Maryland has many outdoor opportunities to be thankful for. Bryant Smith and his children showed off mixed wooden ducks and large northern snakeheads.

This week, Marylanders began to hear the sound of old people knocking on their doors in winter, and the temperature in some areas repeatedly dropped below 30 degrees. The water temperature in all areas is falling, changing fishing conditions. Dress well and enjoy exciting fishing opportunities. Everyone in the Maryland Department of Natural Resources hopes that everyone can spend a happy and fulfilling Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.

It is expected to be sunny and cool throughout the week, with wind on Friday and Saturday. The surface water and rivers of the Chesapeake Bay continue to cool faster than the bottom water. The surface water temperature in the Gulf has fallen below 50 years of age. The bait fish continue to leave the river, looking for deeper and warmer waters, followed by their prey. Although there will be some destructive fish activity, focus on warmer, deeper bottom waters, such as estuaries, channel edges, underwater points, hard bottoms, and the drop from the Bay Bridge south to the Virginia Line.

Suitable oxygen is available at the bottom of all the waters of Maryland Bay. The waters of the Upper Bay to Tilman Island are fresher than usual. 

The flow of most rivers and streams in Maryland is expected to be normal. Due to the full moon on November 19, the tides on Wednesday and Thursday will be higher than average.

Due to the proliferation of algae, the water transparency of the Patapsco River is expected to be poor. It is expected that the water quality of other Maryland rivers and major bay areas is good. To check the latest water clarity, check the eye on the satellite map of the Gulf.

For more detailed and up-to-date fishing conditions in your bay area, please check "Click Before Throwing" on the Maryland DNR website. Through our Eyes on the Bay newsletter, regularly get the latest information about the waters of Maryland and send it to your inbox. Sign Up Online.

John Horgan caught this large blue catfish in the port sedimentation area. Photo courtesy of John Hogan

The discharge of the Conowingo Dam is slowly decreasing, but this week it is still above average. The water temperature in the dam pond has dropped below 50 degrees. There are still some striped bass in the dam pond, but the speed has slowed greatly. Putting surface bait, jerkbait and paddletails are the most common fishing methods in the morning. The report from the mouth of the Susquehanna River is similar, because colder water temperatures are slowing down striped bass fishing. Fixtures near the bottom of the channel area or deep trolling with umbrella rigs are often the best options. 

The blue catfish provides numerous activities in the Susquehanna Estuary, tidal rivers, and bay areas. Most types of cut bait are effective, but fresh herring, eel, and anchovies come first. Alternative baits include clam mouth, chicken liver, and many other baits-chicken breasts, raw hot dogs, and clams are all baits used in critical junctures. If you can cope with the extremely low tides, you can collect rangia-commonly called saltwater clams-which is an excellent fresh bait.

The Key Bridge area has always been a good place to fish for striped bass; jigging near the edge of the bridge or channel is one of the most mature strategies. Generally speaking, due to the colder water temperature, striped bass floats deep and close to the bottom. Love Point Rock is another popular place for jigging using soft plastic near the bottom.

Deep fishing with umbrella gear and heavy built-in weights is quickly becoming the most popular way to fish for striped bass. The colder water temperature causes the fish to sink deep and close to the bottom. The Patapsco, Magothy and Chester river estuary channels are good locations; Brewton Strait, triple buoy area; Swan Point; and Love Point. 

The white bass is deep and close to the bottom at the mouth of the tidal river in the area and outside the bay. It takes a good depth detector to find them, and once you do, the dropper device or bottom device that uses bloodworm tablets as bait may make them bite.

This striped bass fell in love with Popper. Photo by Keith Lockwood

As the water temperature drops to more than 50 degrees, the striped bass fishery in the Central Bay is undergoing some changes. Once the water temperature reaches over 40 degrees, anglers will see reduced activity for striped bass under 20 inches. They will hold on to the bottom, but may not bite. It is not uncommon to find them stacked like ropes and woods in different locations, and those who try to clamp them may find that they catch as many fish as they actually clamp. 

The Bay Bridge still attracts anglers. Many people threw jigs near the pier and picked up a striped bass from time to time. Others drifted live eels or chunks of herring to the dock base with some success. The sewer is another destination targeted by anglers.

Jumping deep where you can find floating striped bass is still a viable option, and some bird activity is still found sometimes. The edge of the channel from Hackett's, Gum Thickets, and Eastern Bay estuary southward through Buoy 83 to the False Channel area is a good place to fish for striped bass. 

Many people are now turning to trolling. The above location is also a good place to troll the umbrella rigs with heavy line weights to drag them to the location of the fish. An enclosed cabin is a very tempting suggestion to get rid of the cold. 

The water temperature in the lower reaches of Choptank River is 50 degrees. Due to the very low night temperature, the water temperature will drop this week. Most juvenile herrings have now left the tidal rivers in the area, but striped bass can still be found near the mouth of Choptank.

The colder water temperatures include white bass and striped bass, below the 14-inch mark, which inhabit the bay from 35 feet to 50 feet deep, near the mouth of tidal rivers. Once they are found on the depth probe, they can still urge them to bite by using bloodworm fragments on the bottom rig or dropper flying rig. The rock piles of the Bay Bridge often hide large white bass in deep places, but so far this season, reports of white bass on rock piles have been negative.

