What is Happening in the Upper Chesapeake?

[Uncle Nicky]

Fished near Stevensville last Saturday, I was very surprised to hear & experience that there were very few stripers around (within site of the Annapolis bridge). I can't blame the captain, it seemed like ALL the charter boats were concentrating on catfish; anyone targeting stripers was heading 2 hours south. Last year things seemed a little off, but for years before this had always been a slam dunk trip. Yes, just smaller schoolies, but it was a fairly quick drive, and kids always had a blast. Interestingly enough there was a young guy from Maryland DEC asking a lot of questions and taking measurements on both catfish and stripers.

Any thoughts or conspiracy theories welcome. I'd like to keep making an annual trip there & supporting the area/marina.

[AndyS]

Ut-oh

[joy luck]

I live farther up the bay near the Susquehanna Flats. Fishing up here has been crappy this year due to the murky water. Run-off from the Susquehanna builds up behind the Conowingo dam, and when MD and PA get heavy rains like we have had, the dam goes into overflow mode and the flood gates are opened. This pushes out all sediment that that has collected behind the dam, killing the water clarity. My guess is that the runoff is affecting the fishing further down the bay as well.

[Finprof]

I live in New Jersey but have a summer/weekend place in St Michaels MD on the Eastern Shore about 20 miles south of the Bay Bridge.
The Susquehanna River has been getting a lot of rain last fall and this spring, which has dropped the salinity level in the Upper Bay. The fish are further south and up in the tidal rivers that do not get freshwater runoff. There is one study that indicates it will take 3 years of drought to return the Bay to normal salinity levels.
Even without the rains, the trophy season in the Chesapeake was a bust. Last Year I fished 3 long 12 hour days with 16 rods and planer boards for one fish.
This year I did not even go out for trophy season, partly because I could not get a crew. Nobody was interested in helping clear 16 rods every couple of hours.
The Rivers were closed until June 1 but they held a lot of schoolie fish if you knew the regular patterns. The main Bay, particularly the upper Bay has been great for catfish but lousy for striped bass.