What depth of Ledges do Rock Fish like??

[manlystanley]

I went out today, looking for a keeper RF, but only got smaller ones. People were saying that I should fish ledges. Since I fish Round Bay, and it is about 20 feet deep: I tried 12 ft, 8 ft, and 4 ft ledges. The 12 ft seemed to be the best.

One question: What depth of ledge do you guys look for??

Also, I am using a tandem 1 oz jigs with 3 inch plastic shads. What lures do you guys use???


Thanks,
Stan

[RavensDfense]

I don't think you'll get too much of a concrete answer on this because the answer is relative to the overall depth of the water in the surrounding areas. If you have an average depth of 6 feet, then 4 foot ledge may hold fish. Conversely, if you fish 60 FOW, the fish may be suspended in 45 FOW. When fishing ledges you are essentially fishing structure. The fish may be on different parts of the ledge depending on which way the current is flowing. Some ledges may be vacant at certain times of the year/tide, but productive at others.

I would recommend keeping a log entry to track which ledge and what depth worked good for you when. Apply that to your future trips instead of thinking about the fish at a certain ledge depth. This will limit you to that depth and cause you to miss out on other ledges at different depths that also hold fish.

[Crotalus]

^what he said. It's worth checking all the structure you can to try to figure out a pattern. And it may change from day to day depending on tide, time of day, etc. They often move in shallow early in the day, but could also be chasing bait out in deeper water. The middle of the summer can be a tough time of year to get keepers, so don't let it get you down. It may be necessary to put a lot of miles in to get one. Come fall they will be much easier to find.

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[Mark]

And...never discount the importance of luck. You can analyze the situation until the cows come home (no pun intended). You can read the contours perfectly and direct your kayak's path accordingly. But sometimes you just happen to be paddling where the big ones are swimming. Good fortune makes it no less of a catch.

[baitball]

Stan,

RavensDfense hit on an important point, don't only consider ledge depth, but consider current as well.
RF will tend to congregate on the side of structure where the current is pushing up against and where they have access to deeper water. Keep in mind, "Deeper Water" is relative, it may only be a few feet deeper.
For example, look for ledges that run perpendicular to the current. If the current is running N-to-S, then find an E-to-W ledge.
Similarly, don't overlook points that extend out and cause the current flow to accelerate around it - areas like this could even be fished with topwater lures during low light conditions (i.e. sunrise or sunset).
Finally, in the hotter days of the summer, RF may just be suspended in the water column and hanging out in a temperature/oxygen comfort zone. Catching suspended fish is difficult. First, turn up the sensitivity on your FF to identify the water temp break - it will look like a straight line of electronic noise. You will then have to jig below that line in order to put your jig at the precise depth the fish are using. Use the least amount of weight necessary to put your presentation in front of the fish. Too much or too little weight and you will be out of the strike zone.
Good luck!


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[ronaultmtd]

This time of year I do a lot of "perch fishin" in very shallow water and cast mini lures up against grassbeds and sod banks...invariable I hang into legal keeper rockfish on a fairly regular basis...in a foot of water...two weeks ago I was targeting speckled trout and Redfish, and caught a 20 1/2 inch fat and sassy striper...as others have said...never discount Luck...or in my case Lady Luck...my last trip was a reunion of the full SMOG crew...Gary got to come out and fish...and we found structure, breaking fish surrounding us...nada...fish finder screen loaded with balls of bait...nada...fished the shoreline...lots of big perch and a few stripers mixed in..and we beat the water with lures casting to the breakers...nothing...had to be schools of menhaden and bay anchovies jumping out of the water, just because...

[Mark]

This time of year I do a lot of "perch fishin" in very shallow water and cast mini lures up against grassbeds and sod banks...invariable I hang into legal keeper rockfish on a fairly regular basis...in a foot of water...two weeks ago I was targeting speckled trout and Redfish, and caught a 20 1/2 inch fat and sassy striper...as others have said...never discount Luck...or in my case Lady Luck...

So true...

I have caught many stripers while perch fishing, pickerels too. However, that has not happened this year for some reason. No luck. I have caught close to 200 perch this month in the Severn and not one striper and still not one pickerel this year. I hope the recent and coming influx of fresh water invigorates the pickerels.

However, to prove Ron's point, here's a striper I caught last year in June with a perch spinner under a dock in 2 feet of water at Beachwood Park:

P1010652.jpg

Luck was shining on me that day.

[manlystanley]

Wow! Ask a simple question and get a college level presentation! Thanks so much. As being a fisherman-in-training, I tend to read everyone's messages and think: "if I only knew the right spot the fish, or the right lure, or the right speed, or had the right FF..... Then I'd do better. But, in reality, it is just tons of little tricks that you guys have learned through the years.

Work has been shifting me from: special project to special project. It's nice to feel needed, but, the result is that fishing get difficult sometimes. So, I cannot go out next week, but plan on getting back after that.

Thanks so much for being willing to share all your years of insights!


Best Regards,
Stan

[Mark]

Years ago I joined my fly fishing mentor at Millersburg on the Susquehanna River to pursue smallmouth bass.

