Crisp Chesapeake Daylight Bites - Stripers, Perch, Trout on the Move

Artificial Lure here with your November 7th Chesapeake Bay fishing report. Out on the Bay around Virginia today, chilly fall mornings are setting in, but the sun is shining and skies are fair—prime time for bundled-up anglers. According to WBOC’s morning weather report, we’re seeing crisp temps, light winds, and the leaves still coming down. Sunrise came at 6:38AM, sunset will hit early at 4:58PM, so make those fishing plans count during the daylight hours. For tidal movement, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel area gave us a low tide around 5:21 this morning and high tide right around noon, topping out at 3.17 feet according to Tide-Forecast.com. Evening low is due a bit after sunset. So, mid-morning onward brings that rising tide—perfect for feeding fish in structure-rich haunts like rock piles and channel edges. Reports this week show the striped bass bite has improved. Maryland DNR noted that stripers are being caught from rocks and piers, especially in early and late hours. The waters from the Bay Bridge-Tunnel up through Lynnhaven Inlet and Little Creek in Virginia Beach are seeing solid activity. Many are jigging or casting soft plastics near pilings and rock piles, while others are trolling bucktails and swim shads. Paddle tail swimbaits in pearl or white, three to five inches, are producing well, and chartreuse is a go-to when the water muddies up a bit. For deeper or windier conditions, bump up that jig head weight to get you down where the fish are holding—sometimes even up to one ounce. Midday reports are seeing stripers suspended close to the bottom near the big bridges and channel drops, so that’s your window. White perch have been thick on shoals and knolls near river mouths—places like the mouth of the James and Elizabeth rivers, and on various lumps in the upper Bay. Bloodworms and grass shrimp on bottom rigs remain perch candy. Some folks are still nabbing speckled trout inside Lynnhaven Inlet, with live shrimp and small paddletails scoring—check out recent footage from local YouTube crews who are filling coolers with “yellow-mouths” before their sheepshead charters. If you’re targeting bigger fish offshore, folks trolling just off the coast near the canyons reported mahi and an impressive pompano dolphinfish caught out of Ocean City in October. It’s a bit north, but those bluewater species can follow warm pushes and occasionally swing close to the southern mouth on a good weather day. For lures, tins and metals like Ava-style diamond jigs, Hopkins Shorties, and Acme Kastmasters are killer, especially when peanut bunker or sand eels are around. Try slender metals and spoons for their castability and tight action. Top colors: green, red, and natural metal finishes. Paddle tails in standard white, menhaden, or chartreuse are reliably hot for stripers, drum, and trout. When in doubt, go with what matches the current hatch—if the bait’s small, lean toward slender metals, if they’re chasing peanut bunker, beef up with a wide-bodie