Good morning fishers, this is Artificial Lure bringing you the Chesapeake Bay fishing report for Thursday, November 13, 2025.

We’re coming off a brisk cold front with temps topping out in the upper 50s and lows dipping into the lower 40s around Baltimore and D.C.--bundle up, because gusty southwest winds are rolling through at 15 to 20 knots, peaking at 30 knots until sunset. The bay’s surface water remains steady in the upper 50s (about 57°F), with a chillier dip in the rivers at 51-54°F. Today’s sunrise is 6:46 a.m., and sunset will be early at 4:52 p.m, so plan your casts tight to daylight.

Tides are driving the bite: High tide at Baltimore hits at 1:12 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m., with lows at 8:02 a.m. and 7:37 p.m. Stronger currents thanks to the lingering supermoon are moving baitfish out of the rivers; these tidal swings sweep menhaden and anchovies into feeding range for hungry game fish.

Striped bass—our legendary rockfish—are active and on the move. According to Maryland DNR, the main Bay channel edges, Patapsco River, Pooles Island, and the Love Point rocks have produced consistent catches since the cold snap. Morning and evening periods, especially on outgoing tides, have delivered better action: cast soft plastics like paddletails and jigs, or chug poppers in the Inner Harbor and river mouths. Jigging deep channel edges is putting more stripers in the boat, while trolling with tandem-rigged bucktails topped with twistertails or sassy shads continues to pick up bites. Live-lining eels, spot, or small white perch is stellar if you can get ‘em. Umbrella rigs fished on main channel drop-offs from Bloody Point south along Buoy 83 are getting it done.

White perch are schooling heavy over hard bottoms at the mouths of tidal rivers—drop down bottom rigs baited with grass shrimp or bloodworm for full buckets. For a little variety, blue catfish are running strong in the warmer deep river channels. Cut bait, chicken, or scented dough baits are pulling in some real hawgs.

Keep an eye out for bonus catches: late-fall speckled trout have lingered in shallow sections of Tangier Sound and lower Patuxent and Potomac. Locals report hit-or-miss action with paddletail jigs and soft plastics near grassy points and channel mouths. Also, you’ll find walleye and smallmouth bass heating up on up-current breaks, with tubes and swimbaits pulling in steady numbers at the Conowingo Dam and up in the Susquehanna.

Hot spots worth your time today:
- **Bay Bridge pilings and abutments:** If wind lets up, cast and jig near the structure for rockfish and perch.
- **Patuxent River from St. Clements Island north to Port Tobacco:** Big rockfish schools feeding on bait at 20-30 foot depths; use Tony spoons for deeper presentations.
- **Love Point rocks and Pooles Island:** Good for jigging and trolling at dawn or dusk.
- **Mouth of the Choptank River:** Scouting with electronics and chasing diving gulls will help pinpoint feeding stripers.
- **Tangier Sound and Nanticoke River mouth:** Persistent perch, late trout, and mixed bags over oyster lumps.

For bait, eels and spot are worth their weight in gold for live-lining. For lures, stick with soft plastic jigs, paddletails, metal spoons, and tandem bucktail rigs. Bloodworms and grass shrimp on bottom rigs put a serious dent in perch numbers.

As always, Chesapeake rockfish regulations mean one fish per day between 19-24 inches (Bay and Patuxent open through December 10, Potomac through December 31). Use non-offset circle hooks when bait fishing to protect the stock; barbless hooks help for catch-and-release.

That’s all for today, folks—thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to subscribe for tomorrow’s update! This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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