Home › Forums › Bass Cat Boats › Upper Chesapeake Bay Susquehanna Flats – any help from a fellow cat owner would be great
Im a little ashamed to admit being from MD I really dont know that area. I have never spent time there and with it only being 45 mins from me I really should. But over the last 4-5 years I havent fished much and last year after June not at all because of health issues. I am finally comfortable with being back out on the water. Enough of me whining.Is there any fellow cat owners that can offer up some advice/tips for this time of the year up there? Fishing a small club tournament on Saturday the 9thIt would greatly be appreciated.
I am relocating to Annapolis and would like to make some connections in this area as well. Do not intend to hijack your thread but Ill be watching to see the responses that you get.Good luck in the tournament.
Thank you grybrd. Hopefully I will find a few.
The upper bay can be a love hate relationship. There are alot of 3-6lb fish in the upper bay, and time of year is always important. This time of year they are on the move, as in here today, gone tomorrow. The usual places will always hold fish, furnace bay, the flats any of the marinas up the Northeast, and a few of the bays and creeks over by aberdeen proving grounds and harve de grace marina which also has a deep channel running the length of the western shore, there are some restricted areas near the proving grounds and alot of tournaments have these off limits. Smallmouth can be found in the Susquehanna. Dock fishing is very popular this time of year, once the grass starts growing on the flats the bass will relate out there, look for the flotilla of boats… Now the bad part, running the bay can be hazardous. Do not run straight across the flats from the northeast to the Sus and or the western bay, there is an inner channel that most of todays GPS will have and it makes you hug the northern shorline from the sus, past furnace bay and then continuing on to the Northeast. If you come out of the NE and run south you need to run the channel down wquite a ways before cutting acroos to the western side of the bay.I would highly recommend you watch a few people run the inner channel from furnace bay to the Northeast, but dont always assume they know where they are going! The northeast is marked with channel markers as well as heading south from the northeast down to the elk, bohemia and gunpowder. If i was going there blind, this time of year i would concentrate on the marinas and many docks in the Northeast as well as furnace bay and the deep water inner channel out in front of furnace bay up towards the susquehanna. Chatter baits, traps, squarebill crankbaits all work well this time of year though the top water bite is not far off. Also if you choose to run up the sus once under the bridge it is highly recommended to stay about 100 yards from the eastern bank (RH bank going up river) I would only run this up to the small marina/apartment complex on the right. There are massive boulders up the sus that will destroy your lower unit. If you see someone running up the center or western shore of the sus they either know where they are going, or probably have a jetdrive and aluminum hull.http://www.bbcboards.net/upper-chesapeake-bay-club/Last edited by JSLAW on May 6th, 2015, 9:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Thanks for the informative post, JSLAW! I will try to get up that way once my move is completed. Probably best to get some local knowledge first time out; leave the rods in the locker and just scout the channels (and rocks) you have spoken of. My lower unit thanks you.
Thanks JSLAW. I concentrated on the marinas in the Susky. The tide was very low in the morning and didnt feel like there would be a lot of water in Furnace, its pretty skinny in there. I had been in there years ago and was churning up mud. I had one nice keeper in the boat before 6 on the back channel caught a couple more out of Tydings then one close to 4 in a marina just north of Havre De Grace. I had 5 for 14 and change and finished 3rd. I mainly fished spots I had fished before and really didnt do any exploring or learn anything new. We had a thing between two clubs for bragging rights. Their top 6 had 99lbs and ours had 64, so we got killed. I have never seen so many bass cats in one spot in MD before, I saw probably 15-20during the day. A lot of smart boat buyers.
Believe Bass Pro Pete Gluszek knows that are well and guides in that area. You might want to reach out to him also.
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