Chased away

[J.A. Veil]

This morning it was too windy to take out my 16' center console or fish in open waters. I decided to do a bit of perching from my paddle kayak in sheltered waters. I began catching a few perch along a shoreline near the Rt 450 bridge. I could hear several helicopters flying nearby on the Naval Academy grounds. After only a few minutes, a large DNR patrol boat came over and politely told me that I needed to move a ways upstream. They were setting up a security perimeter around the USNA since VP Pence was giving the commencement speech for graduation. I relocated to Weems Creek where I could stay out of the wind. The perch are far from thick in Weems, but with some trial and error I found 17 perch today (all released). All were caught on a trusty Bignose spinner. That lure has been on my ultralight rod since last summer. It is beat up, but it still catches fish.

I was in a spot in upper Weems when I heard a very loud noise. Six Navy jets flew over the creek at high speed and low altitude -- they must have done a low altitude pass over the Navy stadium, which is less than 1/2 mile from where I was. They were making smoky exhausts - a few moments later the exhaust drifted down and temporarily gave a foggy appearance to that section of the creek. Before the jets came by, I saw two Osprey tilt-rotor planes circle over the Severn.

[Mark]

A Snaggedline first.

Combat zone perch.

Congratulations.

[Big Mike]

Although we aren't chased away we do enjoy a heavy dose of military aircraft down here in the Patuxent and surrounding waters. I think one F-35 equals 6 F-18's in volume, but it can't equal the awe of them flying in formation.

[mchottie]

Those Osprey Helo's look straight out of a Modern Warfare video game.

[J.A. Veil]

Today's encounter with the authorities was very cordial. Here is a photo of another time I was chased away from that area by a Coast Guard boat with weapons on hand (I was in the orange kayak). The DNR guy was friendly -- the Coasties were firm.

chased by Coast Guard a.jpg

[mchottie]

I always wonder, if they pull up in their boat and ask you to leave / turn-around, you can only go as fast as your kayak / peddles. I'm assuming if they want you to vacate ASAP they would load your vessel onto theirs and deliver you to your point of origin??? Just wondering.

[J. Rentch]

Never ending experiences with authorities during Graduation Week. Got to say that the Blue Angel fly over the stadium was pretty exciting!

[bignose]

All-in-all not bad, fishing with a an airshow.........
How is the thread grass in Weems, is it approaching meadow, yet?

Could you see any pattern to the fishing or was it more or less random?
Two weeks ago it was on the edges where the weeds ended in 6-8 feet, but they were widely scattered.

[J.A. Veil]

All-in-all not bad, fishing with a an airshow.........
How is the thread grass in Weems, is it approaching meadow, yet?

Could you see any pattern to the fishing or was it more or less random?
Two weeks ago it was on the edges where the weeds ended in 6-8 feet, but they were widely scattered.

In Upper Weems the grass is in a wide band ~10 ft out from the shore. You can cast inside of that band, but I did not find many fish in the upper part of the creek.

Toward the mouth of Weems, thick beds of grass are not as prevalent. There are still plenty of broken off floating strands of grass. A few days ago I fished there and found a few pockets of fish with most of the shorelines empty. Today the fish were a bit more scattered -- one fish here, another fish a bit farther down the shore. I was out for some fun and relaxation and did not fish any stretch of shoreline real hard. My lackluster results reflect that laid back approach.

[baitball]

John,

Some folks would pay good money for the front row seat you had - congrats!