Cold morning for meet and greet

[J.A. Veil]

I arrived at Jonas Green at 7:30 and was surprised to see several kayaks in the water already and several others ready to launch.

G.jpg (photo credit - Mark)

We even had a few non-anglers who stopped by to meet some folks and send us off. To our surprise, the wind was not an issue at all early in the morning -- it was glassy calm. The photo shows Raptor taking off to calm seas about 8:00 am (photo credit - Mark). Eight Snaggedline members launched and fished this morning.

A.jpg

But by mid-morning the wind started and kept building the rest of the morning. It was cold all morning too. If the bite had been fast, it would have been easier to overlook numb toes and fingers. But the pickerel were finicky today. Just a few pickerel were actually caught, although most of the anglers had a few follows and bumps. I was happy to finish up earlier than planned and let my toes warm up.

Turtle 135 (Dave) deserves the Iceman award. The rest of us were off the water by 11:30 and headed to lunch early. Dave decided to fish through lunch. I hope he will report back to let us know how he did.

We had an excellent turnout at Red, Hot, and Blue, with 14 of us, including Cowkid 2 (Cowpokey's daughter), enjoying a large and filling lunch. For several in the group (Scott Taylor, DaveO, bunnielab, jrentch) this was their first meet and greet. There may have been some other rookies there too. Moc took loads of pictures and will be able to add some photos later. This completes another year of Snaggedline meet and greets.

[Turtle135]

Hey John, thanks for coordinating this meet and greet and for the tips this morning, much appreciated!

I wound up fishing until sunset. The weather reports had me expecting the worst so I was dressed in my winter's best. It was really a nice day out there once I got into the wind protected tributaries.

I started off fishing one of the off-shoots on the north shore of the Severn where couple of other anglers and I were greeted by some serious skim ice. I actually got a follow right away from one little pickerel who liked the "looks" of my suspending jerkbait. He would follow it back to the kayak about every third for fourth cast but he seemed reluctant to actually bite it! I finally got the little fellow (or his twin) to commit but I think I spent an hour making that happen.

After that little drama (in 35 - 36 degree water) I decided that there was probably some warmer water in one of tributaries on the southern Severn shoreline so I headed over there. I found some banks that were getting the full effect of the morning sun and were protected from the breezes out of the NW (that water was up to 42 - 43 degrees).

I wound up landing about 12 pickerel, all of them on LC Pointer suspending jerkbaits. I got as many "follows" as bites. Like you said, they were picky eaters today.



Most of my Chains were the "hammer handle" size. One was the smallest pickerel I have ever seen (about the size of a fat ball point pen). That one had attitude, attacking a lure that had a girth equal to his own.

Late in the day I upsized from the Pointer 78 to the Pointer 100 in hopes of attracting some better fish. Right away this drew some follows from a couple of larger pickerel. One committed and now I have a new personal best!

[J. Rentch]

Thanks John for the hospality of the group to a newcomer, my first meet and greet. Even though I did not fish, found the day very informative. Got lots of questions answered and was able to see several different types of yak setups. Hope to make the January meeting at Bass Pro.

[Mark]

Holy cow Turtle,

That's fantastic -- your personal best and your quantity.

I doubt if the rest of the group combined had 12 looks. I was skunked and never even saw a fish.

But it was a great day to be out and I wasn't cold despite the temps. I even broke a little ice with my kayak for the first time.

Thanks to John for organizing and thanks to all who participated.

[DanMarino]

Nice Dave! Sorry I couldn't fish, but I had a great time chatting with everyone at the launch.

[Cowpokey]

Good seeing everyone at lunch. I wish I would have fished this morning, but was happier bringing Cowkid2 to her first M&G for lunch...and keeping my toes warm. She will be with me at the January M&G too, so she'll get to meet some more of you you before we get her on the water with the group.

After lunch we went to Backyard Boats and talked to Dennis about getting the new Outback next spring. Currently the only 2015 Outback on hand at the Annapolis store is the demo model, but it was good to look at one as it comes from the factory and get Dennis' take on the new models. There were some kayakers on the water north of the Route 50 bridge on the Severn after lunch. It looked like they were in sea kayaks, paddling pretty close together...not fishing. Looked pretty bumpy.

