Chesapeake is chock full of rockfish, bluefish

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen

By

Roving schools of 17- to 23-inch-long striped bass can be found accompanied by similar-size bluefish in almost every portion of the Chesapeake Bay - especially in the waters of southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck.

Not only are the rockfish willing to slam a soft Sassy Shad lure or a Rat-L-Trap and RedEye rattle bait, but they'll go after plastic Striper Kandy lures and the always productive bucktails as well. There is action from Point Lookout up toward the Point No Point area, including the area in front of the St. Jerome Creek mouth.

Ken Lamb, owner of the Tackle Box in Lexington Park, hooked 20-inch rockfish inside the No. 5 marker in the Patuxent River. Local angler Ray Dickens threw surface poppers to breaking fish at Hog Point near the Patuxent's Cedar Point and came up with one 35-inch striper among many smaller ones. Add also Tackle Box store employee Kris Young, who fished with John Martin, and tied into stripers up to 27 inches around the Potomac River's Ragged Point.

Tidal bass not bashful - It all depends on who does the fishing, but some local hotshots are not having any problems finding willing largemouth bass in the Potomac's main stem or its feeder creeks. On Tuesday, while I spent a fun morning in the Mattawoman Creek with local bass guide Andy Andrzejewski, the fishing pro caught well over a dozen bass, several rockfish, two catfish and a white perch - all on the ever-popular Mann's Sting Ray grub in avocado color.

Before that, Andrzejewski, casting and retrieving a Rattlin' ThinFin lure, showed that the chain pickerel are making a comeback in the feeder creek and elsewhere. He nailed a feisty "jackfish" not far from the Sweden Point Marina. Then comes reader Paul Kirk, who tied into a pickerel in the Nanjemoy Creek. It's good to see these fish reappear.

Occoquan slowly ending season - From Occoquan Reservoir, Fountainhead Regional Park ranger Smokey Davis said the last day for boat, canoe and kayak rentals will be Sunday. The park will remain open until the end of November for pier fishermen and those who want to launch their own boats.

"The recent nasty weather pretty much eliminated any fishing and left the reservoir about a foot above normal pool, moderately stained and full of leaves and debris," Davis said. "A few small crappie and bass were taken by the die-hards off the pier, but that's about all that was going on."

Shenandoah bass are biting - Front Royal angler Dick Fox said the North and South forks of the Shenandoah River are in great shape with water temperature staying in the 56-degree range.

"The river is still clear; the rain had little effect on water levels," he said. "There are still a lot of leaves on the river, which can hinder jet-drive boats, [but] the fishing has been very good."

Fox likes a little plastic bait known as the Smallie Beaver but said tubes and grubs also work.

"All the fish I caught this week were hooked in 12 to 15 feet of water," he said.

Good news from Lake Anna - Jim Hemby of the Lake Anna Striper Guide Service said: "The stripers are feeding from one end of the lake to the other now, with numerous patterns being productive. Stripers are schooling and are breaking in low-light conditions from the Splits down to the dam, feeding in the main lake [and stationing] themselves near the mouths of creeks and in the current at Dike No. 3. In the current, it's hard to beat the Pencil Popper worked on the surface. When the fish sound, convert to swim baits and spoons to catch the stripers."

Hemby said some rockfish schools are found in the mouths of Sturgeons and Boggs creeks as well as around the power plant. The largemouth bass are heading into the backs of the creeks, next to channels, and they'll be found around stumps or underground humps where bait is present. If that doesn't work, go to the uplake parts in the North Anna and work spinnerbaits, crankbaits and suspending jerkbaits around structures, grass edges and points.

c Look for Gene Mueller's Outdoors column Sunday and Wednesday and his Fishing Report on Thursday, only in The Washington Times. E-mail: gmueller@washingtontimes.com. Also check out Mueller's weekend fishing report and his Inside Outside blog at washingtontimes.com/sports.