– Advertisement / Advertise with Us –

Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report for July 31 – August 6, 2025

August 2, 2025

This week on the Lower Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report, host Steve catches up with two powerhouse captains delivering an unforgettable mix of tournament-winning strategy and hard-earned inshore insights. Offshore, Captain Jake Boltz of Flying Fish Sportfishing recaps his epic win at the Ocean City Tuna Tournament, while inshore guide Captain Austin Hayne of Finao Sportfishing breaks down how extreme heat is changing the cobia playbook in real time.

Conditions Recap

Sea surface temperatures have been extreme across the Chesapeake, reaching as high as 89.5°F in some areas. This spike in heat has forced both anglers and fish into deeper or cooler water pockets, sometimes as subtle as a two-degree difference. A consistent theme this week was chasing those slightly cooler “cold zones” (79–82°F), which continue to hold bait and predator species. A coming Nor’easter may finally drop water temperatures across the bay and normalize fish movement, especially in areas that have been too hot to produce.

Offshore: Captain Jake Bolts Wins Ocean City Tuna Tournament

Captain Jake Boltz of Flying Fish Sportfishing delivered a masterclass in tournament fishing, winning the prestigious Ocean City Tuna Tournament and taking home a check for $357,460. Jake and his team ran 85 miles south from Ocean City to target a productive inshore yellowfin bite back near Virginia, catching 22 tunas on day one and repeating the performance on day two. Despite pulling a bigeye hook late on the first day, their consistency and strategic adjustments secured them the top stringer slot.

Gear played a critical role, with 75% of the bites coming on Sterling Tackle’s side tracker bars and cedar rain chains. MagicTail lures also performed well. Jake emphasized the importance of bait-focused fishing, targeting areas stacked with sand eels and adjusting trolling speeds (from 5.5 to 7 knots) depending on water conditions.

Inshore: Cobia & Redfish with Captain Austin Hayne

Captain Austin Hayne of Finao Sportfishing reports another brutally hot week on the bay. With surface temps in the upper 80s, cobia and redfish have pushed deep, making sight-fishing unpredictable. Success has come from locating small pockets of cooler water and being ready to burn fuel chasing these zones—sometimes a quarter mile off the beach.

Austin’s top cobia tip: switch to circle hooks. He now uses a 9/0 Eagle Claw Laser Sharp circle hook with near-perfect hookup and landing rates. This is paired with 60 lb fluorocarbon, 20–30 lb high-vis braid, and medium-heavy 7’6″ rods with 4500–5500 class spinning reels.

Bonus: Redfish, Spanish Mackerel, and the Bunker Battle

While cobia dominate the conversation, redfish have been chewing well—especially open water schools in cooler zones. Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and sheepshead are also around, and drum are showing in some structure-heavy areas. However, captains continue to express concern about Omega Protein’s menhaden harvest operations, which appear to be wiping out bait schools and devastating bite consistency overnight.

Gear Note: For targeting redfish and Spanish, downsized braid and high-vis line continue to be an advantage in low visibility and high-pressure conditions.