Middle Bay Fishing Reports

Middle Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, January 2 Update: 

Happy New Year folks! Let’s make the 2025 fishing season another great one. There are still big rockfish being caught in the Middle Bay but there was a bit of a lull in the action in the past week, with several readers reporting that over the weekend and early this week the bite was on the slow side. Chesapeake Beach was a hot zone with some short-lived bird action and a handful of reports of fish over the 40” mark caught on soft plastics on 1.5-ounce heads. We also got word of a couple in the same size range showing up off the mouth of Eastern Bay, where the bird shows weren’t happening, but pods of fish could be located on the sonar suspending in 40’ to 60’ of water. The AIC reports that early this week the rockfish were absent in all the areas he’d been catching (Deale, Chesapeake Beach, and Eastern Bay), but fish could be found farther east of the Power Plant in 40’ of water. All they caught and saw caught on other boats, however, were 20-somethings.

The wind has really kicked up the latter half of this week and the forecast is calling for an extended period of cold weather. If it holds true, it may be a tough bite for striped bass moving forward. Deeper ledges along the shipping channel will be a good starting point to search for fish in the cold weather. Bloody Point is an area that historically holds fish through the winter in the deeper depths near Eastern Bay. Water temperatures in the Middle Bay have been in the low 40s and they will likely drop even more in the coming weeks. The warm water discharge at the CCNPP will be an area that fish congregate around to get some relief from the cold water. Fishing the powerplant in the winter is often a grind and a good day often consists of just a few bites. If the open water bite doesn’t pick back up, keep it in mind as a place to search out some pullage.