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below, is some info on the general area i found. as always when reading fishing tips, keep in mind that 'spots' are not 'on' all day, and/or all year. the more you can learn about when/where fish are actually moving/feeding from other reports etc, the better. otherwise, i have FF/CP and find the CP to be just as important as the FF part a lot of the time.
as regards eastern bay, i have very little to add to info below except to say that the current/tide in eastern bay is different from that on the mainstem of the adjacent chesapeake. i think this makes the area very interesting, and challenging. i think you can find some tide/current animations at fishweather.com that are worth taking a look at.
Fishing Eastern Bay Part 1
By Richie Gaines
Published: July 17, 2006
Eastern Bay, as the name implies, lies on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay east and slightly south of Annapolis Maryland. Three rivers feed the Bay, the Chester from the North and the Wye and Miles rivers join from the East. The Bay encompasses some twenty square miles and its well-marked channels make for easy navigation. Water depths vary from shallow grass flats to deep channels of fifty-feet or more. Water quality in Eastern Bay is excellent as evidenced by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources choice to grow their seed oyster spat here for use in their transplant programs. Striped bass, bluefish, sea trout, white perch, croakers, flounder, spot, black drum, and Spanish mackerel make the Bay their home.
Whether you use bait or prefer to cast artificial lures, there is an abundance of shoreline and offshore structure available in Eastern Bay. Much of the better fish holding structure offshore and not easily detected. Many anglers conditioned to fishing structure they can see, may be intimidated by the vast open water of the Bay. Don’t be, the place is rich in underwater structure such as humps, points, ridges, oyster bars, and drop-offs and most of it is fairly easy to find with the use of a good chart and depth finder. Places that look like they should hold fish on the chart usually do. Confidence comes with success and vice-versa in this kind of fishing. Because it does take more effort to find, offshore structure has the potential to provide fantastic fishing as it typically receives very little fishing pressure.
As on much of the Chesapeake Bay, wind can be a problem on Eastern Bay. However, because it is surrounded by land, anglers can usually find protection by paying attention to the direction the wind is blowing. North/northwest winds are predominant in the spring and fall and the northern portion of the Bay is protected by Kent Island. Winds from the south and southwest blow much of the summer and the Tilghman Neck provides shelter under these conditions. The Bay is affected by a moderate tide flow with a range of about one-foot. Tide currents do affect fishing success and a strong flow is preferred. Slack tide periods usually mean a poor bite. At times boat traffic can be a problem here as large yachts trade between the Annapolis area and Saint Michael’s. During the summer, it can be an advantage to be on the water early in the morning or late in the evening on weekends to avoid the large wakes. Spring and fall see lighter traffic and the problem is minimal.
Eastern Bay Basics
Fed by three quality rivers, Eastern Bay offers excellent angling opportunities for those willing put in a little time and effort to understand it. Time of year will dictate what species are available as well as the prime fishing locations. The Bay is for the most part a three-season fishery with summer spring and fall offering the prime angling opportunities. Though the Bay does hold fish over the winter, populations are low and usually not worth the effort. Good fishing usually starts in May and typically falls off sometime in late November or early December. The fall months offer the most consistent and easiest fishing. By this time all of the migratory species have arrived and bait and game fish populations are at their peak. Vast schools of surface feeding stripers and bluefish abound, with sea trout often feeding underneath them and Spanish mackeral slashing through the schools of bait. One needs only a seaworthy boat, a quality fish finder, and a pair of binoculars to find fish at this time of year.
Stripers typically move into Eastern Bay in fair numbers sometime in early May. They have completed their spawning in the nearby rivers and pass through on their way back out to the Chesapeake. There appears to be two distinct groups of stripers at this time of year, large mature spawners and smaller fish in the sixteen to twenty-four inch class. The larger fish tend to hold on offshore structure like humps, points, and bars and are mostly solitary fish or in small pods. The smaller fish roam the shallows and everywhere in between, looking for food. The fish use both Eastern Bay and the rivers that feed it and will concentrate wherever the most bait can be found. Some years there is an abundance of bait in the rivers and other years it is more prevalent out in the Bay. A little homework will be needed to determine where to concentrate your efforts. If the river pattern develops it can offer outstanding shallow water fishing in May and June. If the bait is more abundant out in the Bay the fish tend to move a lot and can be more difficult to find and catch on a consistent basis. By late June or early July, water temps will reach the high seventies in the rivers and most of the larger fish will leave and set up on structure in the Bay.
