Redfish fishing in Chesapeake Bay

In Chesapeake Bay, redfish peak May–October and are around April–November, according to Fish Scouter's month-by-month season calendar. May: Bull reds on the shoals at the bay mouth and off the Eastern Shore — sight-cast or bottom-fish crab.

1. JanuaryNot here
2. FebruaryNot here
3. MarchNot here
4. AprilArrivingStriper spawn in the rivers; the first big blues and drum at the mouth. Main-bay stripers catch-and-release in Maryland (spawning reaches closed); tog on the Bridge-Tunnel; black drum and bull reds start on the Eastern Shore shoals. Virginia closed speckled trout April–June in 2026.
5. MayPeakBull reds on the shoals at the bay mouth and off the Eastern Shore — sight-cast or bottom-fish crab.
6. JunePeakCobia month at the mouth; stripers chunked up the bay. Sight-cast bucktails and eels to cobia on the lower-bay shoals and buoys; chum and chunk stripers on the middle-bay lumps; fluke on the Bridge-Tunnel.
7. JulyPeakSpanish, cobia and specks in the grass; stripers at dawn. Troll Clark spoons fast for Spanish on the lower-bay rips; topwater specks at dawn in Mobjack and Tangier; sheepshead on the Bridge-Tunnel pilings.
8. AugustPeakPuppy drum in the lower-bay shallows; bull reds schooling on the middle bay into Maryland.
9. SeptemberPeakBreaking fish return; bull reds and fall croakers. Stripers and blues busting bait under the birds — jig the schools. Jumbo croakers and spot on the channel edges before they leave.
10. OctoberPeakPuppy drum in the Lynnhaven and Mobjack marshes; the big fish head out.
11. NovemberLeavingBest speck fishing of the year; stripers fatten on menhaden. Suspending baits and soft plastics for specks in the Piankatank, Lynnhaven and Elizabeth; troll and jig stripers on the channel edges; tog on the Bridge-Tunnel.
12. DecemberNot here

The biggest estuary in the country: 200 miles of brackish bay fed by the Susquehanna, Potomac, Patuxent, Choptank, Nanticoke, Rappahannock and James, with oyster bars, channel edges and lumps in the main stem, marsh islands down Tangier Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel's pilings and islands at the mouth. Salinity climbs from fresh at the Flats to ocean at Cape Henry.

• Live shrimpUnder a popping cork or free-lined, hooked under the horn on a #1 to 2/0 circle hook; on a jig head for the bottom. The universal inshore bait.
• PinfishHooked through the back ahead of the dorsal on a 2/0 to 4/0 circle hook; the small ones free-lined, the big ones on a fish-finder rig.
• Finger mulletLip-hooked on a 2/0 to 4/0 circle hook and free-lined, or on a fish-finder rig in the surf. Cut mullet on the bottom for redfish and drum.
• Blue crabsWhole and small for permit and tarpon; halved or quartered on the bottom for black drum, redfish and cobia.
• CroakersHooked through the back on a 2/0 to 3/0 circle hook, free-lined or on a Carolina rig — big trout and redfish can't leave them alone.

• Leader20–30 lb fluorocarbon
• Hook1/0–3/0
• Jig head1/8–3/8 oz
• Braid10–20 lb

Feeds in 58–90°F water, best at 65–82°F.

All about redfish · The Chesapeake, the whole year