Who fishes through the winter??

[J.A. Veil]

I and some others fish for pickerel nearly every week in Severn creeks as long as the water is not ice-covered. It is kind of fun launching on a Jan morning and seeing skim ice covering the sections of the creek that are in shade. You cannot fish there until the sun rises and melts the ice. But using your kayak as a mini-ice breaker is a blast.

[OVERBOARD]

I live out in gainesville but work out of Lanham md.. I may have to give that a shot.

[rob-kayak]

Fewer boats, less sweating, no sunburns, bigger fish:

Awesome pics FD... gives me encouragement to challenge the cold my first winter in my kayak. Particularly as
I prefer saltwater fishing.
And the pic with what looks like the Lowarnce Mark 4 surviving the the ice really helps ( I have the Mark 4).

[PigPen]

Dave,
I've never fisdhed for small mouth during the winter. Do you target shallow water on sunny days and are the bass aggresively hunting or waiting in ambush?

[Turtle135]

Dave,
I've never fisdhed for small mouth during the winter. Do you target shallow water on sunny days and are the bass aggresively hunting or waiting in ambush?

I know some spots on the Upper Potomac that are "winter holes". These are spots where some feature of the river (like ledge rock) breaks the flow of the current so that the smallmouth bass can stay in that spot and not spend a lot of energy fighting the current. On sunny afternoons sometimes the bass move up to the edges of these holes in search of food. Typically it is not aggressive feeding but they can be caught with presentations that hang in their strike zone.

Jeff Little (a local smallmouth guru) has a lot of stuff up on Youtube on winter smallmouth fishing. Just go to Youtube and search "Jeff Little winter". Here are some examples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36i4KwB5ksM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ezHGbSrMsk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgUK3jMS-ro

If you are really interested in getting into chasing cold water river smallmouth Jeff also has a DVD available that pretty much covers everything you need to know about locations, presentations and safety precautions.

http://confidencebaits.3dcartstores.com/DVDs_c_12.html

[ictalurus]

I fish all winter unless the water is frozen and target pickerel (in John Veil's neck of the woods), cats in the Potomac, yellow perch in the Patuxent and Allen's Fresh, and largemouth bass (after a couple sunny days). Crappie fishing can be good, too.

[Gillgetter]

Take a look at Jeff Little's site he fishes all year round. http://www.blueridgekayakfishing.com/

Just wondering who toughs it out through the winter, where you go, what you fish for, etc? Since I'm just getting the kayak, I'm wondering how much opportunity I'll have between now and spring. I was thinking i could pick up a wet suit and fish the more decent days all the way through. However this is my first year in these parts so I have no idea where to head out to or if its even worth it.. who are the brave ones?

[ComeOnFish]

Overboard,
I am working every weekend until the end of march next year. So I am not sure I can drive to DE and CBBT in January for tog (I live in Chantilly) on a weekday.
I fished Lake Anna for stripers in Jan-March last year. Perhaps Lake Anna will be the default place for me on a week day this year. I caught a lot of undersized stripers last year and a few keepers. You live in Gainsville so it won't be a long trip to Lake Anna.

Joe

[MetroMan]

I've done the winter fishing targeting yellow perch, and blue cats. This year I want to try and target specks in VA, and stripers near the bay bridge.

I also like to do a few boat trips off the coast for black sea bass.

[Memory Maker]

Well ....... From the forecast, looks like winter is here ............ If this keeps up, the Stripers blast in the lower bay will be short lived ........... Up to yesterday it was GREAT !!!

[Wavy Davy]

I like Tuckahoe Creek on the Eastern Shore. There is a launch area in Hillsboro. The creek is protected and shallow (I dumped my canoe there once on December 30 and it was reassuring to be able to walk to shore). If you can find a hole next to a downed tree you stand a good chance of catching pickerel and yellow perch.

[Mark]

Davy,

Sounds good. I've never been there.

I checked the website for Tuckahoe. Looks promising not only for the winter but also for warm weather.

Nice signature.

[docirv]

If it is sunny and no wind and at least 40 degrees or more, I will go casting and reeling in the hopes of getting a less than intelligent fish....

[Wavy Davy]

Davy,

Sounds good. I've never been there.

I checked the website for Tuckahoe. Looks promising not only for the winter but also for warm weather.

Nice signature.

Mark,

Yellow perch run usually starts in February. I've seen some fat ones come out of the Tuckahoe. White perch follow in March or April, depending on conditions. Both are there during winter, but a little harder to catch. In warm weather there are bass, usually not enormous, but fun on light tackle. Dave

[bruce19365]

If it is sunny, no wind, NO ICE and at least 40 degrees or more, I will go casting and reeling in the hopes of getting a less than intelligent fish....

FIFY! I've seen you kayaking in ice and you really need to avoid that. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=123420437841901