Ft. Armistead on sat. 5/31

[sparky1423]

Apparently, there is a phenomenon that occurs every year on the Bay about this time called the May Worm Hatch. May worms hatch out by the zillons in the Bay starting around late May going on into early June. They hatch out is such incredible numbers that they can totally divert stripers away from what they normally eat. I've been hearing about them for years on various fishing web sites but have never witnessed the hatch. When the hatch is going strong they can make catching stripers very difficult when using standard fishy looking lures. I don't know if the Patapsco is in good enough condition to have a May Worm hatch... if not then the stripers may have headed else where to find the May Worm swarms.

Funny you say that, Howard. When Rob (Yakkinfish18) and I were fishing Beverly Triton Beach a few weeks ago, we were catching some schoolies at the end of the day. Rob caught one and said it had a ton of gray looking worms in his mouth and has never seen this before. I told him I have never heard of such a thing....but after your post, I realized they could have been "May Worms"

[BassMoore]

white perch are still in the very back of the creeks finishing up their spawn.. everything has been delayed from the cold cold winter and the spring not being able to make up its mind.

Ive gone into the back of creeks and caught amess of perch.. nothing big tho.

some are wandering out but not many.. wont be until we get 2 solid weeks of 80+ weather till they venture out for good.

[HJS]

More info on May worms. This is a 10 year old article about the May worm from a MD-DNR fishing report dated May 26, 2004.
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The Chesapeake Bay is rapidly warming up due to the hot weather Maryland has been experiencing. The large spring striped bass are all but a memory and the smaller fish are moving up the bay, as are the croakers. The smaller striped bass are spread out over large areas mostly near the channel and don’t seem to be much in a hurry to travel anywhere. It could be because they are gorging themselves on May worms, which are swarming this week in most of the Bay waters.

May worms are polychaete worms that live in the mud and oyster bar debris on the bottom of the Bay and are usually called clamworms. They are only called May worms when then swarm during spawning in the month of May during the dark of the moon. There are seven species of polychaete worms in the Chesapeake Bay but the common clamworm; Nereis succinea is the most common. They can grow as large as 5”, but usually are about 2”-3” in size. They basically are very similar to the bloodworms that come from Maine that are sold for bait here in tackle shops. This time of the year the worms undergo a metamorphosis to become a special sexual form called heteronereises. They develop a reddish color and enlarged parapodia (little swimming fans) on their sides for swimming. They will swarm in a mating frenzy for several nights; mate, release their eggs and sperm then die. As these worms swim about, they present quite a treat to any fish that happen to be about. They are attracted to light, so if you can get out on a dock with a light on it, you’re in for a show. There is a species of similar worm in the Florida Keys called the palo worm that does the same thing this time of the year. This is a great time to be tarpon fishing with long reddish orange flies. Tarpon are suckers for them. It’s not hard to imagine that a smaller version would work this time of the year, here in the Chesapeake Bay for striped bass.

[YaknBass]

Fished Sunday 3p to 8p Key Bridge area... jigged a few pilings...threw some rattle traps and swim baits...even tried trolling a bit. skunked it!! lure going down river yak goin up river hate when that happens. much stronger winds then forcast reoprted. 1st time on the river this yr...can only get better from here.