Not what I expected for my 1st yak trolling fish

[mweber02]

I hit the susky flats yesterday afternoon. I certainly didn't expect my 1st fish caught trolling to be a smallie. Nothing huge at 15" but a new PB for me and even at 15" they put up a great fight. But even more surprising was the catfish I caught not even 200 yards later. Both hit an x-rap trolling 6-7' of water.

Not a hugely productive few hours but it felt damn good to get back out there after 2 months.

[mibytes]

Congrats Mike and thank you for the update, I may have to check out the area soon.

[HJS]

I'd think the salinity of the Flats is increasing daily since the Conowingo Dam hasn't generated much since Friday... and that was just a short couple of hours at most. Smallmouth can't tolerate as much salty water as largemouth can. So yeah, I'd say right now that catching a smallie on the Flats is not a common occurrence. How clear was the water?

[reel-em-in]

Where did you launch from? I'm planning on heading out Friday morning. I'm leaning towards Tydings though I've never launched there before.

[sparky1423]

Congrats Mike! I catch more sallies than stripers when I'm trolling out of lapidum. I usually pass twin rocks and start zigzagging from east to west with smaller fatter crankbaits.

[mweber02]

Howard - Water clarity was maybe to 2', maybe a little better deep into the weeds. It didn't seem all that dirty to me, just tinted too brown for the light to shine through.

Reel-em-in - I learned from others to launch from Tydings for the flats. Perryville has a launch with a shorter paddle to the flats but I live in Harford Co and just take the shorter drive and no toll. The other launch in HDG under the railroad bridge offers good access to the river and deeper water. It also sees very little boat traffic compared to the ramp at Tydings (I've had to wait in line and rush once or twice at Tydings). Both launches are free for car-top. If you do launch from Tydings this time of year, you will want to paddle out to the left and past the bulkhead to avoid the emmense weeds and super shallow water that sits straight out from the ramp. I tried that early Saturday morning and struggled a bit on low tide, almost had to get out of the yak when I started getting stuck.

[Salty Dog]

With the cooler temps that area should be turning on in the next couple of weeks.