Mallows Bay and Nanjemoy Creek

Mallows Bay, a shallow cove on the Charles County shore of the tidal Potomac, is best known for its "Ghost Fleet": the hulks of more than 100 World War I-era wooden steamships abandoned there and now protected as a national marine sanctuary. The wrecks, many visible only at low tide, give largemouth bass, catfish, perch, stripers and snakeheads structure to hide in, and it's a paddler's fishery. Just downriver, Nanjemoy Creek adds a spring yellow perch run and a license-free fishing pier at Friendship Landing.

When to fish

• March: yellow perch run up Nanjemoy Creek to spawn.
• Spring and early summer: bass, catfish and perch around the wrecks and shorelines before the grass gets thick.
• Midsummer: submerged grass and algae fill the shallows, which suits snakeheads but makes shore fishing hard. In saltier years spot, croaker and drum can wander in.
• Fall: bass and catfish around the wreck structure again.

Where to fish

• The wooden wrecks of the Ghost Fleet: the best cover in the bay for bass, catfish and snakeheads.
• The shallow shorelines of Mallows Bay.
• Nanjemoy Creek: spring yellow perch in the upper creek, and the license-free pier at Friendship Landing.

How to fish it

Cast to the wooden wreck structure and the shorelines: medium poppers, frogs and minnow imitations for bass, and larger minnow imitations for stripers and catfish. For yellow perch, live minnows, small shad darts tipped with a minnow, small spinner jigs or small jigs fished near the bottom. It's illegal to keep a snakehead alive.

Getting there

Charles County's Mallows Bay Park, 1440 Wilson Landing Road in Nanjemoy (US 301 to La Plata, MD 6 west, MD 224 and Wilson Landing Road), has a concrete ramp suited to small, shallow-draft boats, a floating paddle launch and a gravel lot; paddling groups of 10 or more must pre-register with the county. Friendship Landing on Nanjemoy Creek has a ramp, a kayak launch and a license-free pier (register for free first). Elsewhere you need a Maryland Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License, and out on the Potomac main stem the Potomac River Fisheries Commission's rules apply.