Bad pickerel day

Mark, j. Veil, j. Reich, and myself launched off the Severn this morning. John was telling me about the pickerel fishing and my anticipation was up. I fished and fished and did not catch a single pickerel all morning. Those darn 17-23" stripers keep taking my lures, about 20 of them. I gave up on pickerel and we all went to lunch. Mark did catch a 23" pickerel which was impressive and maybe he will post a picture of his catch.

[J.A. Veil]

I could not believe that Mark was on the VHF complaining that he could not get his lure to the pickerel because 19" stripers kept hitting it first. He eventually overcame that hardship and found a large pickerel.

Harry was a striper magnet this morning -- he lapped the rest of us catching one after another. I showed Harry and John R. some spots they had not fished before -- they found fish there today. After struggling in one tributary for more than an hour looking for pickerel, I moved to a second tributary and caught three pickerel of >20" in 15 mins. That brings my Severn pickerel total for the past two weeks to 58 fish caught.

[EMSer]

Sorry to hear that you all had it so tough. Damn those bass.....

[Goody]

LOL. Dang stripers. Rough day obviously.

[Mark]

Yes, those darned stripers today would not leave my pickerel lures alone.

I caught this one on a Fat Sam and 1/8 oz. jig head in about 6 feet of water.

B.jpg

Then I caught another one...a clone in size. Couldn't stretch him to 20 inches so I let him go without a photo.

Then this one had the audacity to attack my 1/8 oz. jig spinner combo. It was about 1 foot from the shore in prime pickerel habitat. You can see the lure somewhat in the photo:

C.jpg

All the while Harry is putting on a trolling clinic. I stopped and watched him and got this photo:

D.jpg

He caught much larger ones but this was one of about 5 he caught in the short time I observed him.

After that I meandered over to an area that John Veil said he had recently tangled with and lost some sizable pickerel.

Finally the stripers left my lure alone and I was able to boat one of those toothy devils with the spinner shown:

E.jpg F.jpg

I actually got three on the day but this one above was the largest.

Harry forgot to mention that some dinks were breaking at the Route 50 bridge in 20 feet of water. We caught a few before moving on. We couldn't resist the sight of birds!

So those annoying stripers were present in all depths of water today. I bet the pickerel will be glad when they leave their neighborhood.

[Yak67]

You guys are getting it done Good work to the OGWLF crew. Showing how to fish in all conditions and all weather.

I look forward to catching up with you guys before the season is over.

Yak67
2015 Hobie PA-14

[Rhino]

Great work. I would have thought the rock had left the Severn by now.

[J.A. Veil]

Great work. I would have thought the rock had left the Severn by now.

None of us expected stripers of that size to be hanging out in the tributaries at this point. This fall has brought some unusual striper occupancy that I have not seen in previous years.

[mccray44]

Sounds like it was a great day. John has been giving me great tips about the Severn. Hope I can catch up with the OGWLF crew at some point also.

[Mark]

Hope I can catch up with the OGWLF crew at some point also.

Please do!

[Raptor]

Harry caught more stripers than I did . . . and I went specifically fishing for stripers. Well I guess that's fishing.


T.

[On the fly]

Harry caught more stripers than I did . . . and I went specifically fishing for stripers. Well I guess that's fishing.


T.

Sometimes we just get lucky!

[Tom Lagana]

Hey guys,
This is my first winter fishing and is it safe to say that trolling the Severn, Magothy for rockfish is over? Can you still catch them, if so, where? The obvious answer being the bay. How deep? I have been really successful the last 1.5 months catching my quota every time. I don't want it to end. Any advice would be so helpful!


Tom Lagana
www.tomlagana.net

[J.A. Veil]

Hey guys,
This is my first winter fishing and is it safe to say that trolling the Severn, Magothy for rockfish is over? Can you still catch them, if so, where? The obvious answer being the bay. How deep? I have been really successful the last 1.5 months catching my quota every time. I don't want it to end. Any advice would be so helpful!


Tom Lagana
www.tomlagana.net

Tom -

Through many years of fishing the Severn, I cannot remember any other year where a 18" - 22" striper bite continues this far into the fall in the tidal creeks off the rivers. The larger fish typically move from tributaries to the main river, then out in the bay. It is not unusual to find stripers around the river mouths in late Oct and early Nov. I trolled at the Severn mouth last fall until early Nov and caught fish every time. I practice catch and release when fishing from my kayak, so there is no incentive for me to find keepers, other than for personal pride. I have rarely trolled the Severn mouth area after the first week or so of Nov. I don't like being in wide open waters when the water gets cold -- I stay in the rivers and creeks.

I fished the meet and greet last November near the mouth of the South River. The weather was not pleasant -- I caught a few stripers that day, but nothing too dramatic. I have very little familiarity with the Magothy -- someone else will need to help you there.

[mccray44]

Please do!

Thanks Mark! I will keep my eye on the forum and if I see a post from the crew I will try to make it or you can PM me. Just so you know, I do have days off during the week, John had mentioned the crew goes out on weekdays sometimes.