The Chesapeake in mid-August is a lower-bay fishery. Water temperatures in the upper bay are near 85 and the striped bass have gone deep and quiet under summer restrictions, but the lower bay is holding cobia, Spanish mackerel and red drum in good numbers. The new moon at the end of the week will move a lot of water through the bay mouth, which usually improves the drum and trout fishing on the shoals.
What’s Hitting
Cobia are the marquee fish, being sight-cast and chummed on the lower bay from the Cell down to the bay mouth. Spanish mackerel and bluefish are thick on the bait along the channel edges and are the easiest trolling fishery going. Speckled trout are on the shoals and grass edges in the Poquoson and Mobjack areas, with red drum showing on the shallow shoals at the bay mouth. Croaker and spot are steady on the bottom rigs. Striped bass are around but under summer restrictions — check current rules before targeting them.
Where to Find Them
The Cell, the Nine-Foot Shoal and the shallow water around Latimer and Inner Middle are the primary cobia and red drum areas. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel structure holds trout, drum and flounder on the moving tide. The channel edges from the Baltimore Channel south produce Spanish on the troll. Speckled trout are on the grass and shell in Mobjack Bay and the Poquoson flats.
Tides & Conditions
Water is 82 to 86 degrees through most of the bay. New-moon tides mean the strongest exchange of the month through the bay mouth, which pushes bait onto the shoals and gets the drum and trout moving. Winds have been light in the morning and building southwest by noon — sight-casting is a morning game and gets very difficult once there is a chop. Water clarity on the lower bay has been good.
Tackle & Tactics
Cobia sight-casters want a heavy spinner with 40- to 60-pound leader and a large soft plastic eel or a live eel ready to pitch. Chummers do well with fresh menhaden on a fish-finder rig. Spanish are caught trolling small spoons behind planers at 6 to 7 knots. For speckled trout, a soft plastic on a quarter-ounce jighead worked over grass at first light is the standard. Bottom fishing for croaker and spot needs nothing more than bloodworm or squid on a two-hook rig.
Local Intel This Week
Sunset Beach and the Kiptopeke ramp give quick access to the bay mouth and the CBBT; Gloucester Point and Messick Point cover the Mobjack and Poquoson water. Fish are concentrating on the shoals and the bridge tunnel structure rather than the open bay. Striped bass are under summer restrictions and cobia and red drum carry strict size and permit rules that differ between Virginia and Maryland — check current VMRC and Maryland DNR regulations before keeping any fish.
This Week’s Tip
For cobia, get the sun behind you and run the shoal edges rather than the open water. The fish cruise the color change where the shoal drops off, and a boat working with the light at its back will see three fish for every one spotted running into the glare.
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