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I fished from my kayak 11 times during January. I fished in eastern shore ponds on two occasions with the other trips made in tidal creeks. I had hoped for some variety in species, but the only fish I caught was pickerel. Mind you, I am not complaining - catching fish in the winter is always a bonus for me. My pickerel catches per 2-3 hour trip were: two skunks, three more with 1 fish, 3 fish, 5 fish, 6 fish, 11 fish, 13 fish, and 17 fish. The total catch for the month was 58 pickerel -- not bad for a cold, windy stretch. A few of the fish were caught on a 3" paddletail, a 2" twistertail, or a small crankbait, but most of the pickerel were caught while casting out a live minnow on a jighead and swimming it slowly back to the kayak.
This past week has been sufficiently cold and windy that I decided not to take the kayak out. Last Wed was milder (relatively speaking) so I visited a small stream that runs near a road crossing about 10 mins from my home. I parked on the shoulder of the road and walked along the stream 100 to 200 yards from my van. I cast a chartreuse 1/16-oz jighead with a chartreuse 2" twister tail into the narrow channel (1-3 ft deep with murky water). As the lure moved downstream with the current, I twitched it occasionally. I have caught juvenile largemouth, white perch, and fallfish in that spot in prior years. On the Wed trip, I caught a single fallfish of about 7". I was happy to avoid a skunk and to add a second species to my 2021 species count.
fallfish.jpg
This past week has been sufficiently cold and windy that I decided not to take the kayak out. Last Wed was milder (relatively speaking) so I visited a small stream that runs near a road crossing about 10 mins from my home. I parked on the shoulder of the road and walked along the stream 100 to 200 yards from my van. I cast a chartreuse 1/16-oz jighead with a chartreuse 2" twister tail into the narrow channel (1-3 ft deep with murky water). As the lure moved downstream with the current, I twitched it occasionally. I have caught juvenile largemouth, white perch, and fallfish in that spot in prior years. On the Wed trip, I caught a single fallfish of about 7". I was happy to avoid a skunk and to add a second species to my 2021 species count.
fallfish.jpg