Tuckahoe Creek and Tuckahoe State Park

Tuckahoe Creek, a major tributary of the Choptank, is a quiet, wooded Eastern Shore stream that runs through Tuckahoe State Park on the Caroline–Queen Anne's line and turns tidal just above Hillsboro. It has a little of everything: an electric-motors-only lake with flooded timber and some of DNR's best-surveyed bass numbers, put-and-take trout below the dam, a spring run of yellow and white perch (plus hickory and American shad), and, on the tidal creek below Hillsboro, one of the region's largest blue catfish populations, with channel catfish too.

When to fish

• Early March: yellow perch reach the Hillsboro area; white perch follow in late March, with the best fishing from Hillsboro up to the dam at Tuckahoe Lake. DNR cut the tidal yellow perch limit for 2026.
• Spring and fall: trout stocking in the creek below the lake. Hickory shad show up below the Crouse Mill Dam in April (catch and release only).
• April through summer: blue and channel catfish on the tidal creek, moving above the Route 328 bridge by midsummer.
• Spring to fall on the lake: largemouth, pickerel, crappie and sunfish around the flooded woodland; April brings pre-spawn bass into the shallows. DNR's 2024 survey found more bass over 15 inches than the statewide average.

Where to fish

• Below the Crouse Mill Dam (Tuckahoe Lake spillway): stocked rainbow and brown trout and spring shad.
• Tuckahoe Lake: about 20 acres of open water, 5 to 7 feet deep with steep banks, and a channelized flooded woodland of stumps and root balls at the upper end. Fish from the accessible pier by the ramp, from most of the southern shore, or from a canoe.
• Hillsboro to the dam: the heart of the spring perch run.
• Hillsboro and Stoney Point downstream to the Route 328 bridge: perch after the spawn and catfish from shore or a small boat.
• The lower creek toward the Choptank: anchor on the outside bends with high banks for catfish; a small chum pot near the bottom helps.

How to fish it

• Perch: shad darts or small jig heads tipped with grass shrimp, a piece of minnow or bloodworm; after the spawn, bottom rigs in the deeper water just downstream.
• Catfish: cut menhaden, gizzard shad or white perch, chicken liver or scented baits on a circle hook with a sliding-sinker rig.
• Shad and trout below the dam: small shad darts on light spinning gear; branches overhead make fly casting hard.
• Bass and pickerel in the lake: a quarter-ounce jig with a paddletail, spinnerbaits, stick worms and weightless swimbaits worked along the wood, then frogs and buzzbaits once the lily pads come up; small inline spinners for pickerel.

Getting there

Tuckahoe State Park is off MD 404 and MD 480 near Queen Anne and Ridgely; the lakefront ramp is at 710 Crouse Mill Road, and the park is open sunrise to sunset. Only electric motors are allowed on the lake; the lake ramp needs no permit. Keep any snakeheads you catch. Caroline County's Hillsboro ramp and Stoney Point landing (unimproved) need a county permit for trailered boats, and Talbot County has ramps at Coveys Landing and New Bridge farther down. The creek is nontidal above the old stone railroad bridge just upstream of MD 404: you need a Maryland nontidal fishing license there (plus a trout stamp if you fish for trout) and a Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License below it. The tidal creek below the Route 328 bridge is part of the Choptank's striped bass spawning reach, closed to striped bass fishing in spring.