We were standing within 10 feet of each other casting identical poppers (Gaines, Size 4 Bass King) into the same riffle. He was catching I wasn't. Either it was luck or he was doing something subtly different. I asked him and he couldn't explain his success. I watched him closely and I saw no reason for the fish to prefer his popper over mine.

That day taught me that are certain fishing skills we cannot pass along because we are not aware of them ourselves. And again, do not discount the role chance plays.

The moral of the story is to keep fishing. Experience and luck will eventually collide to reward you.

[mchottie]

Never discount luck and/or finding a honey hole.

Before I had a kayak, I fished NPSP from the pier/jetty often. I arrived with a friend one weekend day mid-morning, the entire pier wood rail was taken up by fisherman / families, so we found a small spot to the right side. No one was catching, and my friend and I started pulling in catfish left and right. Needless to say everyone else thought we had the magic bait, or fish whisperers, etc etc. Fishing often you tend to know what baits they like, and roughly what spots hold fish. As always, you need luck on your side (sometimes they just aren't hungry)

tight lines

[nhunter344]

Wow! Ask a simple question and get a college level presentation! Thanks so much. As being a fisherman-in-training, I tend to read everyone's messages and think: "if I only knew the right spot the fish, or the right lure, or the right speed, or had the right FF..... Then I'd do better. But, in reality, it is just tons of little tricks that you guys have learned through the years.

This is why I need to get out with some people who know what they're doing.

I can maybe get down to the bay 2-3 times a year. At that pace, Ill be about 162 years old before I have a clue as to what I'm doing. Having to know the tides, winds, seasons, water temps, lunar phase, type of bait, bait color all make consistent, successful bay fishing for the occasional day-trip recreational fisherman practically impossible. When I do make it down there, I know one thing, the fish are in the water so that's where I cast.

[Mark]

...I know one thing, the fish are in the water so that's where I cast.

nhunter344,

That's a good start!

Seriously, I imagine from your location that you are primarily a freshwater angler. You already know much more than you think that will help you in the Chesapeake. The skills you have will transition nicely to tidal waters.

Tides are important because they create current and stripers position themselves in it in the same way that smallmouth do in the upper Potomac. Fish everywhere are attracted to structure, whether it be downed wood in a pond, an old creek bed in an impoundment, rocks in a river or sod banks and riprap along Bay shorelines. Indeed, there is a seasonality to fishing for both freshwater and saltwater. The presence and susceptibility of fish being caught are driven by their reproductive cycles which in turn are triggered by the seasons. The good news is that one or more species are usually biting most of the year in our area. Wind is wind wherever you fish. It's just more critical when you're trying to fish from a small plastic platform to not be in a major blow.

My point is that fishing is fishing. Don't overthink it. If it was excessively cerebral there wouldn't be so many people good at it! The skills required to be successful switch easily between the many and varied fishing opportunities we have in MD from catching trout in the Casselman to white perch in the Severn.

And absolutely, fishing with others is a great way to add to your skills and especially your knowledge of different waters.

Good luck and don't sell yourself short. You'll succeed in Bay waters.

[RavensDfense]

This is why I need to get out with some people who know what they're doing.

I can maybe get down to the bay 2-3 times a year. At that pace, Ill be about 162 years old before I have a clue as to what I'm doing. Having to know the tides, winds, seasons, water temps, lunar phase, type of bait, bait color all make consistent, successful bay fishing for the occasional day-trip recreational fisherman practically impossible. When I do make it down there, I know one thing, the fish are in the water so that's where I cast.

If your trips are limited, I would strongly suggest you keep an angling log of each trip. I have recorded every trip I have taken back to 2012 in a few note pads. When I first started, I did it as a way to "remember" the trips. The following year I was sitting around in the middle of summer thinking to myself "I feel like I caught fish at this time last year", so I went back and looked at my notes. Not only did they jog my memory, but they included important things like tidal flow, water clarity, and lure color.

Now, each of my log entries has a few common components. They include posted high/low tides, the time of the current change, tidal coefficient (how strong the current was on that day), water temp, air temp, and general weather conditions (such as wind direction and sky conditions). I'll also include details such as if it had rained heavily recently or has been unusually dry. From this point, I write a qualitative narrative of each trip. I include things like GPS coordinates, lure selection, launch details, and other general observations/funny things that happened.

Over the years, small details leave one's mind. Reviewing my logs from time to time helps be remember them. It has also allowed me to establish detailed patterns; especially as it pertains to areas I only get to target a handful of times a year. Although it is cumbersome at times to write a trip down (especially a crappy one), it's been a valuable tool to have because simply going back to what worked (or avoiding what didn't work) during a previous trip takes a lot of the guess work out of those rare trips you have.

[nhunter344]

That's a good idea. Ill have to give that a try. I do it for all my dives, so it shouldn't be an issue doing it on fishing trips.

[ronaultmtd]

Different times of the year, you will find Striped Bass in much different waters...late evening dusk, early mornings in the summertime in 80 degree (+) water they will be in shallow water...late fall in 50-60 degree water they will be on the edges of channels feeding on larger baitfish...and winter time look for warm water discharges from power plants...and of course, during these different phases, they take much different lures...late fall-early winter, I am pulling big crank baits...same for early spring...this time of year I have scaled back to soft body plastic four inch swimbaits and bouncing Gulp off the bottom...