Waterlands

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Black sea bassPeak season

Bay · Maryland

Old Road Bay

39.21°N · 76.45°W · Bay · Patapsco River including Baltimore Harbor

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Best score today · 5 PM · Black sea bass

79/100Great
Now
647 PM EST
Best window
7-8 PMEbb tide
Tide now
Ebbing0.5 ft ▼

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

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24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 7 PM · now

Time7PNOW
Score64Good
Tide0.5 ft ▼Ebbing
CurrentEbb0.3 kn · toward SE
Wind7 kn Sgusts 13 · steady
Air temp62°Mild
WeatherClear0% cloud
Water63°FObserved

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

IN EFFECT NOW

No rule for Black sea bass is on file here yet, so its status is unknown, not closed. Confirm limits with Maryland DNR before you keep a fish.

Source: Maryland DNR · synced today

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Black sea bass is best here

Peak season for Black sea bass · 3 more weeks at peak

Black sea bass season by week of the year. Peak season for Black sea bass · 3 more weeks at peak.
  • Peak
  • Shoulder
  • Off
  • This week

Black sea bass in Maryland →

Spot profile

Old Road Bay

Depth
6-10 ftFlat bottom
Structure
Bay · Inner · ProtectedBay · flat bottom
Season
Peak seasonBlack sea bass

NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 13 on a 3.4 m grid. Depths are feet below NAVD 88, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.

About this spot

Fishing Old Road Bay

Old Road Bay is a bay in Patapsco River including Baltimore Harbor, Maryland. Depth is 6-10 ft, with a flat bottom. Its profile reads bay, inner water and protected.

Waterlands scores 14 species here; the best right now are spotted seatrout, striped bass and tautog. It is peak season now for spotted seatrout, striped bass, tautog and bluefish, and shoulder season for weakfish, red drum, little tunny and spot. Spotted seatrout peak from October through November. Striped bass peak from April through May and from October through December. Tautog peak in April and from October through December.

Tackle & technique

Black sea bass
Black sea bass hold tight to wrecks, reefs, rock piles and jetties, from 15 feet inshore in late spring to well over 100 feet on offshore wrecks in late fall. Anchor or drift right over the structure and fish a two-hook high-low rig with squid or clam, or bounce a small jig on the bottom. The biggest males sit on the highest relief.
Spotted seatrout
Trout hold over grass beds and sandy potholes in 2 to 8 feet of water most of the year and slide into channels, deep creek bends and canals during cold snaps. A live shrimp under a slip or popping cork, a paddle tail on a light jighead, or a topwater walked at first light covers most situations. Keep the drag light because their mouths tear easily.
Striped bass
Striped bass feed where moving tide pushes bait past structure: inlets, points, jetties, bridge pilings and rips in the surf, usually in 2 to 40 feet of water. Fish dawn, dusk and night hardest, casting plugs, bucktails and soft plastics or drifting live bunker and eels, and chunk bait on the bottom in current. In midsummer the larger fish drop deeper or feed mostly after dark.

Nearby spots

Other spots within an easy run

  • North Point

    Cape · 1.4 mi

    81
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 81
    • Spotted seatrout 74
    • Bluefish 70

    7 kt SL 8:15 PM · 0.4 ftH 2:26 AM · 1.4 ft

  • Sedgy Point

    Cape · 1.4 mi

    81
    Top: Striped bassPeak season
    • Striped bass 81
    • Spotted seatrout 74
    • Bluefish 70

    7 kt SL 8:15 PM · 0.4 ftH 2:26 AM · 1.4 ft

  • Penwood Channel

    Channel · 1.1 mi

    79
    Top: Spotted seatroutPeak season
    • Spotted seatrout 79
    • Striped bass 77
    • Black sea bass 69

    7 kt SL 8:15 PM · 0.4 ftH 2:26 AM · 1.4 ft

  • North Shoal

    Bar · 1.5 mi

    74
    Top: Spotted seatroutPeak season
    • Spotted seatrout 74
    • Striped bass 74
    • Bluefish 72

    7 kt SL 8:15 PM · 0.4 ftH 2:26 AM · 1.4 ft

Scores and forecasts are for planning only and can be wrong. Conditions on the water change fast; check the marine forecast before you go. Regulations change during the season, so confirm limits and closures with Maryland DNR before you keep a fish.