The weather is improving, so get outside

It looks like we will finally have a good stretch of weather for outdoor activities here in Southern Maryland.

This weekend is the unofficial start of summer, with many folks having a three-day weekend. Now is the perfect time to get outside and do whatever outdoor activity you like best — hiking, gardening, kayaking, boating, or whatever suits your fancy. The important thing is to get outside.

Many of us have been cooped up indoors twiddling our thumbs and waiting for the weather to improve. This is it. And if you like fishing, the report this week is good and the fishing this upcoming week should be outstanding. Let’s get right to it.

Southern Maryland lakes and ponds — Anthony Hancock, assistant manager at Gilbert Run State Park in Dentsville said there was just a handful of fishermen out last weekend due to the rain. Those hardy souls who braved the weather were rewarded with some decent fishing despite the rain and cooler temperatures.

This is a good time of year for bass fishing. They are active in all water depths, however most bass will be found in wood or rock cover along the shorelines. Shallow diving crankbaits, white spinnerbaits, jig and craw combos and soft plastic finesse worms will make it easy to catch a good number of bass and also some nice quality fish.

The crappie have been off the past week, but with warmer temperatures they might come back to shallow water where they can be caught on minnows or jigs under a bobber, especially around rock or wood cover near drop-offs. White or pink are good colors to catch crappie. Try fishing around any freshly fallen trees, too. The crappie love feeding on insects and minnows near this type of cover.

The redear sunfish will likely use the warmer temperatures to return to the shallows and prepare their spawning beds. Some redears have actually spawned in deeper water this year, so it pays to experiment until you find a good school of them.

Potomac River — Reel Bass Adventures guide Capt. Andy Andrzejewski (301-932-1509) said the grass beds continue to produce some good bass even though the most popular grasses receive extremely heavy weekend and weekday tournament pressure.

Some of the better baits in the grasses are plastic crawfish imitators, swim jigs, spinnerbaits and shallow crankbaits. Wood cover has been very good when fished with a four-inch rib worm. Work the worm past the end of the wood and into the inside edge of the grass. Boat docks have been spotty but are worth investigating with a jig and craw or plastic worm.

Large yellow perch have taken up home in the grasses. Once you discover them with a bass bait, switch to a tiny trap or beetle spin to catch them. Snakeheads and catfish seem to be everywhere. Some nice crappie are scattered in shallow coves and will take standard crappie lures.

Patuxent River — Ken Lamb of The Tackle Box (301-863-8151) said plenty of white perch were caught in the mouth of the Patuxent on beetle spins this week.

Croaker are finally here. Good catches have been reported at various locations around Cedar Point and at the fishing pier at the boat ramp under the Gov. Thomas Johnson Bridge. Lamb suspects that boaters will find croaker almost everywhere in the sunny 80-degree days that are predicted for Memorial Day weekend. Croaker like bloodworms, squid, shrimp, and most of all, peeler or soft crab.

Juniata and Susquehanna rivers (Pa.) — Keith Lockwood of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service reports that white perch fishing has been very good in the lower Susquehanna River. Jigs dressed with a bit of bloodworm have

been a popular way to fish. The lower Susquehanna will continue to be closed to striped bass fishing until June 1.

Chesapeake Bay — Lamb said now that rockfish are legal at 20 inches, charter boat captains are getting their limits of stripers both over and under the 28-inch tipping point.

The bite was very good in the cold rain but will get complicated in the hot sun. Rockfish will bite in the early and late hours of daylight. The exception will be the smaller fish breaking on the surface anytime they can find a school of

bait. The bigger fish will be on the bottom under the breakers and can be jigged up with shiny metal lures and bucktails.

Some captains have moved their boats north to Deale, gambling that the majority of the rockfish will migrate there as in the past four seasons. However, the fish seem to be numerous in the southern regions near Point Lookout, Hooper’s Island Light, Cedar Point and Cove Point.

There is some excellent white perch fishing to be found in many of the upper bay’s tidal rivers this week. The white perch tend to still be in the deeper waters in the lower parts of the rivers. Depths of 20 to 30 feet tend to be best, and one can either use a bottom rig baited

with bloodworms or try jigging with small rigs tipped with pieces of bloodworm.

There are also plenty of channel catfish in the tidal rivers that will bite on most any kind of fresh cut bait, nightcrawlers or chicken livers on a bottom rig.

Atlantic Ocean — Bob Foster of Oyster Bay Tackle (410-524-3433) said the flounder fishing has been slow due to the recent cool and rainy weather. The flounder fishing should improve with the upcoming stretch of good weather. Stripers are biting off Assateague Island and the Ocean City beach produced several stripers over 40 inches. A few croaker and kingfish were caught in the surf on bloodworms and Fishbite bloodworms. jamiedrakeoutdoors@ outlook.com