St. Mary's River

The St. Mary's River, which winds south past Great Mills and St. Mary's City into the lower Potomac, is really two fisheries. The upper river is a narrow, wooded creek that opens into marsh, with largemouth bass, perch, sunfish and catfish for paddlers. The lower river is a broad tidal river near the mouth of the Potomac where DNR's weekly report regularly sends light-tackle anglers for stripers, speckled trout, bluefish and puppy drum along grassy shorelines, plus spot, croaker and big white perch at the mouth.

When to fish

• May: the river opens to striped bass harvest with the Potomac tributaries in early May; spot arrive late in the month.
• June and July: topwater and paddletails over the grass beds at dawn and dusk for stripers, with speckled trout, bluefish and red drum mixed in; spot and croaker at the mouth. August is closed to striped bass fishing.
• September and October: the shallow-water bite picks up again on poppers, jerkbaits, crankbaits and paddletails.
• November and December: big white perch at the mouth, and gulls working over breaking stripers from the river mouth down to Point Lookout.

Where to fish

• The grass beds and shorelines of the lower river: stripers, trout, drum and bluefish.
• The mouth of the river: spot, croaker and white perch.
• The upper river and its marshes below Great Mills: bass, perch, sunfish and catfish; snakeheads have moved up from the Potomac as far as the St. Mary's Lake spillway.

How to fish it

• Shallow-water casting: poppers, walk-the-dog lures, paddletails and spin jigs early and late.
• Live-lining: spot on non-offset circle hooks along nearby channel edges.
• White perch: dropper rigs with shad darts or small jigs, or grass shrimp or bloodworm on a bottom rig.
• Upper river: short casts to downed trees, branches and grass with small poppers, frogs and minnow imitations.

Getting there

For the upper river, St. Mary's County's Great Mills canoe and kayak launch is behind the Great Mills post office on MD 5 (paddle craft only, carried down wooden stairs, with minimal parking); there's also a sandy paddle launch at St. Mary's City. Boaters can reach the lower river from the county's lower Potomac landings. You need a Maryland Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License.