Catfish in the Severn?

[Jim McFalls]

I went out early today on the Severn from Jonas (I was going to use Tucker Street, but a tree had fallen above the circle, and was completely blocking the road). I've been fishing the Severn ever since I started yak fishing, about 4 years ago, and have never caught catfish there. Today, I caught 5, one while trolling between the bridges. Is this normal? I mostly troll there, and rarely fish on the bottom. Today, I was throwing one of Stu's (Bignose) spinners for perch, and caught 4 catfish (and a bunch of perch) that way. Strange. At least for me.

Tight lines everyone!

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[azmdted]

Last year I noticed catfish popping up quite in bit in that area and others that I hadn't seen them before. Fortunately, they're my wife's favorite fish so as long as they're under 24" they're a bonus when I get home. It's good to hear that they're back this year too.

[Jim McFalls]

Last year I noticed catfish popping up quite in bit in that area and others that I hadn't seen them before. Fortunately, they're my wife's favorite fish so as long as they're under 24" they're a bonus when I get home. It's good to hear that they're back this year too.

They were probably 3-4 lbs each, and they looked pretty good. AND they fight like mad on light gear!

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[mchottie]

More proof that Stu's bignose spinner is one of the most versatile lures "from the community, for the community" !!!

[Mark]

Congratulations on your catches, Jim.

I got these two last September 21 in Weems Creek on one of my jig spinners while fishing for perch.

A.jpg B.jpg

I caught them about 30 minutes apart in two different areas of the back end of the creek. Each was tight to shore.

I was quite surprised. The are the only two channel cats I have caught in the Severn.

[toadfinger]

Low bay salinity has enabled the movement of catfish into the main stem of the bay. I imagine this applies to other freshwater species as well (snakeheads?).

[moc]

A group of us also caught catfish in the Bay where the creeks meets the main Bay from the Magothy all the way to the Eastern Bay. The catfish looked a like a big channel cat 20-26 inches.

[silasvirus82]

I've caught plenty of catfish in the Patapsco, so not at all surprised to see them a little further down.

[Yak67]

I caught 3- last week at Clarks landing on the Pax trolling perch spinners. I was shocked also. Same size range as yours. Big Mike was casting and caught one on a Rockfish lure at Clarks this morning.

Catfish are the New " Toads" of our low salinity tributaries.

Yak67
2017 Hobie PA-12 Camo
2016 Hobie Outback LE#217

[yakscientist]

I caught plenty while fishing for perch last month in the severn. They were all carbon copies of each other, 22-23" fish, and yes they really do fight hard, especially when you're expecting perch.

[bignose]

More proof that Stu's bignose spinner is one of the most versatile lures "from the community, for the community" !!!

They certainly have stood the test of time.

I've caught all manner of fish on them, and others have added to the list:
Perch: WP and YP
Catfish: yup, channels and bullheads
Bass: LM and SM
Rock Bass (redeyes)
Sunfish: green sunnies, yellow breasted, pumpkinseed, and copper nose bluegills
Crappies: black / white
Carp
Pickerel
Rockfish
bluefish
redfish (reported-redfish / bluefish....thank you Dr. Suess)
trout (freshwater water reported)
seatrout (reported)
fallfish
flounder ( 5" hog choker caught in Weems Creek of all places)

Not bad for a stupid looking lure!
I have no idea why they hit it, just as long as they do!
My trout fishing background with precisely matching a dry fly....well, I guess it matches something that the critters eat. Either that or they can't stand something like that getting near them.

Back on topic: we caught a 25" channel cat on soft crab under the Bay Bridge last year.

[BarefootPetr]

I caught 5 just on Sunday, including one on a Tenkara rod. I think I've at least hooked up to one each time I've fished the Severn this year. The last one in this set of pics was the biggest and right before that I got one that was just slightly smaller. I couldn't get a hand around them to pull them in the boat. That's some fun!

IMG_1810.jpgIMG_1855.jpgIMG_1870.jpg

[Mark]

Wow! Those are nice catches.

[Crotalus]

Adding another channel cat from the Severn this morning, ~5 lbs. What a blast to reel in on ultralight gear.

The perch where biting, too. Found most of them a little deeper at the ends of the docks. Letting my 3/16 oz. spinner sink down near the bottom before reeling in was the most productive. They also seemed to be tucked in under the docks pretty well. Didn't have much luck shallow along the riprap.

Had a 20" rockfish, as well, but it was gnarly. Covered in sores and very thin. The widest part of that fish was the ribcage. Obviously it was still trying to eat, but it put up less of a fight than some of the smaller perch did.

channel_cat.jpg

[Mark]

Congratulations Kevin.

I was in Weems this morning and found the same scenario as you with white perch. They definitely were deeper than normal and I found they wanted a very slow rolled spinner. One even hit while my lure was simply hanging motionless over the side of my kayak.

I caught quite a few 9 inchers and my largest was 10.5 inches.

P1040085.jpg

I also got a 12 inch striper. No sores.

But no catfish for me. I was really hoping for one given the recent reports.

I did have a visitor at the ramp while I prepared to launch:

P1040081.jpg

The fox showed no fear of me. (But I was a little apprehensive.) I think it was just curious, not ill.