Hoopers Island, Honga River and the Target Ship

Hoopers Island is a chain of low marsh islands strung down the Dorchester County shore between the Honga River and the open Bay. DNR's weekly report sends light-tackle anglers to the cuts between the islands again and again, for stripers from spring through late fall, plus speckled trout, red drum, bluefish, spot and croaker. The sheltered Honga River behind the islands is fishable when the Bay is rough. Farther out, the Target Ship (the old American Mariner) and the Middle Grounds are big-boat spots for black drum, sheepshead, cobia, red drum and bluefish. The Maryland record sheepshead came from near the Target Ship.

When to fish

• April and May: black drum on the east side of the Bay near the Middle Grounds and the Target Ship. Bay stripers are catch and release only until the May harvest opener, and anglers cast jigs, paddletails and poppers in the Hoopers Island cuts.
• Late May and June: white perch around the islands, sheepshead and speckled trout at the Target Ship, and the first schools of big red drum and cobia around the Target Ship and the Middle Grounds.
• July and August: speckled trout on the grass beds, spot and croaker around the islands, trolling for bluefish below Hoopers Island, and sight-casting or chumming for cobia. Stripers are closed to all fishing in August, and live eels can't be used then.
• September and October: the shallows fire up for stripers, trout, red drum and bluefish early and late, and big bluefish run the channel edges from the HS Buoy south past the Target Ship.
• November and December: stripers in the Hoopers Island cuts and on the channel edges; catch and release only from December 6.

Where to fish

• The cuts through Hoopers Island: the signature spot, best with moving water (DNR likes an ebbing tide).
• The Honga River: points, drop-offs and undercut marsh banks with current, sod banks in the side creeks and the Honga River bridge pilings.
• The east-side channel edges below Hoopers Island, from the HS Buoy south: trolling for bluefish and stripers.
• The Target Ship and the Middle Grounds: drum, sheepshead, cobia and bluefish, by boat only.

How to fish it

• Stripers in the cuts: cast paddletails or soft plastic jigs up-current and "walk the dog," letting the current sweep them along the bottom; poppers early and late on the shallows.
• Speckled trout and puppy drum: paddletails and topwater lures over the grass, or drift peeler or soft crab.
• Black drum and sheepshead: soft crab, peeler crab or clams on the bottom near the Target Ship.
• Red drum and cobia: jig big soft plastics or cast heavy spoons to breaking schools; for cobia, set up a chum slick with a live eel at the back (not during the August striped bass closure). The big red drum out here are caught and released.
• Bluefish: troll spoons and surgical tube lures behind planers along the channel edges.
• White perch, spot and croaker: bottom rigs with grass shrimp or bloodworm.

Getting there

From Cambridge, take MD 16 and MD 335 south to Hoopers Island. Dorchester County has public ramps at Hoopersville on the Honga, Asquith Island (Lakes Cove, for shallow-draft boats and paddle craft) and Golden Hill on Wallace Creek, which leads down to the Honga; the county has historically charged no ramp fee. Much of this part of the Bay is a Navy aerial firing range: leave when a patrol boat or aircraft warns you, stay out of the marked target areas, and stay at least 75 yards off Bloodsworth Island and its neighbors. You need a Maryland Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License.