May also signals the arrival of summer flounder in Eastern Bay. Often thought of as coastal Bay dwellers, good numbers of these tasty fish invade the Bay and stay until well into October. The flounder prefer hard bottom areas, especially along edges where the bottom composition changes from mud or shell to sand. Drop-offs tapering into a channel are another favorite haunt.
White perch are year-round residents, spending the colder months in deep channels and moving shallow during the warm months. The perch offer excellent shallow water opportunities and are easy to locate. Throughout the summer months they can be found on almost any type of structure but shoreline fishing is especially productive. Grassy shorelines and coves, undercut banks, fallen trees, boat docks, and wooden bulkheads are proven hotspots.
Sometime in June the croaker will make their first appearance and steadily increase in numbers through July. In past years they have shown up as early as May but most often its late June before consistent catches can be made.
Sea trout and bluefish generally arrive in mid August and increase in numbers throughout the fall. By mid September schools of surface feeding stripers and bluefish are practically an every day occurrence and many times the trout school underneath them. Spanish mackerel frequently mix with the breaking schools and round out the smorgasbord. Terns and gulls diving on the surface will give away the location of the breaking fish. Though they can and do roam all over the Bay, there are key areas to look in Eastern Bay for this action.
PRIME PLACES TO FISH ON EASTERN BAY
Kent Point
Lets dissect Eastern Bay and start our tour at Kent Point on the northwest corner and work our way east all the way around the perimeter, ending near Wades Point on the southwest corner. Kent Point forms the southern tip of Kent Island and is an excellent place to fish, especially in the fall. Bloody Point Light marks the tip of the long, flat point where it drops into the main channel and water of one hundred feet or more. The Light sits upon a rock pile that holds good numbers of stripers and an occasional bluefish. Water depth here is about eight feet and the rocks do not extend very far out from the base of the Light. The fish typically hold tight to the rocks so casts must be right up against them. A soft plastic lure rigged on a light lead head is ideal for this work. Surface poppers and other top water baits are good choices in the early morning or evening. A large flat extends east towards the shoreline and it will hold fish throughout its entire length. In late October and early November stripers roam here, chasing schools of silver sides. Excellent fishing can be had in three or four feet of water just a few casts away from the beach. A falling tide is preferred but any strong flowing tide will do.
The area just outside the light is a good one to search for schools of breaking fish in the fall. Keep an eye out for diving birds to the south or west. The west and southern edges of the flat drop steeply into the channel and flounder fishing can be excellent here. The fish will hold on the edge or often, they will move up onto the edge of the flat looking for food in the tidal current. Bottom drifted live minnows will quickly tell you if the flounder are feeding here.
Hollicutts Snoose
Just to the east of Kent Point is an area known as Hollicutts Snoose. Called “the Snoose” by the locals, it is simply a cove off of Eastern Bay and a virtual fish magnet. A long curving channel runs northeast along its western edge and this acts as a travel route for flounder, perch, trout, croaker, and hordes of stripers. Bottom fished baits on the edge of the small channel is the game for this area. Pay attention to your sonar unit so you learn just where the channel is. Miss it and your fishing falls way off, stay on it and the bite continues. An effective drift can be set up by motoring upwind and turning the wheel so the boat steers across the channel as the wind pushes it along.
Just outside the Snoose is an artificial reef planted by the state of Maryland. It is the remnants of an old concrete bridge lying in about seventeen feet of water. The rubble pile rises about five feet off the bottom and holds several different species of fish for most of the year. Stripers, bluefish, and sea trout visit the reef frequently.
Protected from the north winds of late fall, the Snoose harbors loads of bait fish at this time of the year. It should be on every angler’s list of places to check for breaking fish in October and November. During the fall, and especially on breezy days, I frequently spend all day here and never leave. Schools of blitzing stripers roam back and forth with me following happily behind.
In Part II of this series Richie will tackle about what tackle and techniques to use in your Eastern Bay adventures.