Trolling for striped bass along the edge of the deep channel is often the most popular and successful way to fish for striped bass this week. A good place to work on the deep edge of the fairway is near Cove Point down to Smith Point and HI Buoy south to Middle Grounds. The lower Potomac River, the mouth of the Patuxent River, and the channel from the mouth of the Nanticoke River to the south through the Tangier Strait are also good places for trolls.

The most popular and successful way to fish for striped bass this week is an umbrella rig with a tail or a trailer with a spoon and a heavy built-in rig. The fish is near the bottom in the deeper area, so those heavy embedded weights are needed to reach the position of the fish.

In Xiawan, anglers still have some success with bait, mainly under birds and slicks, and where fish can be found on depth probes. Most legal-sized striped bass are kept deep and close to the bottom. The lower Potomac River, St. Mary River estuary, Pataksen River estuary and Tangier Strait area are all good places for fishing. The west side of the bay is dominated by striped bass; on the Tangier Sound side, there are some speckled trout mixed with striped bass. Most have a mixture of jerkbait, paddletails and crankbaits near the coastline structure. Those fixtures mostly use soft plastic fixtures.

Trout anglers continue to enjoy good fishing and release fishing in special management areas limited to fly fishing gear only, artificial bait only, delayed harvest and other restrictions to ensure that there will be a large number of trout to entertain anglers seeking good fishing. Must be a complete creel. You can find waters suitable for fishing and putting fish on the DNR website-just click on the county and waters you are interested in.

Trout is still infested in most stocking areas, especially ponds and lakes stocked last month. Casting small spinners and spoons or jerkbait is a good way to cover water when looking for stranded trout.

Deep Creek Lake provides a good fishing environment for largemouth bass, yellow bass, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and northern pike. Walleye can be found with yellow bass near the deep grass line, or on steep rocky shores at night. The use of live minnows is an excellent choice for fishing deep grass lines, as well as for small crank baits and jumping baits on rocky shores. Smallmouth bass and largemouth bass can be found close to deep structures. Small diving crankfish, soft plastic crabs and grubs are good choices for targeting them. Northern pike will eat large spoons, spinning baits and jerkbaits.

The upper Potomac River is low and clear this week. Like many other waters in Maryland, floating leaves can hinder anglers from doing their best to keep their bait free of rubbish. Muskellunge fishing is very effective, and the cold water temperature helps to successfully capture and release. Smallmouth bass and walleye inhabit the deeper parts of the river, and hooks and small crank bait are good options for targeting them. 

Largemouth bass usually maintain a deep structure along the descent and transition zone. Sunken wood or any type of structure is a magnet to them, and they will hold it tightly, waiting for possible crayfish or bait fish to pass by on their way to the deepest waters and structures. Soft plastic crayfish jigs, larvae, and small crank baits that mimic crayfish are good choices for bait. 

Crappie was training in deeper waters near the structure this week. Bridge piers, piers, fallen treetops and sunken bushes are all good places to find them. Small minnows or storks and bigheads are a good way to catch them.

The colder waters remind many anglers of chain barracuda, which are common in non-tidal and tidal waters throughout the state. Chain Barracuda is an ambush predator, it will attack almost anything that moves and looks like food. Most anglers will release the barracuda they catch because they tend to inhale the bait and should be careful. The single hook on most baits helps reduce damage to the gill rakers. The tweeter hook should be avoided, and a good long-nose pliers is invaluable when removing the hook from the toothy mouth. Chainpickerel likes to be close to sunken wood, and shoreline fragments of fallen wood provide a lot of space to hold them, because most of the grass beds are gone. The largest trophy-sized chain pike tends to survive in deeper waters and will claim to find tree stumps and any type of structure.

Blue catfish will fill a huge niche market where many anglers are looking for plenty of activities and good food. Blue catfish are now found in almost every tidal river in Maryland. Some of the largest blue catfish populations on the West Bank can be found in the tidal Potomac and Patuxent Rivers. The Susquehanna River in the Upper Bay and the surrounding tidal rivers contain large numbers of blue catfish, as do the Chester River, the Joop Tank River, and the South Tycock River. Fresh-cut baits are favored, but a wide variety of other baits will also attract them.

Surfers are soaking big bait, hoping to catch striped bass or red drums. Most use cut herring or mullet as bait. Tautog was caught by sand fleas at the entrance and the highway 50 bridge area. Near the pier, Highway 50 Bridge, and Highway 90 piers, cast and bounce anglerfish and soft plastic jigs were used to catch striped bass. The flounder is still caught in the passage leading to the entrance, but the cold and cloudy waters make it difficult to catch the flounder.

Outside the entrance, the best show in town is black bass fishing. Boat restrictions for bass fishing have recently become commonplace. Anglers also caught some sea bream, flounder and triggerfish. Some people began to target tautog at offshore shipwrecks and coral reef sites.

"'An athlete is a gentleman first,' said the old man,'but an athlete is basically a person who kills what he needs, whether it is a fish, a bird, or an animal, or he wants it for special reasons, but never kills anything. Things are just to kill it... He tries to keep those things that he kills from time to time.'"-Robert Luke, "The Old Man and the Boy"

The Maryland Fisheries Report was written and edited by Keith Lockwood, a fisheries biologist at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. 

Please click before you vote, written by Tom Parham, Director of Tidewater Ecosystem Assessment.

This report is now available on your Amazon Echo device-just ask Alexa to "open the Maryland Phishing Report". 

In *Maryland* dial toll-free 1-877-620-8DNR (8367) Out of state: 410-260-8DNR (8367)