Surprise Severn fish

[J.A. Veil]

I met Mark and J. Rentch this morning to spend a few hours on the Severn. We planned to target perch, but were receptive to whatever was biting. We all headed in different directions, but kept in touch by VHF radio. I fished in two creeks and trolled in the main stem river while I moved between the two. The perch bite was weak for me this morning. I tied on a brand new Woody's feather spinner to my ultralight rod but could get only two perch and two pickerel to bite it over several hours of casting to normally productive shorelines. While moving between the creeks, I trolled a 3/8-oz jighead with a 4" Gulp twister tail. That lure trolled on a 6' light rod accounted for 16" and 17" rockfish and a 12" speckled trout. So although I caught only 7 fish all day, I managed rockfish, perch, pickerel, and a surprise speckled trout.

Over the past week, I fished four times in different parts of Eastern Bay (twice by kayak and twice by boat). I had some expectation of finding a spec or two in the shallows. But I caught only rockfish and bluefish on those trips. Today's trout was caught close to home in shallow water (3-4 ft depth) on the main stem of the river. It was my first ever trout in the Severn, and my first in Maryland waters since June 2014.

20150925_124545(0).jpg 20150925_124559a.jpg

[daolai]

Thanks for the report John and great to see you got out on the water with this impending bad weather. The spec is an awesome surprise.

[J. Rentch]

To follow up on John's post, I stayed in Weems Creek and fished from the bridges towards the headwaters. Using Perch spinners, was able to land about 10-12 fat Perch, two small Pickerel and a couple small Stripers. Due to the strong easterly winds, I stayed in protected coves. Once you got into the main creek, the winds were pretty strong, not sure how John managed to troll in the Severn with his paddle kayak-I wouldn't want to be out there today. I will let Mark fill in his results. All in all, it was a nice afternoon on the water.

[Cowpokey]

Nice find John!

I caught a speckled trout just north of the Bay Bridge last fall. It must have been lost; I took it's poor navigation skills out of the gene pool...it was 19".

[Mark]

A special thanks to John V. and John R. for getting me out on the water today. I have been consumed with family obligations every day for almost two straight weeks. It was great for me to get some pullage after that kayaking layoff.

I got 7 or 8 very nice beefy perch in Weems and Cove of Cork. My largest was 11 inches.

Also, I got 2 stripers, one 14 incher and one under 10.

Lastly, I caught a fat pickerel that had obviously been packing in calories for the upcoming winter. It was a chunky one at least 20 inches long. John V. was nearby as I played it out and he chided me for not picking it up when I had it boat-side. But I really value my fingers and have a very hard time putting my hand in the water when those toothy devils are on the end of my line. Usually I lip them with fish grips. However this one did a self release as I was reaching for it with my grips and I was not sorry to see it swim away.

I had good success today with the following 1/8 oz. jig spinner combo:

P1000816.jpg

I caught each of my perch today with that jig spinner. I also hooked the larger striper and the pickerel on it. I had to re-bend the hook after those latter two catches.

The smaller striper hit a gold 3 Inch Fat Sam on a 1/4 oz. green jig-head.

All my catches were the result of casting to shorelines.

Again, thanks to John and John for sharing some quality time on the water with me today.

The wind tried hard to disrupt us but we did pretty well regardless.

[J.A. Veil]

I cannot remember another trip when I and my fishing partners for that day each caught all three primary Severn species (striper, perch, pickerel). I don't know if that makes a Severn slam -- in any case it was an enjoyable day.

[Mark]

I cannot remember another trip when I and my fishing partners for that day each caught all three primary Severn species (striper, perch, pickerel). I don't know if that makes a Severn slam -- in any case it was an enjoyable day.

Clearly you're keeping better company these days!