bite a little further south towards Chesapeake Beach. Near the bay bridge fish are still being caught live lining spot or using soft crab. From shore, the bite at Matapeake has been excellent. In addition to rockfish there have even been some surprise black drum and red drum caught using peeler crab!
White Perch: Nice, large size white perch are still being caught in shallow water in the rivers. Upsize your lure to a 3″ paddletail to really target those large fall fish! Perch are also in deeper water at the mouths of the rivers and in the main bay especially around structure and hard bottoms. Metal jigs are especially effective for perch this time of year! Try 1/2 oz G-Eye jigs Rain Minnows or Hayabusa Jigbikis!
Pickerel: The pickerel bite is starting to pick up in creeks off of our local rivers especially the Magothy and the Severn! Fish in shallow water using paddletails on bladed jig heads like Z-man Willow Vibes or small chatterbaits. Adding an underspin also works well! Jerk baits are very effective as well especially when fishing in slightly deeper water away from cover. This bite is already great and is only going to get better!
