Best bait for weakfish (Choptank)

Sand Flea gave you some excellent advice on different baits to use. Trout that enter the bay and eventually the tributaries such as the Choptank are mainly feeding on small fish called Silver Sides. They resemble a sardine in both size and color. Knowing this you want to present a bait the represents them. In "cut" bait we have squid strips and chicken strips. In artificials we have bucktails, Hopkin's and Clark spoons and Sting Silvers which are jigged. To these artificials we add squid and chicken strips, and rubber/plastic tails. Also Bass Assassins (BA) are very effective. Each of these baits whether they be cut bait or artificials look like Silver Sides. OK, that's a third of the puzzle. Another third is to give the bait movement. The best way is to jig and this technique takes some getting used to. There's no need for long casts here. When using squid or chicken I use a 3-way swivel. Attach your line to one eye. On another eye attach your sinker via a 12" piece of leader. On the remaining eye attach your hook via a 36" piece of leader. Cast out 25 or 30 yds. and let the sinker hit bottom. Take in all the slack and with your rod at the 3 o'clock position raise it slowly to the 11 o'clock position and immediately return your rod to the 3 o'clock position. Now here's the important part. When returning your rod to the 3 o'clock position take in the slack as you lower the rod. This is when most of the bites happen and you need direct contact between your rod tip and the bait to feel the bite.. Any slack and you won't feel it You can fish the artificials the same way. This technique isn't for the lazy guy who wants to just throw it out there and sit back and wait. Sure he's going to catch fish - those 10" trout that you were talking about. And he may catch more fish than you - a bucket full of those 10" trout. The fish that you are targeting will be quality fish and probably not as many. I'd much rather have 4 or 5 trout that are 18" +. The final third of the puzzle is horizontal water movement other wise know as current. Fish both sides of the high tide with the out going being the best. If the tide is slack (dead high or dead low) you're not going to catch fish, it's that simple. Bring these three pieces of the puzzle together and your days of catching 10" trout will be over. The only variable you have is which type of bait is the most productive. This you will have to experiment with. The other two pieces remain constant. Hope this helps out and good luck.

Catman.

The problem is we don't get many trout (weakfish) that far up the river... especially in a year like this where we have had lots of rain to lower the salinity of the river. It just isn't a consistent fishery for trout in Cambridge section of the river. The trout prefer deeper and higher salinity waters, like those found in the river's mouth or in the main bay (trout will spawn in shallower waters of the main bay in the spring then are a deeper water fish). You don't see many trout in the rivers except for fall, then they're after spot.

By far, best bait would be fresh crab, then fresh spot. Small squid pennants are productive when trout key into smaller bait fish like glass minnows (silversides). Bloodworms can also be productive. I wouldn't rack your brain out on trying to catch trout from the Choptank pier because it takes some special circumstances from Mother Nature to make it happen on any remotely consistent basis. Just drown some crab, fish at night, and if there happen to be any keeper size trout, hopefully they'll eat it.

It you really would like keeper trout, you'd stand a much better chance fishing RT 50 bridge at night in OC, near east channel draw, the last of the incoming tide to beginning of ebb, from mid-May until mid-July, double 4" Fin-S jigs (or spec jigs), or Gotchas.

Greetings All!

MD DNR report this week: "Bloodworms, peelers, and bait shrimp picked up some spot and croakers at the Severn River Bridge, Choptank Pier, and Matapeake Pier." If you read the report for the middle bay, they go on to say no weakfish (trout) reported. That includes boat fishermen. Could be the low salinity, a shortage of weakfish (NJ is suffering, too) or both. Hopefully the trout will invade the Choptank this Fall when salinity levels rise. One bad sign is the lack of trout at Stone Rock and the Choptank Buoy. Last year the mouth of the 'Tank was filled with trout and croakers. No weakie catches were reported in the Lower Bay, which makes me think the fish are scarce so far this season. (They were catching some weaks last month near the 72A Buoy, but I haven't read any good reports since.) Another problem could be that fishermen are concentrating on the plentiful rock and croakers in the Lower Bay, ignoring the harder to catch trout. Hoping that's the case, but I'm thinking weakies/trout may be in a downward cycle.