Richie Gaines is a Light Tackle and Fly Fishing Guide in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay. Richie is a highly sought after guide, writer and speaker though out the entire Chesapeake region. You can contact him via email for guide bookings, questions or comments at: Fishster1@aol.com.
as regards eastern bay, i have very little to add to info below except to say that the current/tide in eastern bay is different from that on the mainstem of the adjacent chesapeake. i think this makes the area very interesting, and challenging. i think you can find some tide/current animations at fishweather.com that are worth taking a look at.
Fishing Eastern Bay Part 1
By Richie Gaines
Published: July 17, 2006
Eastern Bay, as the name implies, lies on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay east and slightly south of Annapolis Maryland. Three rivers feed the Bay, the Chester from the North and the Wye and Miles rivers join from the East. The Bay encompasses some twenty square miles and its well-marked channels make for easy navigation. Water depths vary from shallow grass flats to deep channels of fifty-feet or more. Water quality in Eastern Bay is excellent as evidenced by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources choice to grow their seed oyster spat here for use in their transplant programs. Striped bass, bluefish, sea trout, white perch, croakers, flounder, spot, black drum, and Spanish mackerel make the Bay their home.
Whether you use bait or prefer to cast artificial lures, there is an abundance of shoreline and offshore structure available in Eastern Bay. Much of the better fish holding structure offshore and not easily detected. Many anglers conditioned to fishing structure they can see, may be intimidated by the vast open water of the Bay. Don’t be, the place is rich in underwater structure such as humps, points, ridges, oyster bars, and drop-offs and most of it is fairly easy to find with the use of a good chart and depth finder. Places that look like they should hold fish on the chart usually do. Confidence comes with success and vice-versa in this kind of fishing. Because it does take more effort to find, offshore structure has the potential to provide fantastic fishing as it typically receives very little fishing pressure.
As on much of the Chesapeake Bay, wind can be a problem on Eastern Bay. However, because it is surrounded by land, anglers can usually find protection by paying attention to the direction the wind is blowing. North/northwest winds are predominant in the spring and fall and the northern portion of the Bay is protected by Kent Island. Winds from the south and southwest blow much of the summer and the Tilghman Neck provides shelter under these conditions. The Bay is affected by a moderate tide flow with a range of about one-foot. Tide currents do affect fishing success and a strong flow is preferred. Slack tide periods usually mean a poor bite. At times boat traffic can be a problem here as large yachts trade between the Annapolis area and Saint Michael’s. During the summer, it can be an advantage to be on the water early in the morning or late in the evening on weekends to avoid the large wakes. Spring and fall see lighter traffic and the problem is minimal.
Eastern Bay Basics
Fed by three quality rivers, Eastern Bay offers excellent angling opportunities for those willing put in a little time and effort to understand it. Time of year will dictate what species are available as well as the prime fishing locations. The Bay is for the most part a three-season fishery with summer spring and fall offering the prime angling opportunities. Though the Bay does hold fish over the winter, populations are low and usually not worth the effort. Good fishing usually starts in May and typically falls off sometime in late November or early December. The fall months offer the most consistent and easiest fishing. By this time all of the migratory species have arrived and bait and game fish populations are at their peak. Vast schools of surface feeding stripers and bluefish abound, with sea trout often feeding underneath them and Spanish mackeral slashing through the schools of bait. One needs only a seaworthy boat, a quality fish finder, and a pair of binoculars to find fish at this time of year.
Stripers typically move into Eastern Bay in fair numbers sometime in early May. They have completed their spawning in the nearby rivers and pass through on their way back out to the Chesapeake. There appears to be two distinct groups of stripers at this time of year, large mature spawners and smaller fish in the sixteen to twenty-four inch class. The larger fish tend to hold on offshore structure like humps, points, and bars and are mostly solitary fish or in small pods. The smaller fish roam the shallows and everywhere in between, looking for food. The fish use both Eastern Bay and the rivers that feed it and will concentrate wherever the most bait can be found. Some years there is an abundance of bait in the rivers and other years it is more prevalent out in the Bay. A little homework will be needed to determine where to concentrate your efforts. If the river pattern develops it can offer outstanding shallow water fishing in May and June. If the bait is more abundant out in the Bay the fish tend to move a lot and can be more difficult to find and catch on a consistent basis. By late June or early July, water temps will reach the high seventies in the rivers and most of the larger fish will leave and set up on structure in the Bay.
