Hey y’all, this is Artificial Lure with your Chesapeake Bay fishing report for Friday, August 29th, covering the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area. Anglers are waking up to classic late-summer action with sunrise at 6:31 AM and sunset not until 7:39 PM. Water temps are down into the upper 70s, making the fish more active, especially during the first and last light of day when the bite’s just red hot. Today’s tides out of Tolchester show a low at 6:36 AM, high at 11:34 AM, and another low around 5:24 PM. This tidal swing lines up beautifully with the early and late bites, so hit those incoming turns for your best shot.
Right now, it’s prime time for a mix of **striped bass, bluefish, red drum, and speckled trout**. The shallows along the shorelines of Eastern Bay, Poplar Island, the lower Choptank, and the Dorchester County edge are holding good fish, especially at dawn and dusk. According to Maryland DNR, the early fall run is starting to rattle through, with striper blitzes chasing peanut bunker and cocktail blues working the middle and lower Bay. The best lure options this week? Toss topwater poppers or paddletails for those stripers and speckled trout—bright colors or natural shad patterns did well all week. If you’re hunting blues, try metal spoons or chuggers; they’re making a strong push from the surf into the mid-Bay, so have a wire leader handy.
Herring runs and the tributary embayments are still solid, so swing by the mouth of the Magothy, Chester, or even the Susquehanna for deep structure. If you’re targeting **white perch**, Curtis Creek and the waters near Fort Carroll in the Patapsco River have been hot. A simple dropper rig tipped with bloodworms or grass shrimp is money right now—find the knolls, check your sonar, and work the structure. Anglers are still picking up spot in numbers in the Chester and Magothy, and hard-bottom areas throughout the upper Bay.
For bait anglers, fresh menhaden chunks are drawing both stripers and blues, while soft shells and grass shrimp are the go-to for perch. Bottom fishers have a buffet, with blue catfish biting steady in the upper Bay rivers—mouths of the Susquehanna, Elk, and Chester, plus Pooles Island, are especially rewarding. **Chesapeake Channa** (snakehead) fishing is outstanding in the grass beds: try a soft-bodied frog lure if you’re in heavy cover, or throw a paddletail along the grass edges. The morning bite on largemouth bass and snakehead sticks around longer now that it’s cooler—consider spinnerbaits and jerkbaits in deeper water if the sun pops out.
Recent record chasers are making headlines, too, with a 21.8-pound Chesapeake Channa pulled from local waters and bluefish over double digits moving in just offshore. Tautog, sheepshead, and fluke have kept bottom fishermen busy as the main ocean bite recovers post-storm. The nearshore pots are stacking mahi, but most attention remains on the Bay as weather holds clear and stable—expect highs in the low 80s, light southerly breezes, and good visibility.
If you’re looking for a couple of hotspots, Poplar Island is firing on all cylinders for stripers at daybreak, and the Patapsco flats near Fort Carroll are steady for white perch and catfish. Further south, check the Choptank for evening specks and the grass beds off Key Bridge for snakehead mayhem.
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