Point Lookout State Park and Cornfield Harbor

Point Lookout State Park fills the very tip of the Western Shore, where the Potomac meets the Chesapeake. The park's 710-foot pier, the causeway and its Bay and river shorelines put shore anglers in reach of spot, croaker, bluefish, flounder and, from June into September, big red drum; Cornfield Harbor just inside the point is a summer spot-and-croaker hole; and boats fish the rips off the point for stripers, and the nearby Bay for drum and cobia.

When to fish

• Mid-April to mid-December: the fishing pier is open.
• Late May: spot arrive in Cornfield Harbor, and live-lining for stripers starts; speckled trout and puppy drum turn up along the shore.
• Summer: spot, croaker, kingfish, small sea bass and flounder from the pier and shore and in Cornfield Harbor; bluefish off the beaches; speckled trout on the grass beds; big red drum in the shallows in the evening. Maryland's Bay water is closed to striped bass in August.
• September: red drum from shore at dawn and dusk on cut bait; snapper bluefish in the shallows.
• October to December: stripers, small red drum and speckled trout along the shorelines on lures; fish the rips off the point, and watch for gulls over breaking stripers from the St. Marys River down to the point in December.

Where to fish

• The 710-foot fishing pier.
• The causeway and the Bay and river shorelines inside the park.
• Cornfield Harbor: spot and croaker for the table and for bait.
• The Point Lookout rips and the shoals off the point: stripers by boat; flounder along hard-bottom shoals next to the channel drop-offs.

How to fish it

• Spot, croaker and kingfish: bloodworm (or artificial bloodworm) on a bottom rig; peeler crab for croaker.
• Flounder: scented soft baits or strips of squid or spot along the channel-edge shelves.
• Stripers, trout and puppy drum: poppers, jerkbaits, crankbaits and paddletails along the shorelines early and late; live spot in Cornfield Harbor on non-offset circle hooks.
• Big red drum: cut bait or soft crab from shore at dawn and dusk; release them quickly.

Getting there

Take MD 5 south to its end. The park opens at 7 a.m. in summer and 8 a.m. the rest of the year and closes at sunset; night fishing isn't allowed, and day-use reservations are required on summer weekends and holidays. Park service charges apply at the causeway too, and the boat ramp has a launch charge at the tollbooth (launch passes are valid 24 hours). No pets on the pier. You need a Maryland Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License, which isn't sold in the park. The Potomac side of the point is Potomac River Fisheries Commission water, whose striped bass seasons differ from Maryland's.