The Chesapeake is in its early-summer transition this week. Cobia have built into the lower bay for sight-casting and chumming, and post-spawn striped bass are feeding along the channel edges and structure through the middle and lower bay.
What’s Hitting
Cobia are the summer draw, stacking in the lower bay for sight-casting and chumming around the buoys and shoals. Post-spawn stripers are feeding along the channel edges, bridge structure, and rips. Speckled trout and red drum are working the lower-bay grass and shoals, and Spanish mackerel have pushed into the mouth of the bay.
Where to Find Them
Sight-cast and chum for cobia on the lower-bay shoals and buoy lines. Stripers hold along the channel edges, the CBBT pilings, and the rips. Specks and reds work the grass and shoals near the mouth, and Spanish blitz the lower bay on clean water.
Tides & Conditions
Water has warmed into the mid-70s. Calm, sunny mornings are best for spotting cruising cobia. Stripers feed hardest on the moving tide along structure at low light. The lower bay’s moving tide turns on the specks and Spanish. Afternoon thunderstorms build over the bay. Bay anchovies, menhaden, and small spot are building through the lower and middle bay, and the stripers stack along the channel edges and structure to ambush that bait on the moving tide. The cobia key on the same forage over the shoals, cruising the surface to run down bait on the calm, sunny days.
Tackle & Tactics
For cobia, throw a bucktail or a live eel to sighted fish, or set a chum slick on the shoals. Stripers eat live spot, cut bait, and jigs along structure. Specks and reds take a popping cork and shrimp or a soft plastic; Spanish hit a spoon trolled or cast fast.
Local Intel This Week
Sandy Point State Park serves the upper-middle bay near the Bay Bridge, with Kent Narrows and the Solomons Island ramps covering the mid and lower bay. Cobia are concentrating on the lower-bay shoals and buoys, stripers along the channel edges and bridge structure. Always check current FWC/state and federal regulations and open seasons before keeping any fish — bag and size limits change through the summer.
This Week’s Tip
For lower-bay cobia, spend the calm mornings idling and glassing the buoys and color changes from a tower or the bow before you commit to chumming. A single spotted, actively cruising fish that eats a well-placed bucktail is worth more than an hour of blind chumming on empty water.