Fall Transition Bite Lights Up Chesapeake Bay Fishing

Artificial Lure reporting live with your Chesapeake Bay fishing report for Sunday, September 28, 2025, covering the Baltimore and Washington D.C. region. We’re full into fall, and the transition bite is sparking solid action up and down the Bay.

Tide-wise, expect low tide right around 6:04 AM and high tide swinging in at 6:34 PM, with sunrise at 6:57 AM and sunset wrapping at 6:50 PM, according to Tide-Forecast.com. The incoming tide this morning should set up nicely for morning bites along points, creek mouths, and shallow grass beds.

Weather is serving up early fall classics: expect a cool start, highs in the low 70s by mid-afternoon, and light northwesterly winds bringing crisp, stable conditions—a near-perfect scenario for both boat and shore anglers.

On the fish front, the past week’s reports along the central and lower Bay have been hot and heavy with **bluefish blitzes** and **red drum showing hard on the western and eastern flats**. According to a recent Great Days Outdoors update, **speckled trout** are coming in strong, earlier in fall than usual, with plenty of 16–20 inchers caught on popping corks rigged with soft plastics. Striped bass are waking up with the cooler nights; look for active schoolies at dawn and dusk over structure and in deeper channels, as pointed out by the latest local podcasts and daily reports.

The strongest bite window looks to be middle morning through lunchtime as the tide fills. Early risers drifting live spot, soft crab, or chunk menhaden along drop-offs are putting nice rockfish in the cooler. If you’re tossing artificials, the Prawn USA Original by Salt Strong has been drawing big inshore strikes—rig them weedless for probing grass lines or on a jighead near oyster bars for trout and reds. Old school MirrOlures and Gulp shrimp remain tried-and-true, especially when fished slow on the edge of grass beds or over shell bottom.

For bluefish—find birds and you’ll find fish. Metal spoons and flashy jigs are the ticket for these teethy torpedoes, but don’t forget the wire leader. Chumming with ground menhaden or tossing bucktails also gets the job done around the channel edges.

Bait anglers working bloodworms or soft crab on bottom rigs off Sandy Point State Park and the Matapeake Pier are catching a mixed bag—spot and croaker are around, plus the occasional keeper flounder showing on moving tides.

Top spots today:
- **Love Point**: Solid striper reports at daybreak and incoming tide. Troll or cast topwaters and swim shads.
- **Eastern Bay**: Trout and reds on the grassy flats, especially with soft plastics under popping corks.
- **Hacketts Bar and Thomas Point**: Classic fall striper staging area, especially on an incoming evening tide.

Recent catches from the region are looking like a real mixed grill: bluefish from 2–4 pounds have been blitzing under birds, red drum up to 30 inches are prowling shallows, and decent striper action is reported off pier lights and structure at night.

That’s the rundown for today—get on the water, chase those moving tides, and bring a blend of bait and artificial options. Thanks for tuning in—don’t forget to subscribe for your daily local scoop. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI