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Tangier Sound Fishing Report

Updated Mon, Sep 14, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The lower Eastern Shore: Tangier Sound holds rockfish, speckled trout and red drum over the grass.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Next tide
Low 11:28 PM
Air / High
77 / 79 F
Wind
NNW 19 mph

Sources: NOAA tides 8571421, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Monday
14
September 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Tangier Sound sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. Today brings clear skies, wind NNW around 19 mph, rising pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 79. Tides: high 4:08 AM and 4:31 PM, low 10:43 AM and 11:28 PM: the moving water either side of each change is when this place feeds. Water sits around 72 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing crescent, the solunar majors run 1:11 AM-3:11 AM and 1:11 PM-3:11 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

BluefishExcellent

Follow the bunker and mullet schools: blitzes can erupt anywhere on the beach. Wire or heavy leader always.

Redfish (red drum)Excellent

Prime sight-fishing: tailing fish on shallow flats, schools pushing water. Weedless spoons, shrimp under a popping cork, cut mullet in the guts.

Striped bassGood

Surface action windows at dawn; otherwise free-lines and planer boards over long points and humps.

Tomorrow: Similar at 76 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Tue, Sep 15, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Maryland requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $32.00 for residents, and salt water needs its own licence here. What a Maryland licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing striped bass here? Check the size and bag limits with MD DNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Maryland, read off the agency, are on the Maryland seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

Tides

NOAA station 8571421 (Bishops Head, MD). Fish the moving water either side of each change.

Mon
HIGH4:08 AM2.2 ft
LOW10:43 AM0.4 ft
HIGH4:31 PM2.4 ft
LOW11:28 PM0.5 ft
Tue
HIGH4:52 AM2.1 ft
LOW11:21 AM0.5 ft
HIGH5:14 PM2.3 ft

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp77 F
High / Low79 / 72 F
WindNNW 19-20 mph
Pressure1018.1 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 4%
Sunrise / Sunset06:44 / 19:13
MoonWaxing Crescent, 8%
Water temp (seasonal)~72 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Next 7 days

Tap a day for the detailed outlook.

Mon Sep 14 · Partly cloudy, 79/72 F, wind 22 mph, rain 4%

Fair or better. A 22 mph breeze puts a working chop on the banks it hits: fish the wind-blown side.

Species guide

The species that matter on Tangier Sound: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall

The reservoir heavyweight. Follows shad and herring schools in open water year-round. Surface action windows at dawn; otherwise free-lines and planer boards over long points and humps.

Bluefish illustration

Bluefish

Best: Sep-Oct blitzes

The ocean's most honest fish: when blues blitz bait on the beach, everything with hooks gets bit. Follow the bunker and mullet schools: blitzes can erupt anywhere on the beach. Wire or heavy leader always.

Redfish (red drum) illustration

Redfish (red drum)

Best: Sep-Nov bull run

The copper-flanked king of the flats and surf: tailing in inches of water, schooling by the hundred in fall. Prime sight-fishing: tailing fish on shallow flats, schools pushing water. Weedless spoons, shrimp under a popping cork, cut mullet in the guts.

When to come: the Tangier Sound calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Striped bass
Bluefish
Redfish (red drum)
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 72 F (estimated, not a reading).

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovSep, ~72 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Tangier Sound today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Sun, Sep 13

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 14 mph.

Sat, Sep 12

5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 79 F, wind to 15 mph.

Fri, Sep 11

5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 80 F, wind to 13 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used to send you this water's report each week. No spam, ever.

Before you go

License

Maryland requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Maryland license including the Chesapeake Bay sport fishing licence. Striped bass, speckled trout and red drum are size- and season-regulated: check current DNR rules.

Access

Launches at Crisfield, Deal Island and Rumbley; guides and island ferries out of Crisfield.

About this water

A shallow Chesapeake sound off Somerset County, Maryland, between the mainland and Smith and South Marsh islands.

Fishing Tangier Sound: the full guide

A sound of islands and grass

Tangier Sound lies on the Chesapeake’s Eastern Shore off Somerset County, Maryland, a broad shallow body between the mainland and Smith and South Marsh islands. Grass beds, oyster bars, sloughs and marsh edges hold striped bass, which locals call rockfish, along with speckled trout, red drum, bluefish, croaker and flounder.

Rockfish and specks

Striped bass work the bars, the grass edges and the channel drops on moving water, taken on soft plastics, topwater at dawn, and live bait. Speckled trout have rebounded strongly in the sound in recent years and hold the grass and sloughs, taken on soft plastics and topwater in the warm months: it is now a genuine destination fishery.

Red drum and the shallows

Red drum push into the shallow grass and over the bars in summer and can be sight-fished in the right conditions, which is unusual water for the Chesapeake. Black drum and cobia also appear seasonally. The sound is very shallow across much of its area: run the marked channels and watch the tide.

Somerset County logistics

Launches serve the sound at Crisfield, Deal Island and Rumbley, with guides working out of Crisfield and ferry service to Smith and Tangier islands. This is remote, low-lying country with few services once you leave town. Wind builds a nasty short chop on shallow water: check the forecast carefully.

Common questions

Are there speckled trout?

Yes: they have rebounded strongly and now make the sound a genuine destination for them in the warm months.

Can I sight-fish red drum?

In the right conditions, yes: they push into the shallow grass and over the bars in summer.

Is it shallow?

Very, across much of its area. Run the marked channels, watch the tide, and respect the wind forecast.

Is fishing good at Tangier Sound right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Choptank River44 miAssateague47 miOcean City50 miNanticoke River50 miYork River60 miIndian River Inlet61 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Tide predictions
NOAA CO-OPS 8571421 — Bishops Head, MD
Harmonic predictions, datum MLLW, local time. 11 high and low events returned for today and the next two days. A prediction, not a measured water level: wind and surge move the real thing.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 38.0500, -75.9500 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Written and reviewed by a person against the sources above. Errors are published in the verification log, not quietly corrected.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.

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