June 11 Meet and Greet

[shockaholick]

Hey...thanks for the info...also, how far off shore do you guys go? The only reason I ask is b/c I'm still kind of inexperienced to kayaking. I just started less than a month ago. So, I just want to feel as safe as possible. But i'm sure if I'm with you guys I'll be okay. But again, thanks for replying!

Hey Shock, It's a MD state park at the mouth of the Potomac. A bunch of us set up a schedule for the monthly meet and greets back in December and this is it for June. It is saltwater. The main target is flounder but croaker, striper and maybe bluefish around as well. Here's the address:

Point Lookout State Park
11175 Point Lookout Road
Scotland, MD 20687

And park info:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclan...intlookout.asp

Hope to see you there!
John

[eastonkayaker]

Hey...thanks for the info...also, how far off shore do you guys go? The only reason I ask is b/c I'm still kind of inexperienced to kayaking. I just started less than a month ago. So, I just want to feel as safe as possible. But i'm sure if I'm with you guys I'll be okay. But again, thanks for replying!

When we get togther we help each other out, move kayaks, check out how they are rigged, give suggestions. You can also carry a VHF radio and we always suggest wearing your PFD with a noise maker. I wear a whistle around my neck, I carry a small air horn in a pocket on my PFD.

[Pinch]

I got a vhf and whistle too. Whenever I go out I take the vhf and monitor the weather and the coastguaard channels.

[ictalurus]

At PLO, you can go out as far as you want. I've caught some decent fish in the harbor where the boats launch. On the Cornfield Harbor side, there's plenty of good fishing close to shore with lots of humps here and there and structure along the shoreline. The drop off to deeper water is about a mile or so out. The best flounder action is probably in Cornfield Harbor, but we saw some likely spots on the Bay side when DJHokie, Minh, and I fished it last summer.

I don't know the Bay side as well because I don't fish it as often. You have to keep out of range from the shore and pier fishermen. There doesn't seem to be quite as many humps on that side, but there are a few. It's a bit farther out to deeper water on that side, but I've caught blues and stripers trolling Tony spoons around the oyster sanctuary in the evenings. My super-secret topwater spot is on the Bay side about a mile from the end of the causeway, but it's only worth fishing with moving current around high tide, and it wasn't very productive last year.

I'll mark some good spots on a Google Earth pic and post it later. If you search for comeonfish01 on Youtube and look for videos about flounder, you'll find the rough locations for the humps on the Cornfield Harbor side. I have some new spots I got from Mike at Buzz's on the Bay side that might be worth checking out.

I might have to revise my thoughts about an evening trip. While the tide won't be optimal, the current in the evening looks pretty good, so an evening trip might be productive after all. I usually target everything but croaker at PLO, so I don't know much about evening croaker fishing there

[frettr00]

Hey...thanks for the info...also, how far off shore do you guys go? The only reason I ask is b/c I'm still kind of inexperienced to kayaking. I just started less than a month ago. So, I just want to feel as safe as possible. But i'm sure if I'm with you guys I'll be okay. But again, thanks for replying!

Even though there's a lot of experienced people on here you're not alone. I'm new to kayak fishing as well and have only been at it for about a month. The Chesapeake is all new territory to me, mostly grew up in NJ freshwater lakes and a little saltwater bay fishing. Kayaks seem to handle these waters ok. I've been out there with 2-3ft swells rolling under me and in pouring rain. It was kind of crazy, but never felt like I was close to flipping. The only part that's a pain in the ass is paddling against wind and current. It feels like you're barely moving. I might show up for the June 11th meet, but it's a 2 hour drive down for me coming from Laurel. It would have to be a full weekend trip with a good weather forecast to be worth it, especially with how gas prices are now..

[Yakmike]

Plo

I'm new to your site and may possibly join you guys for the 11th rtrip to S. MD. I was nor aware of the site until this weekend at J-Bay and met Michael. I look forward to meeting some guys closer to home!

[Pinch]

im probably going to camp out down there. hopefully we get on some flounder.

[mytmouse]

I am gonna try to make it... has the time been narrowed down?

MYT

[MetroMan]

*slides chips forward*

All-In!

[jffoley]

I booked a camp site and will be there. Looks like a big campground. I'm in 52 in the Malone loop. Will be getting there Friday night. Traffic gods willing!

This will be my first visit down there. I've read some of the threads on the area but anyone going that knows the area want to take lead?

[MetroMan]

I haven't kayaked out of there. I've camped, pier fished & crabbed there though. I know the launch on the lake is nice. I've caught spot & croaker in the lake, so it gives us a viable option should the river be too rough.

[Redfish12]

I would say launch out of the lake if possible, especially for the guys that are new to the salt. It will give you a chance to fish the calmer water before heading out of the small inlet to the river. I've always had my best luck by the NOAA buoy or the other tower further down. Drifting the beach i have heard can be productive, but I only get crab bites. Bucktails, hi-lo's, pop rigs, fluke killers should all work... Gulp, big bullheads, squid, bluefish or spot filets... All could work, just have to put it near them. If you're like me you'll work your ass off all day only to get nailed and miss when you're trying to take a picture or something!

Wish I could make it but I owe a lake weekend down in sw VA so I'll be trying to smallmouth fish mostly.

[ictalurus]

Given the likely heat and how things went a few weekends ago at PLO, I think a late afternoon/evening launch would be best. Maybe something like 4:30-8:30, or thereabouts? That would be from slack to max flood, and the tide will be closer to high by the end to take advantage of the evening topwater bite, if there is one. We could extend it until after dark since some people were interested in trying some night fishing, and there would be safety in numbers. I'll try to get out on an evening next week to have some fresh intel, but my work schedule has been killing me.

Fishing in the lake probably won't be great at low tide, but I could be wrong since I usually plan my trips there around high tide. Also, if the river is too rough, we could launch on the Bay side, but that will require some ferrying of yaks and people.

If people want to eat/drink before or after, there isn't much immediately around PLO, but there are a number of options in the Lexington Park/California area.

[ictalurus]

Here's a map showing some of the spots I hit depending on the time of year, what I'm looking for, and the wave conditions. Hopefully, they'll help cut down on random searching, but none of these locations were particularly productive for me and Pinch a few weeks ago, though. Unfortunately, I don't have numbers for the flounder humps shown, but there in around 15ft of water, and it looks like they might be visible in Google Earth. I think Joe might've shown them in better detail in one of his Youtube videos (comeonfish01), but I haven't been able to find it.

[Redfish12]

There are humps out on the edge by the NOAA buoy, it drops from 25 - 33 feet pretty quickly with some humps... I fished those humps you have indicated in front of the beach and unfortunately there were no flounder home that day! I heard of someone catching a keeper near the pier the day before, so that's promising.

Good luck guys, wish I could join you!

Here's the chart... http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/12233.shtml (JFF beat me to it...)