Susky Flats 5/18 & 5/19

[mweber02]

Heading to the flats this Monday and Tuesday. The open season started up there today, so I'm hoping to find some keepers with a tail end chance at the late spawners. Probably launching around 6am and fishing til around noon.

High tides are 10:27 on Monday and 11:12 Tuesday.

[mweber02]

23 schoolies and a catfish this morning, the biggest around 18". By far the most intense trolling I have done on a yak. I had both rods go down together twice, a tandem rig with a double hook up, and at one point I had 3 fish back to back, the 3rd coming before the line was even finished spooling off the reel. Lots of short strikes as well.

The tandem bladed Booyah teasers with gulp mullets was far and away the favorite today. Not a single taker on any of the xraps I tried. Caught a few on a grub teaser with gulp but not in the numbers like the bladed versions.

Tomorrow's weather looks like it might be a little dicey now. Hopefully the forecast improves before morning.

[Salty Dog]

Was in HdG this morning for work, saw a lonely kayaker working the water. could this have been you Mike.

[mweber02]

Was in HdG this morning for work, saw a lonely kayaker working the water. could this have been you Mike.

Probably. I never saw anyone else out there. I pedaled all the way south to the islands but every fish I caught was within about a half mile of the marina, so I spent the rest of the morning there. My gps looked like a highway, I couldn't even see the contour lines for probably 1000ft worth

[Salty Dog]

Sounds like you had a great day. Congrats

[mweber02]

I didn't stay out as long this morning but still pulled in 11 total, most of which were bigger than yesterday. The X-rap also finally produced some nice fish today.

Early on I had a really solid strike that I swore would have been a 30" fish as I struggled to reel him in. Once he got up to the yak I realized it was only an 18" fish that had hooked itself square in the side.

By 8am I had two back to back 24" fish within a couple hundred yards and was pretty happy to have my limit and head start heading to the ramp. However, the 2nd fish was pretty energetic. After splashing me quite a bit he managed to get himself loose from the clip style stringer I was using. Bummer, but a lesson quickly learned. That stringer wont be used for anything larger than perch from now on.

With the quick hookups of quality fish I thought for sure I could troll back through the area a few times to have a second fish again, but that didn't happen. Every fish after that came up short, so after trolling ~30 miles in 2 days my lower back won the battle and I headed back to the ramp by 10am.

The keeper's stomach was completely empty when I got home, so I am even more surprised I couldn't get another good hookup.

[jet]

thanks for the reports! if i do keep fish, i typically put them in a soft cooler, but i have used these fish clips for bunker when live lining.

http://www.austinkayak.com/products/...-Stringer.html

the one i use most has a quick release strap

004-550__10191.1408190009.1280.1280.jpg

[Shady]

Thanks for the detailed reports and nice catching! Keep in mind that the susky flats have their own specific regulations may 16-June 1 allowing you to keep only one striper 20-26"

[blackjack]

Mike I met you a few weeks ago in the marina .had similar good results last weekend .but no keeper's all below or 2 above slot headed back this weekend Saturday and Sunday. Great job on the keeper

[daolai]

Mike - good report sounds like an awesome time on the water.

[sparky1423]

Great report mike!

[jhoss]

Thanks for the detailed report! Good going

[J.A. Veil]

Nice catching. It is great to find predictable catching patterns in a local water body. The Severn has been good to me for the past month. It sounds like you are developing a good pattern on the Flats.

[Mark]

Nice reports. It's good to hear that the 2 and 3 year-old fish (by size) are plentiful both to the north in the Susquehanna and to the south here in the Patapsco and Severn.

In some ways our catch reports belie the YOY striped bass index for 2012 and 2013 which were below normal. There are a lot of 15 to 18 inch fish out there and they are fun on light tackle.

With a stronger class recorded for 2014 and the current more stringent regulations in place, let's hope the fishery is indeed healthy and remains that way.

Let's enjoy this.

[mweber02]

Thanks for the detailed reports and nice catching! Keep in mind that the susky flats have their own specific regulations may 16-June 1 allowing you to keep only one striper 20-26"

Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't realize until today that there is a second chart for the flats below the primary chart. I have been looking at the first chart and comparing to the maps this whole season. I think last year they noted more on the maps. I'm glad now that the 2nd fish broke free. I didn't get checked yesterday but it feels better just knowing I was compliant.