Weekend Fishing Report

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By Gene Mueller The Washington Times

The weekend will prove that angling opportunities have burst out all over. Fish are biting no matter where you go, and only heavy rains can spoil an outing.

Now there are croakers in a number of places, and if you play the game properly and study your boat's depth locator you should find heavy-duty black drum on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay at Stone Rock and Sharps Island. Not to be outdone, the first fairly reliable catches of Norfolk spot are made; rockfish are beginning to respond to chum lines, white perch are hitting small spinnerbaits in many of the feeder creeks, and the largemouth bass in the upper tidal Potomac River are very cooperative.

Fifty specially tagged rockfish (aka striped bass) will be released Thursday at various locations throughout the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. One of the 50 will be fish named Diamond Jim -- worth $10,000 cash if you catch it by midnight June 30. The other 49 tagged stripers, all of them Diamond Jim imposters, could earn you $500 each if caught during the annual Maryland tourist promotion gimmick that begins Friday and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 7. Any angler who catches a citation-qualifying fish will be eligible to win one of the official sponsor grand prizes, including a boat, motor and trailer from Bass Pro Shops and thousands of dollars in merchandise and fishing trips from Bill's Outdoor Center.

For more information about the prizes, rules and where to fish, visit www.dnr.maryland.gov/fishingchallenge.

(Ratings key: ****=Excellent fishing; ***=Good; **Fair; *=Poor)

AREA 1: D.C. AND VICINITY

TIDAL POTOMAC RIVER: 0-35 miles (***) -- At Fletcher's Cove (Georgetown, off Canal Road; call 202/244-0461) Ray Fletcher said: "The water is muddy from heavy rain runoff up above, but I think by the weekend the fishing should be okay for stripers and some really big catfish. Downriver from Fletcher's, largemouth bass, northern snakeheads, along with blue and channel catfish, are available from the Hains Point and Fox Ferry Point area upriver down to western Charles County and Virginia's Prince William County and beyond. Look for massive milfoil and coontail weed beds in the main stem or in the feeder creeks and start your day casting weedless topwater grass rats or -- if you can find an open pocket -- a Pop'R or Rico popper. Then switch to crawfish-style plastics in green pumpkin or junebug colors. Our favorite continues to be a 1/4-ounce or 3/8-ounce Chatterbait, its hook holding a Shadalicious swimbait or some kind of split-tail trailer. We're catching a mix of small and decent-size bass in the Occoquan and Belmont bays, Neabsco and Powell creeks, as well as Potomac and Aquia creeks on the Virginia side, but also from the Wade's Bay area on the Maryland shore up to the Chicamuxen and also from Pomonkey to Broad creeks.

WICOMICO RIVER: 55 miles (**) -- It's hit-and-miss as far as croakers are concerned, and George Quade of Quade's Store in Bushwood blames the heavy freshwater rain runoff from the headwaters of the river. However, right around the corner, in the main stem of the Potomac at the new lighthouse of St. Clements Island, croakers have been striking crab, bloodworm and shrimp baits. Evevning hours have been best.

MATTAWOMAN CREEK: 40 miles (***) -- This creek would be heaven if only those irritating and bothersome bass tournaments would go away forever. A local resident who wants to take his kids fishing here and outside on the Potomac doesn't have a prayer competing with $40,000 glitter bass boats. Weekdays are best, and a broad assortment of lures work on the bass inside the creek amid the milfoil, spatterdock, shoreline wood and upcreek gravel bars.

SOUTHERN MARYLAND LAKES: 40-50 miles (***) -- Gilbert Run Park's Wheatley Lake (Route 6, east of La Plata) shows bedding bluegills, some bass and a few crappies. Upper lake end has seen bigger bass. At St. Mary's Lake (south on Route 5, past Leonardtown, to Camp Cosoma Road) the bass have been biting better than last week. Plastic finesse worms, small crankbaits and spinnerbaits do the job. If you like fat bluegills, this is the place and right now the sunfish are on the beds, which is ideal for flyrodders' popping bugs.