Tangier Sound, Crisfield and Janes Island

Tangier Sound, the broad, salty water between Crisfield and Smith Island, is Maryland's best-known spot for speckled trout, and it holds nearly every lower-Bay species: stripers, red and black drum, bluefish, flounder, spot, croaker and big schools of white perch. Its edges are a maze of salt marsh, grass flats, stump fields and cuts that suit kayaks and small boats. Janes Island State Park, next to Crisfield, is the easiest base, with a campground, ramp, marked water trails and a license-free fishing bulkhead.

When to fish

• Late April and May: black drum on soft crab. Tangier Sound opens to striped bass harvest with the main Bay on May 1; before that it's catch and release. Speckled trout and red drum arrive in the grassy shallows as the water warms.
• June and July: stripers, trout and bluefish on the marsh edges, grass beds and cuts early and late; spot, croaker and kingfish on bottom rigs.
• August: trout, spot, croaker and flounder. Striped bass are closed to all fishing.
• September and October: the best shallow-water fishing of the year for stripers, trout and red drum, with big red drum schooling in the sound.
• November and December: stripers in the main channel and schools of white perch in the deep water; striped bass are catch and release only from December 6.

Where to fish

• Janes Island's marsh creeks, canals and points, along the park's water trails: trout, stripers and red drum where current moves.
• The mouths of the marsh creeks and the grass flats and stump fields along the sound, especially on the outgoing tide.
• Around Smith Island: creeks, sod banks around points and inlets, and riprap near the causeway on the west side.
• The main channel and the deep water between buoys R6 and R8: stripers and white perch in late fall and winter.
• From shore: the Janes Island bulkhead on Daugherty Creek and the Crisfield City Dock, both license-free (register first).

How to fish it

• Speckled trout: drift soft or peeler crab at creek mouths, or cast paddletails, walk-the-dog topwater lures and soft plastic jigs over the grass and stumps. A popping cork with a plastic shrimp or quartered soft crab underneath works over grass. Trout are noise-shy, so approach quietly from upwind or up-current.
• Stripers: poppers and paddletails in the shallows at dawn and dusk; jig the channel edges when you mark fish in late fall.
• Red and black drum: jig big soft plastics or fish cut spot for schooling red drum (catch and release for the big ones); soft or peeler crab on the bottom for black drum.
• Spot, croaker and white perch: bottom rigs with bloodworm, artificial bloodworm or grass shrimp; in winter you may need 2 ounces or more to hold bottom in the deep holes.

Getting there

Take US 13 to MD 413 and follow it to Crisfield. Janes Island State Park, just before town off Plantation Road, is open sunrise to sunset (fishing and launching are allowed outside those hours) and has a ramp (fee), a free kayak launch, kayak rentals, loaner tackle and a fish cleaning station. Crisfield's Little Boat Harbor ramp has limited parking (use the lot at Wellington and Brick Kiln roads), and Somerset County has more ramps at Jenkins Creek, Wenona and Deal Island. Smith Island is reached by ferry or your own boat from Crisfield. Watch the wind and tides on open water. You need a Maryland Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License outside the license-free areas.