Personal best Severn striper

[J.A. Veil]

I hit the Severn River again this morning at 7:30. By 7:40 I had already caught an 18" and a 27" striper.

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Before 8:00, I caught a personal best for the river of 30". Sadly, that fish was covered with sores. Apparently the 27" fish had splashed water on my camera lens, so the larger fish image is not clear.

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I kept going for 4 hours, covering 11 miles. The first 30 mins of the day were definitely the high point, but I finished with 17 stripers, including a 20" and 22" fish and many between 16" and 18". The photo below shows the lures I dragged from 6'6" medium spinning rods. Today the off-white was definitely the preferred color (unlike the previous two trips in which chartreuse dominated). The lure at the bottom left caught both of the big fish. It is an odd hollow paddletail lure with very realistic scale pattern. I need to use a small electrical tie to keep it on the hook (other than the two large fish, it did not get touched again). The lure on the lower right caught about two-thirds of all the fish today. The Storm shad and the bucktail did not get touched today.

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Today was the first time I saw baitfish splashing at the surface in open water.

[volboy23]

Great job on a new PB! Sounds like a good time today

[Goody]

Great job! You are getting some mileage on that Slayer 13 Propel there. How fast have you been trolling? In the course of owning it for awhile, how often have you had to use the reverse on it?

[Mark]

Way to go, John!

Nice catches.

The Severn rarely disappoints.

[Raptor]

I hit the Severn River again this morning at 7:30. By 7:40 I had already caught an 18" and a 27" striper.

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Before 8:00, I caught a personal best for the river of 30". Sadly, that fish was covered with sores. Apparently the 27" fish had splashed water on my camera lens, so the larger fish image is not clear.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15619[/ATTACH]

I kept going for 4 hours, covering 11 miles. The first 30 mins of the day were definitely the high point, but I finished with 17 stripers, including a 20" and 22" fish and many between 16" and 18". The photo below shows the lures I dragged from 6'6" medium spinning rods. Today the off-white was definitely the preferred color (unlike the previous two trips in which chartreuse dominated). The lure at the bottom left caught both of the big fish. It is an odd hollow paddletail lure with very realistic scale pattern. I need to use a small electrical tie to keep it on the hook (other than the two large fish, it did not get touched again). The lure on the lower right caught about two-thirds of all the fish today. The Storm shad and the bucktail did not get touched today.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15620[/ATTACH]

Today was the first time I saw baitfish splashing at the surface in open water.

John,

Congrats a 30"er. Every once in a while you latch onto a good one in the ole Severn. I'll bet you wish you had held onto the one that snapped your 20# braid the other day! Sooner or later one of us will get a Yakfish sized Rock. I caught two fish yesterday that also had sores on them - it is a bit disturbing. Do you know if the sores eventually kill the fish? Before, when the water was cold the fish were nice and clean, and fat i might add.

T.

[J.A. Veil]

Great job! You are getting some mileage on that Slayer 13 Propel there. How fast have you been trolling? In the course of owning it for awhile, how often have you had to use the reverse on it?

Paul -

My GPS is set to measure speed over ground rather than speed through the water. With that information you need to take into account the speed of the current. If you are moving with the current, the lure is not moving through the water as fast as the GPS speed. I keep a close watch on my screen and try to stay between 2.8 and 3.4 mph. If I go over or under for a while it does not make a big difference.

The Slayer Propel 13 is an excellent trolling platform. But the nature of trolling (constantly moving forward) does not lead many situations where moving in reverse is needed. One example would be if I snag one of my lures on the bottom. I try to wind in the other three lines, then move back to the snag location. Depending on the situation (current, wind, waves, etc.) I may use forward or reverse.

Reverse is very useful for other styles of fishing, like jigging in deeper water or casting to structure. If the wind or current moves you away from where you want to be, you can easily adjust position with a few cranks of the pedals forward or reverse. Also, there have been times when I hooked a fish that wanted to run into cover -- a few back pedals, and I had moved away from the cover.

Since I have the luxury of both the Slayer Propel 13 and the 10, I tend to use the smaller version more for fishing shorelines and structure. I definitely use the reverse more on that boat because of the ways I fish from it.

[YakCapn]

That 27 incher is a good looking fish! That 30 incher looks like its had a rough go of it. Poor fish!

[buzz]

Nice catch John

[DanMarino]

Great results John. Poor fish.

[Skidsteer]

Congrats on the new Severn PB!

[bignose]

John,
You are turning into the "Rock Whisperer" and well as the Perch Doctor!
Very nice fish. You've been getting into them pretty good this year.

I'm wondering if that fish got beat up in the process of spawning. Possibly a C&R fish with net scrapes?
It is very unusual to see a fish looking like that until the water gets a lot warmer.

[J.A. Veil]

John,
You are turning into the "Rock Whisperer" and well as the Perch Doctor!
Very nice fish. You've been getting into them pretty good this year.

I'm wondering if that fish got beat up in the process of spawning. Possibly a C&R fish with net scrapes?
It is very unusual to see a fish looking like that until the water gets a lot warmer.

Stu -

Thanks for the compliments. I have had a good two weeks in the Severn. Soon those larger fish will be elsewhere (and Yak Fish will probably be catching them there).

I have not seen any other fish with sores this spring. I am intrigued by your idea of rough spawning (striper S&M) or perhaps the fish tried to be a stripper rather than a striper and hung out with the wrong crowd.

[rob-kayak]

Congrats on your PB... it certainly was a beautiful day to be out.
Have a great 2015


Post to DNR.. what do they think ?

[Jman]

Congrats John - Beast of a fish!

[Dimo]

Good looking fish. Were these at the mouth, between the bridges or up stream?