conditions are really advancing quickly into the summer patterns

Type: Chesapeake
Region: Eastern
Location: Upper Bay

Well as hot as it�s been it seems conditions are really advancing quickly into the summer patterns. Chumming was good just north of the bridge today but live lining was even better. The region is offering a lot of very small spot to use for live lining (unlike last year when all the spot we caught around Podickery and Sandy point were 8 to 10 inches. The cow nose rays are putting on quite a show. They will swim right up to the boat and seem annoyed you move out of their way. We had schools of them within 2 feet of the boat just easing along about 1 foot under the surface. We also saw some hooked by chummers but we didn�t have to deal with that today.

Another great sign is the abundance of croaker right now. They are not in the same locations as last year but they are bigger in size and put up a great fight on light tackle. We caught a nice bunch with bottom rigs and bloodworms while we were chumming in about 30 feet of water.

Earlier in the weekend we managed to pick up some very nice crabs in the Magothy that were from 6 to 7 inches. Reports had been that crabbing had shut down there but not on the day we were out.