Lower Choptank River (Cambridge to the Mouth)

The lower Choptank, from Cambridge down to its wide mouth between Cook Point and Tilghman Island's Black Walnut Point, is one of the middle Bay's busiest fishing rivers. DNR's report calls the mouth a premier place to jig for stripers in November, when young menhaden pour out of the river; the shorelines of the lower river are shallow-water striper water from June into fall; and in winter big schools of white perch settle into the deep channel at the mouth. The whole river is a striped bass spawning river, so it's off limits to stripers in spring.

When to fish

• March through May: no striped bass fishing, including catch and release; the river below a line from Holland Point to Chapel Creek reopens May 16, and the rest on June 1. White perch finish spawning upriver and spread into the lower creeks, and catfish are active above Cambridge.
• June and July: poppers and paddletails along the lower-river shorelines at dawn and dusk; stripers suspended on the 30- to 35-foot edges of the False Channel; live-lining spot near Cambridge; bluefish busting bait at the mouth.
• August: striped bass are closed; spot and croaker on hard bottom, bluefish and Spanish mackerel around the mouth and the False Channel, blue catfish in the lower river.
• September and October: shallow-water fishing on the shorelines; by mid-October stripers start suspending along the steep channel edges.
• November and December: the mouth's peak jigging season, often under diving gulls; white perch school deep at the mouth and in the False Channel. From December 6 striped bass are catch and release only.

Where to fish

• The mouth, between Cook Point and Black Walnut Point, and the False Channel: channel edges for stripers, Spanish mackerel in late summer and white perch in winter.
• Shorelines of the lower river, on both the Talbot and Dorchester sides.
• Cambridge: the waters near the city, and the pilings and sunken reef balls around the remains of the old Route 50 bridge (Bill Burton Fishing Pier State Park), fished by boat or kayak since the piers closed.
• The channels from Cambridge upriver: blue and channel catfish.

How to fish it

• Shallows: poppers, jerkbaits and paddletails at first and last light.
• Channel edges: find suspended fish, then jig soft plastics or metal jigs on braided line with a fluorocarbon leader; in the False Channel, troll tandem-rigged bucktails with soft plastic trailers; in fall, umbrella rigs deep.
• Around the old bridge: bottom rigs with bloodworm for stripers, white perch and catfish, or half- to one-ounce jigs.
• Winter white perch: mark the schools on the depth finder and fish bottom rigs with grass shrimp or bloodworm, or shiny metal jigs.
• Catfish: fresh cut menhaden or gizzard shad on a circle hook.

Getting there

In Cambridge, the city has ramps at Great Marsh Park (with a pier), Franklin Street and Trenton Street, and Long Wharf Park is a license-free fishing area (register for free first). Both piers at Bill Burton Fishing Pier State Park are closed and slated for demolition, but the Talbot County side's shoreline and trails are open sunrise to sunset. On the Talbot side, Trappe Landing and Bellevue Landing need a county permit for trailered boats, and Oxford's ramp needs a town permit; much of the rest of the shoreline is private. You need a Maryland Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License.