March 2017 came in like a lamb with warm temperatures and stable sunny weather, this made for some great fishing opportunities. My friends and I have been targeting panfish in the creeks and rivers on Maryland’s Eastern Shore… The Tuckahoe, Choptank, Sassafras and Chester Rivers have all been good at times. The trick to better fishing is to follow the migration of these fish as they move into the creeks. I learned as a youngster that “Every fish has it’s own time in the creek”… The yellows were the first to make a spawning run in the Chester, followed by the Crappie, Pickerel and finally White Perch. Many of these fish use the same areas for spawning just weeks or a few days apart. This year was odd… the Yellow Perch spawn was staggered out over a couple weeks, whereas typically it happens in a few days. This kept fish in the creeks in good numbers for an extended period. Catching was consistently good for Yellow Perch up until this weeks snow and cold. On Monday (03/13/2017) Ange Harclerode and I fished the Chester prior to the storm and had excellent Yellow Perch fishing throughout the entire outgoing tide…Many large females post spawn, some have not yet spawned and most males were still milting. It is not over yet!

Last Thursday (03/09/17), I took my son John and my Grandson Aiden fishing for panfish in the Creekboat. The previous 2 days had been warm and sunny, creek temps soared to 55 degrees and the first White Perch of the season were found,milling about on gravel bars. Using Bust’em Baits “Stingers” we caught well over 100 nice WP on ultra-light spinning gear. This was excellent late winter fishing but it surely felt like spring!

Wednesday, I fished the Susky for Walleye and came up empty. Ange and Larry Perch caught White Perch, Crappie and Pickerel in the creek the same day. Good catching!

Last Tuesday (03/07/17) Ange and I fished from shore and had a non-stop bite on big Slab Crappie and 2 large Pickerel. Fishing small plastic baits on jig-heads caught steady all day.

 The plastics fished under a small float caught the crappie as well…

While we were fishing the creeks, others have been fishing the rivers in the upper bay and reporting scattered catches of White Perch and Catfish. There have been spotty reports of Stripers being caught on Bloodworms and cut bait. The Susquehanna River and flats have some fish holding there and can be caught on lures. More on this in my next report…

I hope to see you on the water or in the shop!