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This report covers multiple trips along the Pocomoke River, which is located on Maryland's eastern shore.
My recent trips were out of Shad Landing State Park or by launching in Snow Hill.
Fishing in the river is good for a variety of species. On most days fishing pressure from bass boats was heavy.
I fish almost exclusively for panfish in local rivers, except when pickerel are abundant.
Fishing with bait for bluegills is productive, especially in the backwater gunkholes and other areas where larger boats lack access. The bluegill also took small jigs on occasion, especially if they were tipped with a tiny piece of nightcrawler.
A couple things were surprising during these trips.
First, black crappie were biting in good numbers. The hard part is locating them. My best success seems to come from dead sticking a jig or tandem jigs just off the stern. This rig often outfishes lures that are casted or jigged. At times I was unable to use my primary rod as the dead stick just seemed to have the (lack of) action they like.
Secondly, the river is full of white perch, ranging from 3-4 inches up to hot-oil bath sized. After an outstanding spring fishery for both perch species, it is encouraging to see so many white perch around.
The white perch are not as picky as crappie and seem to take bait or lures equally.
For bass fishing, a standard go fast boat seems to have a slight edge, but for crappie, perch, sunfish and several other species, kayaks really seem to have the advantage in the types of habitat I encounter.
My recent trips were out of Shad Landing State Park or by launching in Snow Hill.
Fishing in the river is good for a variety of species. On most days fishing pressure from bass boats was heavy.
I fish almost exclusively for panfish in local rivers, except when pickerel are abundant.
Fishing with bait for bluegills is productive, especially in the backwater gunkholes and other areas where larger boats lack access. The bluegill also took small jigs on occasion, especially if they were tipped with a tiny piece of nightcrawler.
A couple things were surprising during these trips.
First, black crappie were biting in good numbers. The hard part is locating them. My best success seems to come from dead sticking a jig or tandem jigs just off the stern. This rig often outfishes lures that are casted or jigged. At times I was unable to use my primary rod as the dead stick just seemed to have the (lack of) action they like.
Secondly, the river is full of white perch, ranging from 3-4 inches up to hot-oil bath sized. After an outstanding spring fishery for both perch species, it is encouraging to see so many white perch around.
The white perch are not as picky as crappie and seem to take bait or lures equally.
For bass fishing, a standard go fast boat seems to have a slight edge, but for crappie, perch, sunfish and several other species, kayaks really seem to have the advantage in the types of habitat I encounter.
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