Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Chesapeake Bay Baltimore–D.C. fishing report.
We’re sitting in classic late‑December pattern: cold, clear mornings, light northwest breeze, temps climbing through the 40s into low 50s with high pressure dominating. Around Baltimore, the National Weather Service is calling for mostly sunny skies and relatively calm winds, so it’s a fishable day, especially in the creeks and rivers.
Sunrise is right around 7:20 a.m. with sunset near 4:45 p.m. First light and last light are your money windows; the bite has been noticeably better on those edges. Tides in the upper bay run modest this time of year. At Tolchester and similar upper‑bay stations, tide‑forecast tables show a weak morning low followed by a mid‑day flood that barely pushes a couple of feet. Think “slow current, subtle presentations.”
According to the latest Maryland and Chesapeake Bay report from On The Water, a fresh push of **migratory striped bass** slid back into the bay this week, with much of the action showing at the mouth of the Potomac and pushing up toward Cove Point and Calvert Cliffs. Around the Baltimore–Annapolis stretch, that translates to smaller schoolie stripers with the occasional better fish holding deep on structure.
Fish are glued to the bottom and schooled tight. Electronics matter. When you mark bait balls, drop **big paddletail swimbaits** on 1–2 ounce jigheads straight down and slow‑roll them just off bottom. On The Water notes those large soft plastics have been the hot ticket when bass are hanging under bunker schools.
Closer to D.C., the Potomac is shifting to its **winter mix**: smallmouth, walleye, and a few stubborn largemouth. The same Maryland report points out that deep holes, current breaks, and ledge edges are producing on **swimbaits, tubes, and small crankbaits** crawled painfully slow. In tidal creeks and reservoirs, **blade baits, wacky‑rigged worms, compact crankbaits, and spinnerbaits** dragged along bottom are still catching cold‑water largemouth.
If you’re a multi‑species angler, this is prime time for **chain pickerel** around the Severn, Magothy, and upper bay shorelines. With grass beds gone, pickerel are posting up on laydowns and old pilings. Slow‑rolled **small paddletails, inline spinners, and live minnows** are hard to beat.
Recent catch reports around the central bay have been modest numbers but quality fish: a handful of 22–28 inch stripers per boat when folks commit to the deep marks, plus steady pickerel and crappie for those tucking into protected water. Farther down‑bay, charter skippers are seeing a better class of stripers, but for the Baltimore/Washington crowd, it’s a grind‑and‑find kind of pattern, not a bird‑blitz day.
Best lures and baits right now:
- For stripers: **5–7 inch paddletails** in alewife or bunker colors, 1–2 oz jigheads; metal jigs and spoons dropped on marks; bloodworms or cut bait if you’re soaking.
- For bass and walleye: **blade baits**, 3–4 inch swimbaits, tubes, and **wacky‑rigged finesse worms** in green pumpkin or shad.
- For pickerel: **live minnows**, small suspending jerkbaits, and inline spinners worked slow.
A couple of local hot spots to try:
- **Key Bridge and Hart–Miller Island area**: work the deeper channel edges and rubble piles for schoolie stripers and the odd better fish.
- **Mouth of the Magothy and Severn River channel turns**: good for pickerel, crappie, and the occasional striper, especially right at dawn and dusk on the outgoing.
That’s your bay rundown from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report.
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