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Last week I finally took a day off to spend some quality time on the kayak. Foursteps and I planned on fishing for croaker last Wednesday. I decided to head out in the morning to go out for some crabs and some perch.
The night before, I spent $3 at the dollar store and made a few hand lines.
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I launched at Jonas around 8am to fish the Severn. Water was nice and calm.
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Using one of my favorite lures, I began working private piers. I got a few hits, but didn't hook up on any perch. So I went back to those same areas and dropped some bait. This resulted in getting fish in the boat.
After catching a few decent perch, I began crabbing. This was my first time using hand lines. I decided to just set them out freely opposed to tying them off to something (like my kayak). It's pretty entertaining to see how fast a crab can swim off with your bait...float in tow. It was a little bit of a learning curve netting the crabs from the hand line. Totally different than running the trotline. I missed my first 3 or 4 crabs while getting the hang of it. But I began to get them...
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Knowing we weren't going to exactly be looking to have a crab feast on a wednesday, I was happy when I got my 8th crab. I left with about the same amount of perch. Of the crabs, I had a few BRUISERS at & above the 7" mark...
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I came home early that afternoon to clean the perch and steam the crabs...
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Lunch was great.
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Later that afternoon, Foursteps and I made our way down to southern MD. First we stopped at Broomes Island. Winds were higher than forecast...the river had white caps. Doable, but not worth it for bottom fishing for panfish. Being as far as we were, we decided to look to see what conditions were like down at Solomons. Glad we did. Winds were calm, so we waiting till the evening approached...then we launched.
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We began with a slow pick of a croaker here and there. Annoying toadfish were in full force. Once the sunset began, the flip was switched.
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We found a school and the action was heavy...so much so that two rods wasn't feasible or necessary. It has been a long time since I've targeted croaker...I forgot how much fun they are on light tackle. Let alone being caught in 46-50 FOW on light tackle.
The night before, I spent $3 at the dollar store and made a few hand lines.
IMG_0309.jpg
I launched at Jonas around 8am to fish the Severn. Water was nice and calm.
IMG_0315.jpg
Using one of my favorite lures, I began working private piers. I got a few hits, but didn't hook up on any perch. So I went back to those same areas and dropped some bait. This resulted in getting fish in the boat.
After catching a few decent perch, I began crabbing. This was my first time using hand lines. I decided to just set them out freely opposed to tying them off to something (like my kayak). It's pretty entertaining to see how fast a crab can swim off with your bait...float in tow. It was a little bit of a learning curve netting the crabs from the hand line. Totally different than running the trotline. I missed my first 3 or 4 crabs while getting the hang of it. But I began to get them...
IMG_0316.jpg
Knowing we weren't going to exactly be looking to have a crab feast on a wednesday, I was happy when I got my 8th crab. I left with about the same amount of perch. Of the crabs, I had a few BRUISERS at & above the 7" mark...
IMG_0322.jpg
IMG_0323.jpg
IMG_0324.jpg
I came home early that afternoon to clean the perch and steam the crabs...
IMG_0327.jpg
Lunch was great.
IMG_0334.jpg
Later that afternoon, Foursteps and I made our way down to southern MD. First we stopped at Broomes Island. Winds were higher than forecast...the river had white caps. Doable, but not worth it for bottom fishing for panfish. Being as far as we were, we decided to look to see what conditions were like down at Solomons. Glad we did. Winds were calm, so we waiting till the evening approached...then we launched.
IMG_0337.jpg
We began with a slow pick of a croaker here and there. Annoying toadfish were in full force. Once the sunset began, the flip was switched.
IMG_0338.jpg
We found a school and the action was heavy...so much so that two rods wasn't feasible or necessary. It has been a long time since I've targeted croaker...I forgot how much fun they are on light tackle. Let alone being caught in 46-50 FOW on light tackle.
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