Chesapeake Bay fishing report for the week of September 10, 2026. From my years running the Mid-Atlantic edition, I remember mid-September as the week the bay starts to turn. The cobia are still around in the lower bay but their numbers thin every week, the stripers are starting to key on the bunker schools, and the Spanish and blues are chasing bait from the Bay Bridge down to the mouth. Cooler nights have started to drop the water temperature, and the fish are responding.
What’s Hitting
What’s hitting this week is Spanish mackerel and bluefish on the bait schools. From the Bay Bridge south past the Choptank and down to the Virginia line, the birds have been working peanut bunker most mornings, and trolling small spoons has produced Spanish, blues, and a few striped bass. Cobia are still being caught in the lower bay around the buoys and the bridge-tunnel, but this is the last call — the run is nearly over. Striped bass are showing in better numbers around the bridge pilings and the channel edges at dawn, mostly schoolies with some fish over 28 inches. Red drum are in the lower bay, both puppy drum in the shallows and bull reds at the mouth.
Speckled trout are in the creeks and grass beds of the lower bay and the Eastern Shore, with the fall fishing just getting going.
Where to Find Them
Spanish and blues are wherever the birds are — the mouth of the Choptank, the Bay Bridge area, the mouth of the Patuxent, and the Rappahannock. Cobia are around the Cape Charles buoys and the bridge-tunnel pilings. For stripers, the Bay Bridge pilings at dawn, the Chester River mouth, and the channel edges off Thomas Point. Puppy drum are in the shallows of the Eastern Shore creeks and around the Tangier Sound grass beds, and bull reds are at the mouth of the bay around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
Tides & Conditions
The new moon this weekend brings strong tides through the bay, which improves the bridge fishing for stripers. Winds have been northeast at 10 to 15 with some choppy days on the open bay, and water temps have dropped into the mid-70s in the middle bay. Clarity has been good on the Eastern Shore and fair in the western tributaries after the rain.
Tackle & Tactics
For Spanish and blues, troll small Clark spoons and Drone spoons at 6 to 8 knots behind planers, or cast metal jigs at the breaking fish. For cobia, sight-cast a live eel or a bucktail with a big soft plastic to fish cruising the surface. For stripers, jig soft plastics around the bridge pilings on the current change, or troll umbrella rigs along the channel edges. Puppy drum and trout want soft plastics on a jig head or a popping cork with shrimp in the shallows.
Local Intel This Week
Public ramps: Sandy Point State Park at the Bay Bridge is the busiest ramp in the middle bay, the Solomons ramp on the Patuxent covers the lower Maryland bay, and the Kiptopeke State Park ramp on the Eastern Shore of Virginia is closest to the bridge-tunnel and the cobia grounds. The Crisfield ramp serves Tangier Sound. Fish are concentrating on the bait schools in the open bay and at the bridges on the tide changes. Check current Maryland DNR and Virginia Marine Resources Commission regulations before keeping fish — striped bass seasons and slot limits differ between the two states and change during the fall, and cobia has a tight season and limit.
This Week’s Tip
The Spanish and blues are on the bait, but the stripers are below them. When you find breaking fish, cast metal at the surface for the Spanish, then drop a heavier jig straight down and work it slowly under the school. The stripers pick off the wounded bait that falls through the blitz.
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