Chesapeake Bay Fishing Report: Stripers, Trout, and More on the May 30th Bite

Good morning, anglers – Artificial Lure reporting from the heart of Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay, bringing you the latest on fishing conditions for Friday, May 30, 2025.

We had an early sunrise at 5:47AM and you can expect a beautiful sunset at 8:17PM, giving you plenty of daylight to chase your target species. Today’s tides are textbook for active fish: high tide hit at 12:59AM, low at 8:23AM, back to high at 1:27PM, and final low tide at 8:20PM. With a tidal coefficient peaking at 96, expect strong currents and pronounced tidal swings—perfect for moving bait and hungry predators, especially around structure and channel edges according to Tide-Forecast.com.

Weather-wise, we’re looking at a mild, partly cloudy day with moderate southwesterly breezes—enough to ripple the water and keep fish active, but not enough to chase you off the bay. Ideal conditions for both boat and shore anglers.

Fish activity is in high gear as we move toward summer. The striper bite has been heating up, especially around bridge pilings and rock piles. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel continues to be a striper hotspot, with many anglers reporting good action casting 5- to 6-inch soft plastics on half to one-ounce jigheads. Live spot and eels are also top producers this week, especially if you’re targeting larger rockfish hunkered down in deeper water. Anglers Sport Center and recent reports on YouTube suggest these baits are a go-to right now.

In the southern stretches and in the back bays, speckled trout and bluefish are showing up in good numbers. If you’re sight-casting for specks or blues, try topwater plugs or paddle tails early in the morning, particularly across the grassy flats and around oyster bars. For those after flatfish, bouncing Gulp! baits or bucktail jigs along sandy drop-offs has produced keeper flounder lately.

Out in deeper water, the drum bite remains solid—black drum are still being caught from the surf and near inlets, especially on fresh peeler crab or big chunks of clam. And don’t overlook the catfish action in some of the tidal rivers and northern coves, although it’s not quite as hot as previous years.

For bait anglers, you can’t go wrong with live spot, menhaden chunks, or peeler crab. Artificial fans should stick with soft plastics in white or chartreuse, paddle tails, and bucktails. Topwater lures will get early morning results if the surface chop isn’t too heavy.

A couple of hot spots to check out today:
- Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel: For stripers, blues, and flounder action.
- Lynnhaven Inlet: Especially productive for speckled trout and early-morning topwater bites.
- Back River and Poquoson Flats: Reliable for a mix of specks, reds, and schoolie stripers.

That’s your Chesapeake Bay fishing scoop for today. Thanks for tuning in—don’t forget to subscribe for more reports and tips. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.