Thanks for putting the December M&G together John. If you (or who ever) host it next year, please install warmer weather and deinstall the wind. LOL

[scott taylor]

Here is an echo of the thanks to John for putting the M&G together. Being new to the group, I'm happy to see a blend of expertise along with willingness to help those newer to the activity. Good paddle, good food and good company after. The salty oysters in the parking lot were icing on the cake. I also came home with some very nice lures!
tight lines
ST

[moc]

Thanks John for putting on this Meet and Greet. I was unable to fish today due to obligations that I had, but I did come out to see the group launch. I did not get there until 7:20am. I was amazed at how calm the water was and there was no wind. It was a far cry from the prediction that I was see from the various weather sites. When I got to the launch it was 29 degrees according to my cars outside air temperature gauge. I met John giving advice on catching the pickerels and advice on the Slayer boat that he has. After the launch, I went and ran some errands and came back to Jonas Green to see the kayakers on their return trip. I after chatting with many of you old and newcomers to the Meet and Greets, I went over to the Red Hot and Blue to have a good meal with everyone and talk more about the fishing. As a surprise, Memory Maker (Rick) brought fresh oysters to share with everyone who wanted to partake out of the back of his truck. I have to give him hats off on some nice oysters. Thanks again Rick. Also, CowPokey brown some new plastics to share. We shared out six 4 inch paddle tails that worked real well for him this year. It was good to see everyone who came out. Here are some pictures from the launch this morning.

[alabamaangler]

Thanks for puttin it on John! I wish I could have made it, but I was watching Navy beat Army!

[Shady]

Well I didn't officially check in but ran into a few of y'all out there. I launched from Tucker st around 730, crossed the river to try jigging the old railroad bridge and then went into a cove to find 1/4" thick ice that I decided to bust through. Well I guess it paid off because I quickly got the skunk off with a feisty little 13" pickerel. Stayed in the cove a little longer with no other signs of life and then headed back across river to try another spot.

Had a couple follows and then an absolute beast of a pickerel came out the depths, opened its giant mouth and crushed my minnow and unfortunately immediately broke the line... Eventually, I caught another small pickerel and headed in around 12.

[moc]

At 10pm the winds started to pick up and the water started to get a little rough with white caps. Kayakers started to head in early. Most where on shore by 11:10am.

[J.A. Veil]

Hey John, thanks for coordinating this meet and greet and for the tips this morning, much appreciated!

I wound up fishing until sunset. The weather reports had me expecting the worst so I was dressed in my winter's best. It was really a nice day out there once I got into the wind protected tributaries.


Late in the day I upsized from the Pointer 78 to the Pointer 100 in hopes of attracting some better fish. Right away this drew some follows from a couple of larger pickerel. One committed and now I have a new personal best!

Dave -

Congratulations on your personal best pickerel and your stamina. I would like to know what you wore on your feet to keep your toes from getting cold.

[moc]

And then at Lunch.....

[Turtle135]

Dave -

Congratulations on your personal best pickerel and your stamina. I would like to know what you wore on your feet to keep your toes from getting cold.

from the inside out

1. smart wool socks
2. neoprene socks
3. Kokatat Hydrus 3L Tempest Pants with socks
4. Cabela's Gold Medal Wading Boot (two sizes large to accomodate the layers below)

One thing that I have found that works for me is to wear more layers on my legs than I thought I would need. I used to wear just a couple of layers on my legs because while my feet would freeze my legs would never feel cold. I realized that if I kept my legs warmer circulation to my extremities improves.

[Yak Fish]

Hey John, thanks for coordinating this meet and greet and for the tips this morning, much appreciated!

I wound up fishing until sunset. The weather reports had me expecting the worst so I was dressed in my winter's best. It was really a nice day out there once I got into the wind protected tributaries.

I started off fishing one of the off-shoots on the north shore of the Severn where couple of other anglers and I were greeted by some serious skim ice. I actually got a follow right away from one little pickerel who liked the "looks" of my suspending jerkbait. He would follow it back to the kayak about every third for fourth cast but he seemed reluctant to actually bite it! I finally got the little fellow (or his twin) to commit but I think I spent an hour making that happen.

After that little drama (in 35 - 36 degree water) I decided that there was probably some warmer water in one of tributaries on the southern Severn shoreline so I headed over there. I found some banks that were getting the full effect of the morning sun and were protected from the breezes out of the NW (that water was up to 42 - 43 degrees).

I wound up landing about 12 pickerel, all of them on LC Pointer suspending jerkbaits. I got as many "follows" as bites. Like you said, they were picky eaters today.



Most of my Chains were the "hammer handle" size. One was the smallest pickerel I have ever seen (about the size of a fat ball point pen). That one had attitude, attacking a lure that had a girth equal to his own.

Late in the day I upsized from the Pointer 78 to the Pointer 100 in hopes of attracting some better fish. Right away this drew some follows from a couple of larger pickerel. One committed and now I have a new personal best!

I didn't fish today, and the only time I'd gone for pickeral was a meet and greet two years ago. We were using small jig heads with plastic trailers, but then we switched to crankbaits like you're showing and it was GAME ON from there forward. They seemed to really like them. I don't know if that was an anomaly or not, but if I went again that's what I'd have in my tackle box.

Oh, and I love Red Hot and Blue. Now I'm hungry. Nice reports guys.