Baltimore Harbor and the Patapsco River Mouth

Baltimore's harbor and the mouth of the Patapsco River are some of the best urban striped bass fishing on the East Coast. Stripers feed along the piers, bulkheads, piling fields and rocky shores of the Inner Harbor and Fort McHenry at dawn and dusk, while boats jig and live-line the channel edges out toward the Bay. The river also has good white perch, spot for bait, catfish and snakeheads, plus a string of city and state parks with piers and ramps, several of them license-free. Around the wreckage of the Key Bridge, which collapsed in 2024 and is being rebuilt, exclusion zones keep boats and anglers away.

When to fish

• Late spring into summer: stripers at the Patapsco mouth and in the harbor; spot arrive, and anglers live-line them along channel edges. August is closed to striped bass fishing baywide.
• September through November: DNR's peak harbor season, with stripers on topwater and paddletails around piers and rocks early and late, and jigging and trolling on the channel edges.
• Late fall: good white perch at Curtis Creek and the river mouth; as the water drops below 50 degrees, stripers go deep.

Where to fish

• Inner Harbor piers, bulkheads and piling fields, and the rocks at Fort McHenry: stripers in the morning and evening.
• Channel edges at the Patapsco mouth and the western Brewerton Channel: jigging, live-lining and trolling.
• The concrete islands under the high-voltage lines across the river: a live-lining spot.
• Curtis Creek and Fort Carroll: white perch, and spot for bait.
• Shore spots: Canton Waterfront Park and the Canton Recreational Pier, Middle Branch Park, Masonville Cove, Fort Armistead Park, and the piers at North Point State Park and Fort Howard Park.

How to fish it

• Stripers in the harbor: cast paddletails, poppers and soft plastic jigs to piers, bulkheads and rocks at dawn and dusk.
• Stripers on the channel edges: jig soft plastics when you mark fish, live-line spot, or troll tandem and umbrella rigs behind heavy inline weights.
• White perch: dropper rigs with small jigs and shad darts, or bottom rigs with grass shrimp, minnows or bloodworm.
• Circle hooks: required when chumming or live-lining in the Bay, and with bait whenever you target stripers.

Getting there

Canton Waterfront Park (3001 Boston Street) has two ramps and an accessible fishing pier; Fort Armistead Park has a ramp (watch the breakwater right in front of it) and a pier; Masonville Cove has a pier and a kayak launch; Middle Branch Park has a ramp and pier; and North Point State Park in Edgemere has two piers. The Canton pier, Canton Waterfront Park and Middle Branch Park are license-free areas that need only the free saltwater angler registration; elsewhere you need a Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License. Check current Key Bridge exclusion zones before you run near the river mouth.