Maryland week of Sept. 16: cooler Bay stripers, snakeheads on the flats, crabs still heavy

Keith Lockwood’s Maryland DNR Fishing Report for Sept. 16, 2026 (forecast Tom Parham, Sept. 16–22) has the main Bay still in the upper 70s at the surface, with smaller rivers and streams in the low 70s and falling. Oxygen is adequate in most Bay bottom waters except the Potomac from Indian Head to Colonial Beach and the upper Bay from the Sassafras to the Rhode River mouth. Dry weather has pushed salinities higher than normal.

Upper Bay: the Conowingo Dam pool and lower Susquehanna are mixing blue catfish, flathead, and Chesapeake Channa. Stripers are improving early and late on the Flats and in the dam pool on poppers, paddletails, and crankbaits. Spot are still around for live-lining at Swan Point, Love Point, and Pooles Island.

Middle Bay stripers are on the Bay Bridge piers and rock piles on a moving tide, and on 30-foot edges off Kent Island, Thomas Point, Breezy Point, and Bloody Point–False Channel. Shallow topwater is improving. Spanish mackerel have mostly left the middle Bay; bluefish remain, including around Sharps Island. Lower Bay Spanish are heading south, with Smith Point, the Target Ship, and the Middle Grounds still a shot. Large red drum are still present but mobile. Stripers are on steep edges from St. Georges to Piney Point and at St. Clements. Spot, croaker, and speckled trout are good in the lower Potomac, Patuxent, and Tangier. Blue crabs remain excellent for recreational crabbers.

Freshwater: Deep Creek is quieter; upper Potomac smallmouth is good. Albert Powell Trout Hatchery is under a $15 million renovation — appointment-only, with a target of 37 percent more adult trout capacity by spring 2028. Ocean: Assateague surf for kingfish, spot, croaker, and flounder; Ocean City Inlet sheepshead on sand fleas; canyon white marlin on catch-and-release. Confirm live DNR tables before you keep a striped bass.

Photo: Luca Tucciarella’s Chesapeake Channa, photo by Vincent Tucciarella via Maryland DNR.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Maryland DNR — Maryland Fishing Report — September 16 (Keith Lockwood, Sept. 16, 2026).