Point Lookout State Park Questions

[HeaveToo]

In 2017 I am looking to add a little salt in my diet. I am only about 2 hours drive from Point Lookout State Park. A few years ago I went into that area on my sailboat and it really looks fishy. There is rock jetties on both side of the entrance and a nice current runs through there. It should hold schoolie stripers for sure with those conditions.

When would be a good time to fish at that location? Has anyone else fished that location and have any suggestions? Is there a particular tide that works the best for that area? What month is a good month for fishing that area?

Another nice feature is that it does have a nice protected body of water if the weather is bad on the river. It looks like it would offer access in nice weather to Point Lookout as well. Anyone fished the protected waters? Anyone try Point Lookout?

[kevinfry]

There are lots of options at PLO. Most all.are summer and.fall options. Ronault is a great resource on this area as are others. For me it is rock starting in april and early there are a few trout.. In late May the croaker show up and some years flounder. Mid.summer blue fish. Some years there are puppy drum around. PLO has some hot years and off years.....but is always an interesting trip.

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[HeaveToo]

Great info! This is what I was wondering about. I tend to use my Flyrod a lot and I would love to get into some blues and reds on the fly.

April is a hot month on the Occoquan. The snakehead move to the back of the river to spawn and striper s and shad show up as well.

[kevinfry]

There are some spots at dusk at PLO thAt should have action with flyrod poppers and skippers. There are consistent breakers there in fall too....though size can be small ish

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[ronaultmtd]

I fish PLO often...one of my favorite places in St. Mary's county...three years ago I fished inside Lake Conoy for redfish and limited out on two trips with a 19 and 21 inch...then that same year we had a brutal winter that killed millions of fish...last fall we started catching small to keeper redfish, so I am hopeful next year we will have keeper redfish again...the old pilings not far from the point had fish this fall as well as around the rock jetty...Smith Creek and St. Mary's River were smoking hot this fall...

[HeaveToo]

That is interesting about Smith Creek. I anchor there a few times a year in my sailboat but I haven't fished there much. What types of areas are you looking for to hold fish?

Thank you for the information. I have found that I can really cover water with the fly rod depending on what I want to do. I will fish a sink tip or a full sink if I want to get deep and then I will fish a floating if they are on top.

I once did really well at Smith Island, MD. It was really a unique place to fish. Long story but I ended up fishing for stripers on the flats with a local fisherman for a few hours. He told me that during the summer the tides don't matter as much as the time. He said that the best fishing was as the sun rose or set. I think that it was the first time he had ever seen of salt water fly fishing (this was many years ago) but he was shocked when I started picking up stripers on Clowser's minnow.

I have also wondered about fishing around St. Clements Island. There is a variety of water in the area and I know that it holds stripers at the ships channel etc. I wonder if there is access where you could paddle out there. I am sure that the cuts and channels on the MD mainland side of St. Clements would hold fish in certain areas too.

Either way, in what Month do you think that fishing the Point Lookout area would start being productive and worth the two hour drive and fees to access it?

[ronaultmtd]

St. Clement's is definitely a good fishing spot...in fact the entire river has produced excellent fishing from DC all the way to PLO...Marshall Hall, Mattawoman Creek, Mallows Bay, Port Tobacco River, Huntington Power Plant (Harry Nice Bridge) Cobb Island, Coltons, Piney Point, Smith Ceek, St. Mary's River, Cornfield Harbor...I fish based on the weather and conditions...normally in the winter/early spring I fish the creeks for bluecatfish and the put and take trout season...the reason I fish the creeks is two fold- sheltered waters and less pollution for keeper (table fare) blue catfish...I start fishing the bay and main branch of the Potomac during spring trophy season...fishing reports and research is the deciding factor where to fish...but springtime finds me launching a lot out of PLO...

[HeaveToo]

I worked on a charter boat when I was younger. One thing that I enjoyed was chumming. Big fish on light tackle with little to no weight on the line. I would imagine a frozen chum bag and cut bunker would destroy stripers in areas where the current moves well. St. Clements Island comes to mind.

I haven't thought of Trophy Striper fishing out of the Yak. I have seen Kayak Kevin and the others at the Hampton Rhodes Bridge Tunnel and Kiptopeake.

What techniques would be used to hook into big stripers? Would you cast or troll?

Most of my Potomac River fishing in a kayak has been from Occoquan to the area above the fall lines. The Occoquan produces a lot of schoolie stripers in April and I have had a 50 fish day on the fly rod in one area.

[ronaultmtd]

Hampton Roads (Tidewater) is a great kayak fishing area- several of our Snaggedline folks regularily fish there- one of our members won the major all-tackle Striper tournament from his kayak last Spring...most of us troll for trophy stripers, but when you get into a school of fish it makes more sense to cast to them- most anything you can catch from a boat we catch from a kayak...