Severn report 8/24

[yakscientist]

Went out on the severn yesterday afternoon/evening. Overall only caught a couple small stripers and a few huge perch, trolling mainly but the biggest perch actually came from just having one of my paddletails out and just drifting around this small cove with it until something hit it. Idk where guys have been catching their legal size rockfish but they eluded me last night. Fished a bunch of spots between the 2 bridges and on the opposite shore from Jonas Green, where I launched.

[J.A. Veil]

That matches my Severn experiences over the past few weeks. Perch are usually easy to find (I have caught them in at least 7 Severn creeks recently). I often troll a paddletail when moving between fishing spots. Most of the time I have caught nothing on the troll or just a few small stripers (one 10" striper by trolling and 25 perch caught by casting in Spa Creek this morning).

I troll whenever possible when moving between casting spots for several reasons:

a) I believe that having a lure in the water as often as possible increases my odds,
b) it gives me some data on where fish are, how large they are, and when they show up.

Sooner or later, more stripers and larger stripers will show up in the main river and the creeks. I don't know when that will happen. But if I am not checking, I will miss the start of that run. For example, last September I went out on a trolling trip in the main river for two hours and caught nothing. Before finishing for the day, I decided to leave the trolling rods deployed while I poked around a Severn creek. To my surprise, I began catching stripers in the upper teens and low 20s in that creek. For the following two weeks, those fish remained there and were biting. Without my trolling exploration, I never would have found them.

[yakscientist]

Yeah man ABT, always be trolling. I caught 2 speckled trout completely by chance in the outer banks on the tail end of a kayak guided trip, just because I figured I should troll the lures I usually do in the bay tribs, and they worked. Actually the biggest perch I had yesterday hit a zman minnow that I wasn't really trolling, just left out the lure as I drifted into this creek, at about a cast length, and then as I was stationary, maybe moving slightly and casting towards shore, a huge perch nailed it.

[manlystanley]

[... Snip ....] Before finishing for the day, I decided to leave the trolling rods deployed while I poked around a Severn creek. To my surprise, I began catching stripers in the upper teens and low 20s in that creek. For the following two weeks, those fish remained there and were biting. Without my trolling exploration, I never would have found them.

Interesting, that is where experience comes into play, the good fisherman keep swapping things up; keep exploring till they find something that works for them.

Best Regards,
Stan