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Haven't posted a freshwater report in a long time, but this was perhaps one of the most fun kayak fishing trips I have had in fresh water.
My good friend recently got into kayak fishing with me, and we have been doing float trips with our wives recently - a good social distancing activity - and since we are both blessed with very patient wives, we fish along the way as much as we can. We put in at the Brandywine River Museum and took out at Smiths Bridge, about 4.5 miles as the kayak floats I think. I had the feeling the day was going to be a good one, when the first cast I made with my little beetle spin/white grub brought a very large red breasted sunfish to the boat. Shortly thereafter, I switch over to a grey/white/silver flake twister tail on a 1/8 oz jig head and proceeded to catch fish all day. I bet the average size of the sunfish I caught was over 6 inches - fishing ultra light with 6 lb. test, I don't care who you are, that's fun!
I had never fished the Brandywine, but I know they stock it with trout, and I was surprised to see how cool the water was. I didn't see any trout, and I doubt any left over would have made it through those two weeks of hot weather we had recently, but they would survive now for sure. The habitat was perfect and fish were holding everywhere you would expect them to. There was some sand, gravel, small river rocks, large boulders, some SAV, undercut banks with tree roots, ledges, etc. Sight fishing for sunfish, smallmouth, and even fall fish was a blast - very rarely did I make more that 4 or 5 casts without catching something...which brings me to my next topic - multi species.
All told I caught 8 different species of fish today - smallmouth bass, laregemouth bass, fall fish, red breasted sunfish, green sunfish, bluegill, rock bass, and white crappie. I saw a bunch of yellow perch but could not get one to eat. My buddy hooked one but it got off at the boat. The largemouth I caught was very small - my buddy called it a key chain - but I saw some swimming around that were probably 10 - 12 inches. But...the target species was smallmouth, and I was NOT disappointed. Probably caught about 8, with a couple in the 8 - 10 inch range, but also included was my personal best. The unofficial measurement against the rod when I got back to the truck was 18 inches. Have a look for yourself!
Brandywine Smallie 09132020.jpg
Definitely a personal best for me, putting an exclamation point on a really great day on the water. 4+ hours floating, great weather, overcast skies. Oh...and I did flip my kayak for the first time, but rolling over on a rock in 18 inches of water is definitely less traumatizing than I would imagine turtling in the bay would be. Rods sunk to the bottom, no damage, the only thing I lost was a spool of 12 lb test leader.
Steve
Bel Air, MD
My good friend recently got into kayak fishing with me, and we have been doing float trips with our wives recently - a good social distancing activity - and since we are both blessed with very patient wives, we fish along the way as much as we can. We put in at the Brandywine River Museum and took out at Smiths Bridge, about 4.5 miles as the kayak floats I think. I had the feeling the day was going to be a good one, when the first cast I made with my little beetle spin/white grub brought a very large red breasted sunfish to the boat. Shortly thereafter, I switch over to a grey/white/silver flake twister tail on a 1/8 oz jig head and proceeded to catch fish all day. I bet the average size of the sunfish I caught was over 6 inches - fishing ultra light with 6 lb. test, I don't care who you are, that's fun!
I had never fished the Brandywine, but I know they stock it with trout, and I was surprised to see how cool the water was. I didn't see any trout, and I doubt any left over would have made it through those two weeks of hot weather we had recently, but they would survive now for sure. The habitat was perfect and fish were holding everywhere you would expect them to. There was some sand, gravel, small river rocks, large boulders, some SAV, undercut banks with tree roots, ledges, etc. Sight fishing for sunfish, smallmouth, and even fall fish was a blast - very rarely did I make more that 4 or 5 casts without catching something...which brings me to my next topic - multi species.
All told I caught 8 different species of fish today - smallmouth bass, laregemouth bass, fall fish, red breasted sunfish, green sunfish, bluegill, rock bass, and white crappie. I saw a bunch of yellow perch but could not get one to eat. My buddy hooked one but it got off at the boat. The largemouth I caught was very small - my buddy called it a key chain - but I saw some swimming around that were probably 10 - 12 inches. But...the target species was smallmouth, and I was NOT disappointed. Probably caught about 8, with a couple in the 8 - 10 inch range, but also included was my personal best. The unofficial measurement against the rod when I got back to the truck was 18 inches. Have a look for yourself!
Brandywine Smallie 09132020.jpg
Definitely a personal best for me, putting an exclamation point on a really great day on the water. 4+ hours floating, great weather, overcast skies. Oh...and I did flip my kayak for the first time, but rolling over on a rock in 18 inches of water is definitely less traumatizing than I would imagine turtling in the bay would be. Rods sunk to the bottom, no damage, the only thing I lost was a spool of 12 lb test leader.
Steve
Bel Air, MD
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