Freshwater wading report 5/23/12

[Shady]

I woke up early yesterday to get in a couple hours of fishing before work. I was very happy that I did as I had a very successful morning catching over 30 white perch, 7 rainbow trout, 1 brown trout, 1 bluegill, and 2 fallfish.

This is my favorite time of the year to fish this particular freshwater spot as the last trout stocking was completed last week, the white perch have begun their spawning run (freshwater) and the possibility also exists to catch some pretty nice sized skinny water bass. Right now hundreds of small male white perch are everywhere in the stream and hopefully in a few weeks the larger females will show along with more bass. I didn't see any bass today, but still a very good trip. Here are a few pics from my first use of my GoPro Chest mount.








One of the rainbow trout that I caught was really strange looking with the first half of its body looking like an avg sized stocked trout, but the tail end really short and skinny. I've caught a few stocked trout that were shaped similar to this before but not to this extreme.



When I got to my spot I noticed atleast five herons along the banks, and one of the Perch that I caught had obviously been wacked by a heron, but escaped.


Here is a scenery shot, does anyone know where I was fishing?

[tufnik]

Wow, very nice freshwater catches.

It's somewhere in VA or MD .....lol...

[Shady]

Fished the same river again today a little further downstream and had similar results. My brother and I caught about 50 perch and a dozen trout, but this time we found some larger female perch up to 10 inches. Good fishin!

[Shield]

How do you like the GoPro for pictures?

[Shady]

There's probably a better way, but the pictures that I get from my Gopro are just stills from video. I just pause the video and then cut and paste the screen shot to paintbrush to crop the picture out. If the fish or whatever you are trying get a still of is moving, it comes out blurry. You can take pictures with the GoPro, but it easier for me to just leave the camera running on video and take out the still later. I have used it for just pictures and they do come out a lot clearer.

[chex]

Nice fish, Shady! Looks like you found a good spot there

[HJS]

Is that I-95 in the last shot?

[Shady]

Is that I-95 in the last shot?

Nope, one lane bridge with a light on each end.

[Yak Fish]

My guess is the Patapsco.
I've never caught a brown trout. They look cool.

[Shady]

My guess is the Patapsco.
I've never caught a brown trout. They look cool.

Nope, but I know that you've fished this stream before, just the other end...

Yep, beautiful and hard fighting fish.

[HJS]

Nope, one lane bridge with a light on each end.

My guess is the Patapsco.
I've never caught a brown trout. They look cool.

I thought the Patapsco too. It's the right size, has both trout, wperch and bass, close enough to Elkridge for a quick fish before work... and that vaguely looked like the I-95 bridge. But I guess I was wrong. I cross referenced a couple other pieces of info to no avail. Not many streams in MD received a stocking the week of May 13 that also has wperch..... So I'm stumped!!!

The real stickler is the brown looks closer to being a wild trout than a stocked one. Rarely does a stocked brown look that clean, colorful and have all his fins. Still stumped.

[Shady]

Yep, thats a native brown. I work in Timonium, if thats a little better clue.

[HJS]

Oooooh jeez!!!!... MAJOR shame one me for not knowing where that is!!! Now I’m 99.9% sure I know that bridge. My biggest mistake was assuming those were white perch coming out of the salt. I’ve driving under that bridge well over 50 times (legally) over the past 40+ years… and have even seen trains go under that bridge a time or two. If all of this is correct, and you parked where I think you parked, there is a small, very weedy pond just across the road. As a little kid back in the late 1950s, that pond, which wasn’t nearly as weedy back then, was where I learned the fundamentals of fishing for sunnies with my Dad. Thanks for all the memories that came flooding back.

[Shady]

Oooooh jeez!!!!... MAJOR shame one me for not knowing where that is!!! Now I’m 99.9% sure I know that bridge. My biggest mistake was assuming those were white perch coming out of the salt. I’ve driving under that bridge well over 50 times (legally) over the past 40+ years… and have even seen trains go under that bridge a time or two. If all of this is correct, and you parked where I think you parked, there is a small, very weedy pond just across the road. As a little kid back in the late 1950s, that pond, which wasn’t nearly as weedy back then, was where I learned the fundamentals of fishing for sunnies with my Dad. Thanks for all the memories that came flooding back.

I think you know where I was, but the train part and driving under the bridge part is throwing me off. I dont think you can drive under the bridge unless you are on a bike... Also I think its been quite some time since trains have come through there...

[HJS]

I was a fisheries biologist for MD-DNR, coldwater program, for 33 years. I've been retired now for 9 years. For many years I would always be on the stocking truck every time it stocked trout in that river (as well as all the other areas in central MD). We drove right down the "Rails to Trails" path. I grew up in Cockeysville and that RR line still had limited local train service as late as the late 1960s. That's when I last saw the trains use that rail line. The rail line was totally gutted and wrecked by Hurricane Agnes in 1972. After Agnes the RR line was abandoned. I've lost track of the number of times I've driven on that path from PA down to that bridge. That's why I had to hang my head in shame for not recognizing it right off.