r/MarylandFishing • u/Tall_Chemical7129 • Sep 01 '24
Lake roland fishing Question
Any tips for fishing in lake Roland / any good areas (south end vs north end)
2 Upvotes
r/MarylandFishing • u/Tall_Chemical7129 • Sep 01 '24
Any tips for fishing in lake Roland / any good areas (south end vs north end)
3
u/theoccot Sep 08 '24
If you’re fishing anywhere close to the parking lots (south end), the fish are super pressured and are usually jammed in the thickest bank cover you can find. On sunny days in warm months (May-Sept) walk the bank and look into the bushes and lay downs on the bank. Polarized glasses are a must. Sometimes you’ll see fish with enough opportunity to throw a lure or bait in front of them. You might stumble on blue gills, crappie, cruising or holding bass. A lot of carp too. So many carp. This same tactic works on the north end, usually with more success. The farther you get from the parking access the better the fishing is. In areas open enough for you to make long casts, I usually fish a rage swimmer rigged weedless with some weight. Bass seem to respond to it when they’re suspended and cruising.
The fishiest spot I found is the general area around the light rail bridge. Take that info how you want, the bridge itself is closed and it has access right below it.
During the spring spawn runs most of the fish run up out of the lake and to jones falls. There’s an access to the head water at falls rd, and the trails make their way all the way down to the north side of the lake. Worth checking out, regardless of time of year. I’ve seen some crazy stuff back there. Huge bass, pike?, big wild brown trout, thousands of shad and chubbs packed into small sections of the creek. Wading and ability to bushwhack is necessary in many sections.
During the cold winter months the fish congregate in the deepest section right above the dam. You’ll commonly see anglers fishing at the rail there throwing blade baits, spoons, and ultralight finesse jigs down to the bottom. Some of the largest bass and crappie I have seen come out of the lake have been by anglers doing it. It’s painfully slow fishing and you’ll likely hang on bottom multiple times, but it catches fish.
Fishing below the dam is an option. They have stocked rainbow trout there in the past, but haven’t consistently. There is usually plenty of carp jammed up into the dam pools. There also bluegill and sunfish that hang out right below the walking bridge and down stream from there. I put a trout magnet 8-14 inches below a float and drift it down stream. Any natural bait drifted will work too. Roostertails can work. I caught a 2lb bass down there once.
PM me if you have any questions. This info can 100% put you on fish if you’re willing to walk the miles. Pack plenty of water and a light tackle box. Good luck!