Corsica River in Centreville, MD Mon am

[Slobber Bob]

Now there's an 'ol schoul homeboy 'dat knows his mus'rat from a noot.

'cept... how many ways does he know'd how to cook a muskrat... ?

Well.. thars.. boiled mus'rat... fried mus'rat... gumbo mus'rat... mus'rat etouffee... mus'rat wit' tatores, beans, an' carrhrots...

Unfortunately it's late in the season for eatin' muskrats.... your best pickins are late winter... coming up on Spring...
Dorchester has a gatherin' late February every year... Cambridge near the first of March...
Bailey's Seafood often has 'em for sale that part of the year... it's long RT113 just north of the chicken plant, on the west side of the road in Frankford Delaware.

I used to do a lot of trapping in the marshes of Dorchester. Some of my co-workers rat trapped on the side and some years got more money for the meat then the fur. I like the taste of both muskrat and nutria. I can't get the urge to try raccoon though - I don't know how people eat those. But as one of my old coworkers used to say, "if you starve on the eastern shore - you're an idiot". If you're hungry enough you'll eat anything.

[DonV]

The restoration of the Corsica has been underway for over 12 years. If wildlife is a gauge the efforts are paying dividends.

Here are three of countless osprey nests in the short span of the river we visited:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15975[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]15976[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]15977[/ATTACH]

Also, I saw this creature. I don't know if it was a muskrat or the invasive nutria:

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It had a long tail that it used for propulsion.

The water got noticeably clearer as we got farther from our launching point.

Here are the guys on the water:

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As John said, the fish were small. I got 10 white perch and 3 yellow perch. Here is one of each:

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I got them all on a small jig spinner with a white curly tail trailer.

The fish were generally tight to shore and in shaded areas. The water depth rarely exceeded 3 feet in the areas where I caught them. Plus they wanted a very slow retrieve, almost cold water tempo.

The Corsica is quite shallow and there are underwater ridges that pop up unexpectedly. They can be sand or riprap. Often my fins bottomed out. Pedal kayakers are forewarned.

The launch facility is nice -- as are all the ones I have visited in Queen Anne's County. We used the concrete boat ramp but there is a floating dock suitable for launching kayaks. However, given the gear we carry and the hard right turn on the floating dock to the launch are area, it is not really conducive to fishing kayaks or those with pedals.

Also, we each had a note on our windshield when we returned asking us to not park in sites meant for trailers. A Queen Anne's County launch permit is required. We each had that on our bumpers or I suspect our windshield notices would have been less polite!

All in all, it was a nice day. I wish two things. One, the fish had been larger and two, I had brought a fly rod. I was unfamiliar with the river and was geared up for heavier fish. A fly rod would have been perfect given the conditions today and the shallowness of the Corsica. Next time for sure.

If you haven't visited there you should.

Do you really think much headway has been made with the restoration? Many of the articles I saw were from years back but it can take some time for a river to return to health even if everything is done right. Looks like a beautiful area and am very interested but would hope the river is healthy enough to catch some decent fish out of.

[Mark]

Don,

Yes, I do. The articles you reference cite a very damaged waterway in a heavily populated area.

They also indicate that after years of study work started in the early 2000s to reduce agricultural runoff, restore acres of buffer zones, reintroduce aquatic vegetation, improve surrounding wetlands, etc. I can only imagine our impressions yesterday would have been different had those efforts not been taken.

The river I saw did not look environmentally damaged. I have no scientific background and could not assess water data if I had it. However, I saw no floating debris, no algae blooms and shorelines looked either natural with thick vegetation or nicely enhanced with riprap. Wildlife was everywhere we looked. Sadly, I've seen less inviting waters elsewhere on the Bay.

Granted our fish catches were not impressive, but we stayed in the upper reaches of the river miles from the Chester and the Bay where larger fish might be expected. Our brief sample of several hours of effort should not indict the Corsica fishery as a whole.

The Corsica will never be what it was before humans lined its shores. But I'm glad that concerned people saw fit to try to make a difference and I believe they have.

It's definitely worth a return visit.

[DonV]

Don,

Yes, I do. The articles you reference cite a very damaged waterway in a heavily populated area.

They also indicate that after years of study work started in the early 2000s to reduce agricultural runoff, restore acres of buffer zones, reintroduce aquatic vegetation, improve surrounding wetlands, etc. I can only imagine our impressions yesterday would have been different had those efforts not been taken.

The river I saw did not look environmentally damaged. I have no scientific background and could not assess water data if I had it. However, I saw no floating debris, no algae blooms and shorelines looked either natural with thick vegetation or nicely enhanced with riprap. Wildlife was everywhere we looked. Sadly, I've seen less inviting waters elsewhere on the Bay.

Granted our fish catches were not impressive, but we stayed in the upper reaches of the river miles from the Chester and the Bay where larger fish might be expected. Our brief sample of several hours of effort should not indict the Corsica fishery as a whole.

The Corsica will never be what it was before humans lined its shores. But I'm glad that concerned people saw fit to try to make a difference and I believe they have.

It's definitely worth a return visit.

Thanks for the followup. I may give it a try later in the year. Fairly close and looks like a great paddling river. Hopefully your instincts on its health are true and there may be a few nice fishes to had. The small fish could well be due to just the shallowness of the areas you were fishing.