Little has changed on the fishing front. Trollers and chummers with persistence continue to catch stripers all along the Western Shore. Chummers working from Marker #1 at the mouth of the West River north to Hackett’s Can report that the striper bite has been erratic, but on most days, limits are eventually achieved.
At Hackett’s and the mouth of the Severn River, chummers are often overwhelmed with tiny stripers as soon as the chum hits the water. Successful anglers have been setting up their chum line early in the morning, with the small fish normally moving in after 8:00 a.m. Trollers dragging bucktails, spoons and hoses have been scoring in this stretch as well.
The greatest concentration of blues is from Bay Ridge south, and numerous schools of breaking rock and blues can be found from Tolly Point south. Based on the number of baby stripers being observed in the rivers, the Year of the Young Index should surpass the historical average.
Anglers have been making outstanding catches of bottom fish near Marker #1 at the mouth of the West River. Chummers and trollers continue to score along the Western Shore in depths from 20 to 46 feet of water from Deale north. Top chumming locations include the lumps at the mouth of the West and Severn rivers, Hackett’s Bar and Podickory Point. Trollers have been making indiscriminate catches of stripers and blues from Deale north to Belvedere Shoals on standard trolling lures. As a result of the number of blues in the area, trollers have been including spoons and hoses in their arsenal of lures.
