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See more photos at the County’s Web Site |
We have concluded a fabulous fall fishing season in Maryland waters with the ending of the striped bass on Dec. 15. The last two weeks had trollers doing extremely well on some days and just good on others. The weather is always a factor. When the winds howl and temperature plunges, there are days that are unfishable. That makes the days that are at least manageable very precious.
We took a lot of pictures of huge fish the past two weeks, Getting all the names of the trophy getters and their photos lined up can become difficult, so the pictures shown are all the folks who took the time and effort to come to The Tackle Box and show us their fish. The fish were caught all up and down the bay, mostly in the ship’s channel. Trollers used a combination lures, mostly umbrella rigs and tandem bucktails and parachutes. The most popular colors continue to be white and green (chartreuse). Big MO-JO lures with black or purple heads were hot.
The good news is that the Potomac and Virginia seasons last until December 31. The Potomac is full of the big stripers off St, George Island near buoy #9, and near Ragged Point. We have had a lot of reports of good Potomac fishing from the mouth of the St. Mary’s River all the way to the 301 bridge. There are huge schools of bait fish up and down the Potomac. The rockfish can be finicky, preferring to bite on the change of tide. The bite may only last 20 minutes or so. The fish can go dormant completely on some days, so luck and patience is required.
The Virginia bay waters below the dividing line at Smith Point Light should hold plenty of big stripers. Boats with Maryland licenses are good in Virginia, and the Potomac so no additional fees are required.