report: 6/11 PM run, Severn / Weem's Creek

[Dimo]

Launched at 5pm this afternoon and proceeded to troll to Weem's creek by way of the bridge. Conditions started with winds around 8 knots with light chop from the south. Getting to the Mouth of Weem's I got hit after hit, pulling in around 12 perch, most smallies under 8 inches. On a loop between some of the anchored sailboats, my bait rod took a strange dive then slacked out. I thought nothing of it until the tip plopped straight down into the water few seconds later. Ended up as a 19" Striper looking for an evening meal. All of the action was caught on white and chartreuse spinners. The deeper into Weem's I got there more things calmed down until the water conditions turned to no wind, heavy hot haze and glass still water. I could feel things settled. Decided to call it a night and paddle back to Jonas Green, ran into Moc, who seemed to be having a good night as well. Right outside Weem's, I seemed to have peaked the curiousity of a fairly large CNR with about 4 ft wingspan. From floating around the docks it rushed in my direction, did a loop around my yak and broke the surface about 3 feet to slam its body in a maneuver I can only imagine was intended to get me off "his turf". I kindly obliged and returned to JG with no other incidents. Shout outs to John veil and Mark for their suggestions! While I couldn't find one of those awesome feathered hammered spin baits, the plastic skirt version seemed to do okay! image.jpg

[BalmerBrian]

"CNR"? Charles Nelson Riley?

[Mark]

Dimo,

Great report.

Glad you found success.

The interesting thing is that the area of Weems you fished was completely barren of perch for me the other day.

I hooked a CNR (not the game show variety) yesterday in the Bay near the mouth of the Severn. It took one of my handmade jigs and a paddletail. Glad it didn't get a Rat-L-Trap which I also used on the trip. The rays are present in big numbers. But the good news is that perch are back in big numbers also.

[Dimo]

As soon as I saw the CNR coming towards me, I pulled both lines I was trolling. One CNR fight a season is enough for me :-). I noticed that difference in the locations from your report as well. There was a good amount of water motion when I hit the mouth of Weem's, ambient and water temps were noticeably warmer, so that may have something to do with their feeding patterns perhaps. They also seemed to come from one particular hole that I kept crossing over so no indication there was broad cover.

[BalmerBrian]

What do you recommend if you accidentally hook a CNR? Do you just cut the line?

[Dimo]

I just fought one a month ago, after a brutal 40 minutes, the thing cut my line before I could get it out of the water or even see what it was. Members speculated a CNR which seems pretty accurate with the constant dead weight action. A snagged line slacks in the direction when you feed some line. Next time if I snag one, unless I'm close to a beach to pull it on shore, I'm cutting the line. Don't want to risk getting spiked trying to figure out how to get it on board.

[Mark]

If you want to have some fun you can horse it around for a long time and try to get it alongside your kayak. Your fun will consist of a lengthy and tedious fight (while your buddies are catching desirable fish) and a thoroughly dousing as it flips its fins wildly near your kayak. Then you will probably lose your lure anyway as your line breaks.

Or you can try to drag it to a beach if one is nearby and possibly retrieve your lure risking a whipping from its tail.

Or you can point your rod at directly at the beast so there is no bend in your rod and hold your hand over your reel's drag to prevent it from releasing line. As the creature heads north you pull your arms south. Your lure will usually break off at the tie point or at worst you will lose your leader where you've tied it to your main fishing line. You will not lose yards and yards of your fishing line. That's how I broke mine off yesterday. I lost my leader and lure but no line.

Go forth and have fun.

[moc]

Nice running into you Dimo. It was a nice evening. I decided to get some exercise and see if the perch had moved into Weems. I used only two baits. One was my usual red jighead with a white Gulp bait. With that bail, I got a few pull downs and a few thumps, but I got no hookups except for a micro rockfish. When I switched to a spinner that we call the Grady Rig (made by our Snaggedliner Grady Black) caught all of my fish, about two dozen perch in the 8 to 10 inch range. Most of my fish I caught off of the drop offs from the shoreline with a slow retrieve and an occasional twitch.

[J.A. Veil]

The bite was a little slower this morning in the Severn. I made quick visits in four tributaries and caught at least one fish in each. I managed some perch, three pickerel, and two very small stripers in 3.5 hours of fishing. Most were caught on a Bignose spinner. A few were caught on the old beat-up spinner I showed in my post on Tues. Mark tied new hair on it for me. It is now back in service again.

I saw solitary rays in shallow water in three of the four tribs. I suspect they were in the fourth one too -- I just did not encounter one. This is the heaviest ray invasion I remember in the Severn.