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I went to bed last night hoping to wake up and hit the Patapsco for my first time to see if any of this fish I have been reading about were willing to play.
This morning brought about another reality. My daughter, who is home form college "needed" my car, thus stifling my original plan.
As a contingency, I set out this morning to launch from our community beach, not sure if I was going to target stripers, pickerel or both. What I hadn't anticipated was the 1/2" of ice that extended out a couple hundred yards before opening up.
It took a while, but I broke my way through and headed for open water since my preferred pickerel spots were covered up in a crystalline glaze. By the time I made it to the mouth of the river, the water was like glass and 39 degrees.
It didn't take long to coax a fat rockfish to join me on the surface. It was only 19" but it got the day off to a decent start. It was soon followed by another of slightly bigger size. As I was reeling him in, my FF screen lit up with a spectacular number of marks. Many of them quite sizable.
I pulled out a 10" BKD on a bucktail and began jigging in the crowd. I hooked one, but he shook the hook. Just then, an oyster boat cruised through the narrow channel where I was fishing. I moved off to give him room and trolled a short distance planning to circle back to the marks. Almost immediately, the oyster boat was followed by a bigger work boat that moved in to pull a buoy on the edge of the channel - directly over my destination....
By the time he moved on, I raced back but my prey were no where to be found. I trolled throughout the area searching holes and ledges, but to no avail. By this point, the tide went slack and there wasn't a fish to be found. I trolled up into the river hoping to find some confused rockfish while I waited for to the current to change, but nothing came of it
Upon my return to my original spot, I did find some more fish, but nothing like the what I had lost track of earlier in the day. By this time, the winds were picking up slightly and made headway harder than I wished.
As I approached my original launch, some of the ice had dissipated, but most had not, forcing me to relinquish any thoughts of pickerel. My earlier exertions through the ice paid off as the going was much easier.
At the end of the day, I caught a handful of stripers all in the 19" to 21" class and paddled 11 miles. I had many obstacles but turned them into opportunities as the day was brisk but beautiful and it was a joy to be out. Catching fish was just the icing on the cake.
DSCN3746.jpgDSCN3747.jpgDSCN3749.jpgDSCN3752.jpgDSCN3756.jpgDSCN3758.jpgDSCN3760.jpgDSCN3761.jpgDSCN3766.jpg
This morning brought about another reality. My daughter, who is home form college "needed" my car, thus stifling my original plan.
As a contingency, I set out this morning to launch from our community beach, not sure if I was going to target stripers, pickerel or both. What I hadn't anticipated was the 1/2" of ice that extended out a couple hundred yards before opening up.
It took a while, but I broke my way through and headed for open water since my preferred pickerel spots were covered up in a crystalline glaze. By the time I made it to the mouth of the river, the water was like glass and 39 degrees.
It didn't take long to coax a fat rockfish to join me on the surface. It was only 19" but it got the day off to a decent start. It was soon followed by another of slightly bigger size. As I was reeling him in, my FF screen lit up with a spectacular number of marks. Many of them quite sizable.
I pulled out a 10" BKD on a bucktail and began jigging in the crowd. I hooked one, but he shook the hook. Just then, an oyster boat cruised through the narrow channel where I was fishing. I moved off to give him room and trolled a short distance planning to circle back to the marks. Almost immediately, the oyster boat was followed by a bigger work boat that moved in to pull a buoy on the edge of the channel - directly over my destination....
By the time he moved on, I raced back but my prey were no where to be found. I trolled throughout the area searching holes and ledges, but to no avail. By this point, the tide went slack and there wasn't a fish to be found. I trolled up into the river hoping to find some confused rockfish while I waited for to the current to change, but nothing came of it
Upon my return to my original spot, I did find some more fish, but nothing like the what I had lost track of earlier in the day. By this time, the winds were picking up slightly and made headway harder than I wished.
As I approached my original launch, some of the ice had dissipated, but most had not, forcing me to relinquish any thoughts of pickerel. My earlier exertions through the ice paid off as the going was much easier.
At the end of the day, I caught a handful of stripers all in the 19" to 21" class and paddled 11 miles. I had many obstacles but turned them into opportunities as the day was brisk but beautiful and it was a joy to be out. Catching fish was just the icing on the cake.
DSCN3746.jpgDSCN3747.jpgDSCN3749.jpgDSCN3752.jpgDSCN3756.jpgDSCN3758.jpgDSCN3760.jpgDSCN3761.jpgDSCN3766.jpg
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