Wye Mills Lake

[J.A. Veil]

Mark and I decided to try a location different from the stingy Severn. We fished in Wye Mills Lake this morning. Conditions appeared to be ideal -- mild temperature, no wind, overcast skies, lot of fish swirls at the surface. Despite having these factors in our favor, the fish were not biting well. We fished for nearly four hours. I tried twister tails, spinnerbaits, swimming plugs, plastic crawfish, and other baits. With the exception of one nice LMB that hooked itself with the lure dangling in the water, I caught three modest crappies, one small bluegill, and one small LMB. One of the crappies took a Strike King Mini-king spinnerbait. All other fish were caught on 2" to 3" twister tails. Here are photos of the largest crappie and the 19" LMB.

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Wye Mills Lake is pretty and less than 30 minutes from the Bay Bridge. Access to the small ramp is not particularly easy -- you need to back up a hill then down to the ramp. There was plenty of parking plus two portapots in the parking lot. The lake looked like it has excellent fish habitat.

[Mark]

Wye Mills is definitely worth a return visit.

I wish I could report good catches on top water because that's what I tried 99% of the time. I got swirls but the fish were not serious about it. I often say about bass and fly rod poppers that "bass don't miss." They don't when they're serious. Unlike stripers that often swipe at the popper before hitting it with intent, a LM bass will usually suck it down immediately. I had none of that today. For whatever reason the bass were not coming up.

I caught a single white perch, which evidently is my white perch trip allotment for 2014. I've yet to catch more than one white perch per trip this year. I caught that fish only when I put my fly rod down long enough to toss a Mepps spinner on an ultralight spinning rod.

Soon thereafter I was back on the fly rod. The environment was that tempting!

So, ideal conditions to human eyes do not always yield fish. Wye Mills was certainly text book ripe today for top water but the fish hadn't read that chapter.

It's a credit to John that he caught what he did.

[whenican]

I've caught plenty of fish there....some days they are on, other days they are off.
I'm glad to hear you didnt get skunked.

[Mark]

One other thing for pedal pushers. Beware of the submerged wood. I hit a stump today and had to do a little on-site maintenance to my Mirage Drive. All is well, thank goodness. I wasn't going fast. But the wood that makes good cover for bass can also bring you to a sudden unexpected stop if you have fins or a propeller under your hull.