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After having some success last week catching pickerel in Severn tributaries, I tried the past three days hoping to repeat the catching. None of us like skunk trips -- I am suitably humbled having just completed my third day in a row on the Severn with the skunk family still making its presence felt. None of the guys fishing with me on days 2 and 3 caught fish either. The period from late March to late April is the toughest time of the year to fish the Severn. The pickerel are more interested in reproducing than feeding, the white perch have not moved into the shallows yet (expect them about the second week of May), and the larger stripers that drop in for a few weeks have not shown up yet either. In 2013, I had a good striper trolling bite in the river from the last week of April until mid-May. In 2014, I had nothing until the start of May, then had several excellent catching weeks (stripers to 29" caught by trolling paddletails on medium spinning tackle).
This morning, Raptor and I made our first trolling exploratory trip to the mouth of the river. We launched from Jonas Green at 9:30 and rode the outgoing tide and brisk wind down the river. The water level was extremely low, taking some of my preferred spots out of play today because I kept snagging lures on the bottom in 3 ft water depth (normally these are productive 4-5 ft depths or deeper). Neither of us had a bite, nor did I see any evidence of fish or bait on my sonar. I saw three gulls this morning -- one was scouting (and it kept going), and the other two were sitting on the water taking a break.
Mark was not up for a long trolling trip but he launched with us, then fished for pickerel in a tributary. He too scored a skunk.
I plan to do similar exploratory trolling trips every week or so during April so I can catch the striper influx as soon as they get here. I had not used my pedal kayaks since last December. Today was a good practice for loading the heavier Slayer Propel 13, hauling it to the beach over soft sand at low tide, managing 4 rods while trolling and restrengthening my pedaling muscles.
Here is a fine photo taken by Mark this morning before we launched. It shows our expensive, well-equipped pedal-powered kayaks. They were good for exercise today, but not for catching fish. I keep telling myself and my fishing partners -- the bite will be better in a few weeks.
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This morning, Raptor and I made our first trolling exploratory trip to the mouth of the river. We launched from Jonas Green at 9:30 and rode the outgoing tide and brisk wind down the river. The water level was extremely low, taking some of my preferred spots out of play today because I kept snagging lures on the bottom in 3 ft water depth (normally these are productive 4-5 ft depths or deeper). Neither of us had a bite, nor did I see any evidence of fish or bait on my sonar. I saw three gulls this morning -- one was scouting (and it kept going), and the other two were sitting on the water taking a break.
Mark was not up for a long trolling trip but he launched with us, then fished for pickerel in a tributary. He too scored a skunk.
I plan to do similar exploratory trolling trips every week or so during April so I can catch the striper influx as soon as they get here. I had not used my pedal kayaks since last December. Today was a good practice for loading the heavier Slayer Propel 13, hauling it to the beach over soft sand at low tide, managing 4 rods while trolling and restrengthening my pedaling muscles.
Here is a fine photo taken by Mark this morning before we launched. It shows our expensive, well-equipped pedal-powered kayaks. They were good for exercise today, but not for catching fish. I keep telling myself and my fishing partners -- the bite will be better in a few weeks.
E.jpg
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