Capt. Pete Ide, Charter Fishing, Solomons, MD

Finally! A new report…

Well, if you haven’t noticed, it’s been pretty hot. I have been primarily night fishing for croaker, and that’s been pretty good. We are fishing up near the mouth of the Choptank River and we’re catching some of the biggest croaker we’ve seen in years. Some nights are better than others, but it’s generally been pretty good.

Rockfish have been pretty dependable recently. The past several years we have been live-bait fishing by now, but that hasn’t been consistent enough this year, so we’ve stuck with trolling. Most of the rock are between 18 and 24 inches or 2-4 pounds.

The spot are practically nowhere to be found so far. It’s a bit of a mystery. Perhaps we won’t have them at all this year.

There are plenty of blues around, especially in the evening, if people want them.

Check out this weird guy we caught in the Patuxent River!

It's an Atlantic cutlassfish

Rob's smile is almost as big as this 18" croaker!

The fall trophy season in the Bay was fantastic this fall. The run started early (the first week of November) and lasted right through the end of the calendar year (the Potomac River and Virginia seasons were open until the New Year). We were able to catch our limit of big fish almost every trip.

We are currently fishing (attempting to fish) out of Virginia Beach. It’s been a terrible affair down there this year. You may have noticed that the weather has been somewhat less than optimal. As usual in cold years, the bulk of the fish are beyond the three-mile limit of state waters, where it is illegal to possess striped bass. We are doing our best, however, and on the days we have been able to get out, we have done well.

The weather in the past in late December/early January was typically in the 50’s, and indeed the average high for the entire month of January is 49. It was supposed to warm up this week, but I just looked at the forecast and I’m seeing more highs in the low 40’s. Ugh.

I am looking forward to some spring trophy fishing.

Finally more news. I am back to being incredibly busy this time of year and I’m very glad of it. Thanks to all of you who have fished with us or have booked trips for later in the summer.

Look at these beautiful flounder caught this week near Drum Point! One is 22 inches and the other 20. We caught 3 keepers that day. There are a lot of these beauties around this year and I hope to have an opportunity to fish for them more.

The schedule looks good for August but September is looking slim so far. It is traditionally slower business-wise but it is a great month to fish. We usually have every species that swims in the Bay.

Fishing has been good as of late with fantastic live-bait fishing for rockfish being the steadiest action around. Croaker fishing has generally been good but we hit a bit of a rough patch with all the cool, breezy weather. Last night was fantastic and the weather was (not coincidentally) warm and muggy with a light south wind.

I saw some Spanish mackerel yesterday that came out of a fish trap, so perhaps they will arrive early this year.

Also, it’s time to start thinking about fall and winter trophy trips. I have booked a couple this week so it’s not too early to call.

Mother nature finally gave us a break last night and we were able to make the most of it. The weather was spectacular. Flat calm water and nice warm temperatures meant smooth sailing and fishing as good as it gets. These happy anglers caught a limit of nice rockfish live-lining, then went and caught a load of nice croaker and a few snapper blues. The 10-day forecast looks great, so hopefully this good fishing will hold up. We could really use it after the worst stretch of summer weather I’ve seen since 2003, the year of Hurricane Isabel.