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This morning I was looking for a place to paddle that was not too far away and had something interesting to see. I decided to launch into Curtis Creek and paddle downstream past the Coast Guard yard and out to some old abandoned ship hulls just past the 695 bridge. Realistically I did not expect much fish action, so I planned this as more of an exploring day. But I did bring several rods for trolling paddletails and one with a small spinner for perch.
I launched at noon on a 90 deg day - not necessarily the best choice, but it was not too bad on the water. The current was beginning to move out, and the wind was at my back making an easy paddle downstream. I trolled 3 lines along the right shoreline (looking downstream) and had no hits until I reached the Rt 695 bridge. Then all three rods went down at once. It had the potential to be quite exciting, but the fish proved to be 10”-12” stripers. I messed around there for a while quickly catching and releasing a dozen of those little fish. I left biting fish and paddled a short ways off to the right to the old ship graveyard that is near the launch ramp for Jaws Marine. It reminded me a lot of Mallows Bay, just fewer ships. It was fun drifting slowly along around those burned out hulls. The last photo in this group shows one of the ships with a concrete hull.
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I cast a Bignose spinner toward the shoreline and soon caught a dozen white perch.
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I left the hulls and began my way back upstream against the wind and current. I definitely had to work harder, but it was not too difficult. I hugged the opposite shoreline this time. I found another ship graveyard on this side of the creek upstream of the Rt 695 bridge.
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As I trolled back upstream to the launch, I picked up another dozen stripers on the way back. I enjoyed the scenery (mostly an industrial landscape, but the old hulls are interesting) and caught about 35 fish that I had not expected to catch. That is a bonus for a spur-of-the-moment outing.
I launched at noon on a 90 deg day - not necessarily the best choice, but it was not too bad on the water. The current was beginning to move out, and the wind was at my back making an easy paddle downstream. I trolled 3 lines along the right shoreline (looking downstream) and had no hits until I reached the Rt 695 bridge. Then all three rods went down at once. It had the potential to be quite exciting, but the fish proved to be 10”-12” stripers. I messed around there for a while quickly catching and releasing a dozen of those little fish. I left biting fish and paddled a short ways off to the right to the old ship graveyard that is near the launch ramp for Jaws Marine. It reminded me a lot of Mallows Bay, just fewer ships. It was fun drifting slowly along around those burned out hulls. The last photo in this group shows one of the ships with a concrete hull.
002.jpg003.jpg004.jpg005.jpg006.jpg009.jpg011.jpg
I cast a Bignose spinner toward the shoreline and soon caught a dozen white perch.
008.jpg
I left the hulls and began my way back upstream against the wind and current. I definitely had to work harder, but it was not too difficult. I hugged the opposite shoreline this time. I found another ship graveyard on this side of the creek upstream of the Rt 695 bridge.
012.jpg
As I trolled back upstream to the launch, I picked up another dozen stripers on the way back. I enjoyed the scenery (mostly an industrial landscape, but the old hulls are interesting) and caught about 35 fish that I had not expected to catch. That is a bonus for a spur-of-the-moment outing.
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