May also signals the arrival of summer flounder in Eastern Bay. Often thought of as coastal Bay dwellers, good numbers of these tasty fish invade the Bay and stay until well into October. The flounder prefer hard bottom areas, especially along edges where the bottom composition changes from mud or shell to sand. Drop-offs tapering into a channel are another favorite haunt.
White perch are year-round residents, spending the colder months in deep channels and moving shallow during the warm months. The perch offer excellent shallow water opportunities and are easy to locate. Throughout the summer months they can be found on almost any type of structure but shoreline fishing is especially productive. Grassy shorelines and coves, undercut banks, fallen trees, boat docks, and wooden bulkheads are proven hotspots.
Sometime in June the croaker will make their first appearance and steadily increase in numbers through July. In past years they have shown up as early as May but most often its late June before consistent catches can be made.
Sea trout and bluefish generally arrive in mid August and increase in numbers throughout the fall. By mid September schools of surface feeding stripers and bluefish are practically an every day occurrence and many times the trout school underneath them. Spanish mackerel frequently mix with the breaking schools and round out the smorgasbord. Terns and gulls diving on the surface will give away the location of the breaking fish. Though they can and do roam all over the Bay, there are key areas to look in Eastern Bay for this action.
PRIME PLACES TO FISH ON EASTERN BAY
Kent Point
Lets dissect Eastern Bay and start our tour at Kent Point on the northwest corner and work our way east all the way around the perimeter, ending near Wades Point on the southwest corner. Kent Point forms the southern tip of Kent Island and is an excellent place to fish, especially in the fall. Bloody Point Light marks the tip of the long, flat point where it drops into the main channel and water of one hundred feet or more. The Light sits upon a rock pile that holds good numbers of stripers and an occasional bluefish. Water depth here is about eight feet and the rocks do not extend very far out from the base of the Light. The fish typically hold tight to the rocks so casts must be right up against them. A soft plastic lure rigged on a light lead head is ideal for this work. Surface poppers and other top water baits are good choices in the early morning or evening. A large flat extends east towards the shoreline and it will hold fish throughout its entire length. In late October and early November stripers roam here, chasing schools of silver sides. Excellent fishing can be had in three or four feet of water just a few casts away from the beach. A falling tide is preferred but any strong flowing tide will do.
The area just outside the light is a good one to search for schools of breaking fish in the fall. Keep an eye out for diving birds to the south or west. The west and southern edges of the flat drop steeply into the channel and flounder fishing can be excellent here. The fish will hold on the edge or often, they will move up onto the edge of the flat looking for food in the tidal current. Bottom drifted live minnows will quickly tell you if the flounder are feeding here.
Hollicutts Snoose
Just to the east of Kent Point is an area known as Hollicutts Snoose. Called “the Snoose” by the locals, it is simply a cove off of Eastern Bay and a virtual fish magnet. A long curving channel runs northeast along its western edge and this acts as a travel route for flounder, perch, trout, croaker, and hordes of stripers. Bottom fished baits on the edge of the small channel is the game for this area. Pay attention to your sonar unit so you learn just where the channel is. Miss it and your fishing falls way off, stay on it and the bite continues. An effective drift can be set up by motoring upwind and turning the wheel so the boat steers across the channel as the wind pushes it along.
Just outside the Snoose is an artificial reef planted by the state of Maryland. It is the remnants of an old concrete bridge lying in about seventeen feet of water. The rubble pile rises about five feet off the bottom and holds several different species of fish for most of the year. Stripers, bluefish, and sea trout visit the reef frequently.
Protected from the north winds of late fall, the Snoose harbors loads of bait fish at this time of the year. It should be on every angler’s list of places to check for breaking fish in October and November. During the fall, and especially on breezy days, I frequently spend all day here and never leave. Schools of blitzing stripers roam back and forth with me following happily behind.
In Part II of this series Richie will tackle about what tackle and techniques to use in your Eastern Bay adventures.
Richie Gaines is a Light Tackle and Fly Fishing Guide in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay. Richie is a highly sought after guide, writer and speaker though out the entire Chesapeake region. You can contact him via email for guide bookings, questions or comments at: Fishster1@aol.com.
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