11/21 Beechwood Park

[firemunkee]

I went to Beechwood Park this morning from about 8-11am. Got to use my two new spinning combos I got yesterday Low tide was at 8am. When I got there I saw some surface action, much bigger splashes than I've seen in the local lakes. I thought someone threw a huge stone at me haha. So I tried throwing a popper but no luck. I switched to a Gulp minnow and got a hit on my second cast. My first pickerel I thought that was the ticket, but sad to say though I didn't get a single strike the reset of the morning I also tried a few spinners and grubs but no love. The top water activity stopped around 9am. Many thanks to John for the pickerel advice.



On a separate note one of my spinning combos didn't cast as far as I thought it should. I noticed I could hear the line coming of the reel with every cast. It has a mag reel that holds 380yds, but I only had about 100yds. So I was wondering could the line hitting the lip(?) of the reel while casting affect the distance? There was about 1/4" of space between the line and the tip of the top/lip of the reel. Any thoughts?

[J.A. Veil]

Congratulations on getting your first pickerel. I'm glad the suggestions pointed you in the right direction.

You mentioned that you had only a partially filled spool on your reel. My experience is that you will get easier and slightly longer casts when the spool is full or nearly so. Of course, if you overfill the spool, that can cause problems too. If you don't have enough line of your preferred quality (for example, relatively expensive braided line) to fill the entire spool, try putting some other type of line on the bottom to fill in some space, then attach your preferred line on for 50 to 100 yds of topshot. When I do that, I typically use a double uni knot.

On my perch/pickerel reels, I use 8-lb mono that I buy in large spools. I fill the reel to full capacity using one long length of line. Over the course of several trips, it is not unusual to have some snags or wind knots such that I cut off a length of the line. After a while, the amount of remaining line becomes too short, so I remove it and start over.

[HJS]

I went to Beechwood Park this morning from about 8-11am. Got to use my two new spinning combos I got yesterday Low tide was at 8am. When I got there I saw some surface action, much bigger splashes than I've seen in the local lakes. I thought someone threw a huge stone at me haha. So I tried throwing a popper but no luck. I switched to a Gulp minnow and got a hit on my second cast. My first pickerel I thought that was the ticket, but sad to say though I didn't get a single strike the reset of the morning I also tried a few spinners and grubs but no love. The top water activity stopped around 9am. Many thanks to John for the pickerel advice.



It does sound like there is not enough line on the spool. But you didn't mention either the type of line (mono or braid)

On a separate note one of my spinning combos didn't cast as far as I thought it should. I noticed I could hear the line coming of the reel with every cast. It has a mag reel that holds 380yds, but I only had about 100yds. So I was wondering could the line hitting the lip(?) of the reel while casting affect the distance? There was about 1/4" of space between the line and the tip of the top/lip of the reel. Any thoughts?

It does sound like there is not enough line on the spool. But you didn't mention the type of line (mono or braid) that's on the spool or the pound test. Too heavy mono can make a lot of noise if the spool is not filled to proper levels and distance is greatly reduced.

[firemunkee]

I have 8lb mono, which the reel is rated for. But it does sound like I need more line on the spool. Sounds like I need to get more and then try it out on a another trip to see if it worked

[Grady-Black]

Under spooled my Man.

Also if you want to use a spinner this time of year
in cold water, a real SLOOOOW retrieve is the ticket..

Not a sermon, just a thought ;-)

Thanks for the report BTW.

Peace
GB

[J.A. Veil]

Under spooled my Man.

Also if you want to use a spinner this time of year
in cold water, a real SLOOOOW retrieve is the ticket..

Not a sermon, just a thought ;-)

Thanks for the report BTW.

Peace
GB

If you follow GB's advice about slowing down, you may have to reduce the weight of any jigheads you are throwing in order to keep the lure off the bottom, where it may get slimed with green stuff.

[firemunkee]

Thanks for all of the advice fellas

[chex]

Nice pickerel... Congrats!

[BassMoore]

were you throwing across the inlet there to the deep side where it drops to 6-7 feet, thats where all the fish hang, esp in low tide

ive had some great success down there for pickerel. I fish the magothy religiously this time of the year, my largest when i was 14 was a 29inch pickerel in my greys creek cove,

i will be out there this year in the kayak for the first time exploring some of those other coves around me, par creek is loaded with monster pickerel, nd sits about 8 feet deep. monster white perch in there as well

[firemunkee]

I was mainly casting across the mouth of the inlet. I'll have to go back to find this "deep side" and all the fish