It’s a good time to go fishing

What a difference a few dry days make. Ken Lamb of the Tackle Box in Lexington Park said the drier weather and cooler nights have brought stripers to all the usual locations. It’s a good time to go fishing. Bigger fish can be sought out at dusk and dawn on moving tides in the shallows and around structure for lure casters using top water poppers, swimming lures, bucktails and spoons.

In the Patuxent River, find rockfish on oyster beds, with Sheridan Point, Captain’s Point and the mouth of St. Leonard’s Creek good places to fish. In the Potomac River, expect to find breakers in Calvert Bay, Point Lookout and Ragged Point. There are some fine rockfish in the St. Mary’s River. In the Chesapeake Bay, rockfish have been breaking at Cedar Point, Cedar Point Hollow and Point No Point.

Most of the breakers are just less than the 19-inch limit. If you’re catching only undersized fish, Lamb recommends getting your lures as close to the bottom as possible. The big fish will be under the splashers up top. Southern Maryland lakes and ponds — Temperatures were still summer-like earlier this week, but pretty soon we’ll be seeing mist rising off the local lakes and ponds in the early morning hours.

This is the time of year to experiment with an assortment of baits, so open up your tacklebox and try a spinnerbait,

crankbait, topwater popper or worm. Carry some fingernail clippers in your pocket (with a small float attached, trust me) and don’t be afraid to cut loose a lure that isn’t working and try something else.

Patuxent River — Lamb (301863-8151) said bottom fishermen are finding plenty of white perch in the creek and rivers. There’s a remnant of spot left and they are the biggest yet of the season.

A buddy of mine and his wife ventured over to the mouth of Battle Creek not far from Buoy 18 earlier this week and caught 172 fish including white perch, rockfish, spot and catfish. It took them over two hours to clean their catch, but all the fillets are vacuum sealed and they’re going to be savoring their catch for months to come.

Potomac River — Scott Johnson of SJ Fishing Adventures (Facebook and Instagram: @ SJ Fishing Advent ur es;www. sj-fishing.com) said that after many weeks of violent river levels, things have settled down on the upper Potomac just in time for some excellent fall fishing.

Bass should start showing up in small groups, so Johnson recommends fishing spinnerbaits and crankbaits to cover water and locate the fish. Once you find them, slow down and fish the area thoroughly with soft plastics such as tubes,

grubs or Senkos. Areas such as submerged ledges, wood and lay downs and current seams formed by grass beds and shoreline points are productive areas.

Reel Bass Adventures guide Andy Andrzejewski (301-932-1509) said stay alert because the tidal portion of the river has a good amount of floating debris making navigation a bit dicey.

On change of tides, fish around bridge pilings and bulkheads for smallish stripers that like topwater poppers. The bite doesn’t last long, so when it slows, move on to grass beds for bass.

Recently, the plastic craw bite has been strong. Andrzejewski recommends following up by waking a spinnerbait just under the surface. Wood cover continues to produce when finesse worms are used. Juniata and Susquehanna rivers (Pa.)

— Johnson reports that fishing on both rivers has been excellent for

catching both big fish and lots of fish.

If you’ve put away your rod for the year, you are missing some of the best fishing over the next two months. Fishing spinnerbaits and crankbaits at current seams, lay downs and submerged ledges has been producing big numbers of fish. Tubes and other soft plastics behind submerged ledges work, too.

Bass will be feeding heavily as they prepare for winter and will be moving about the river. So if you’re not getting bites, move along. Most likely the fish will be feeding somewhere.

Lake Anna (Va.) — Carlos at High Point Marina (540-895-5249) recommends fishing grassy areas in the up-lake region in the morning or late in the evening. Then switch to wood, docks and brushpiles when the sun is high. This is a great time of year for lipless crankbaits such as Rat-L-Traps.

In the mid-lake region, bass are moving to the backs of creeks like Marshall, Pigeon, Mitchell, Sturgeon

and Contrary. Each will have fish in them, but it’s up to you to find them. Use suspending jerkbaits, soft plastic jerkbaits, swimbaits and topwater Pop Rs.

Striper fishing has been slow, but fish have been caught in the Splits area almost every evening. Anglers are using live bait, sassy shads, sea shads or spoons.

Chesapeake Bay — Lamb said big cobia are still in the bay. Sport fishermen who wish to test their equipment on huge fish can catch them this week, but since the season is over, all fish must be released.

This week yellow surgical hose lures were hot and last week it was red and orange. Next week maybe it’ll be green.

Spanish mackerel have been active along with some bigger bluefish in the Ship’s Channel. Flashy spoons and smaller surgical hose lures are the ticket to catch them.

Atlantic Ocean — Lots of headboats have been reporting boat limits of sea bass on recent trips. Other quarry includes triggers, mahi and a few fluke.