Episode Details

Chesapeake Bay anglers, this is Artificial Lure with your up-to-the-minute fishing report for November 8, 2025, covering Baltimore and Washington D.C. all the way down the bay—so grab your coffee and let’s get into what’s biting and where.

If you’re out chasing the early bite, today’s sunrise was at 6:36 a.m., with sunset coming up at 4:59 p.m. The moon’s setting at 10:27 a.m., rising again just before 8 p.m.—so look for prime action around those low-light windows. According to Tide-Forecast.com, today brings a low tide at 3:25 a.m., peaking to a high of 3.62 feet around 10:02 a.m., a shallow low at 4:27 p.m., then back to a 2.67-foot high at 10:28 p.m. Near the Potomac and upper bay, tides are very similar, so most local spots will fish about the same timetable.

Weather-wise, WBOC and NOAA report that the Small Craft Advisory is lifting this morning, and you can expect northwest winds at 5-10 knots with waves at a foot or less—it’ll be a crisp, glassy fall morning with pretty manageable water for much of the day. Great for working structure and chasing bait balls.

Let’s talk catches. The mid-bay, especially the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, is hot right now, with good numbers of **rockfish**—most in the 16-26 inch range—falling to **heavy jigging spoons** in 30-45 feet of water. FishTalk Magazine and anglersportcenter.com both report steady limits for anglers vertical jigging near the pilings and drop-offs. Some folks are finding bonus fish using soft plastics on 1- to 2-ounce jig heads, especially when working channel edges and current seams. The rockfish bite has been best with white, chartreuse, or natural bunker soft plastics.

Blue catfish remain active in the upper bay and tidal Potomac, and they’re still smacking **large jigs and cut baits**—cut eel and menhaden are producing some monster cats. Anglers near the mouth of the Chester and at the Bay Bridge piers keep reporting solid action all morning on both artificials and traditional baits.

A few reports are still coming in for **white perch** in the rivers, with folks doing best on small bloodworm-tipped rigs and beetle spins close to structure.

The lower bay and near the main channels and inlets, a handful of boats are picking up late-season **speckled trout** and **red drum** close to the shallows, especially at first light. For those reds and specks, try a **4-inch paddletail** in chartreuse or clear shrimp, or a topwater “walk-the-dog” lure—especially if there’s a light chop. Local knowledge has it that fishing a spook in white just as the sun cracks the horizon can trigger spectacular strikes.

If you’re eyeing a stealthier shot at trophy fish, classic bucktails and **trolling bunker spoons** are accounting for some larger stripers on the move down the channel edges—matching the hatch with a blue or silver spoon has been best.

As for bait, you can’t go wrong with fresh-cut menhaden for stripers and chunked eel or chicken liver for the cats. For perch and panfish, stick with bloodworms or grass shrimp.

Hot spots to hit today:
- **The Bay Bridge pilings and drop-offs:** Produced steady limits of stripers all week; vertical jigging is the ticket.
- **Mouth of the Chester River:** Solid blue cat and occasional striper, especially drifting baits along the ledges.
- **Poplar Island and Thomas Point:** Try the shallow flats early for specks and slot reds—work topwaters if there’s a ripple, or switch to soft plastics if they go quiet.

That’s your Chesapeake Bay fishing report for November 8—things are shaping up to be classic late fall fishing: cool temps, hungry gamefish, and prime conditions for lures and bait alike.

Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure—don’t forget to subscribe for daily bay action and technique tips. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

Great deals on fishing gear