Mid-November Stripers and More on the Chesapeake

Chesapeake Bay anglers, this is Artificial Lure with your November 13, 2025, fishing report, dialed in for the Virginia side from the CBBT to the rivers and creeks. We’ve got a real roller of a fall pattern this week: big wind, swinging tides, and striped bass that just can’t stop chasing bait. Let's talk weather first. WBOC’s marine forecast has a Small Craft Advisory in effect until 5 p.m.—look for west winds 15-20 knots, gusting to 25, with choppy conditions and waves around 2 feet. That’ll push most folks into more sheltered waters, at least until things settle this afternoon. Layer up; these gusts bite sharp, and colder air is moving in behind last night’s front. For tides around Virginia Beach and the south Bay, the first low hits about 7:08 a.m. at 0.5 ft, swinging to a high at 1:40 p.m. near 4.2 ft, then ebbing again after dark. Sunrise was at 7:10 a.m. with sunset coming around 6:29 p.m., so there’s more than enough daylight to get your lines in if the wind cooperates, according to Tides4Fishing. Fish activity is classic mid-November: water temps dropping, bait moving, and predators following close behind. The striped bass bite is the main event. Reports from Southern Maryland Chronicle, plus local tackle shops, confirm big schools of rockfish on the move at both channel edges and river mouths, including the lower Potomac and Patuxent, and down into the Bay proper near Cape Henry and the CBBT. Outgoing tide has been key—fish stage off dropoffs and structure, ambushing menhaden and shad. Best tactics this week are trolling tandem bucktails or umbrella rigs, especially white and chartreuse paired with soft plastics or Sassy Shads. Jigging metal or heavy soft plastics right at bridge pilings or along the tubes is also putting fish in the box—4" to 7" soft swimbaits in natural baitfish hues are solid picks. Live-lining eels or spot (if you can snag some) works wonders around deeper pilings and rip lines, as confirmed by current Maryland DNR guidance and local captains. White perch are thick on hard bottom at major river mouths. The go-to: bottom rigs with grass shrimp or bloodworms. Some drag in bonus citation-sized perch over 11 inches off the Bay edges near the mouth of the York River and in deeper holes at the James. Blue catfish action is hot on cut menhaden or anything stinky—target channel edges. Reports out of tackle shops and Woods & Waters Magazine say the speckled trout bite lingers in shallow grass beds of the Eastern Shore and in Tangier Sound, but falling temps are pushing them deeper—try 1/8 to 1/4 oz jigheads with white or chartreuse paddletails. Hot spots today: - **Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel:** Stripers and bluefish hold near the tubes and pilings, especially on the outgoing tide. - **Mouths of the James and York Rivers:** Great for stripers, perch, and blues tucked in on structure and ledges. - **Backwaters of Lynnhaven River:** When the wind’s up, the creeks and marshes give up keeper stripers and maybe a late red