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Patuxent River and Breton Bay, 8/17
Yesterday's weather was too good to pass up, and the big moon and forecasted currents looked promising. I met up with Mike (Grady Black) to do some perch and bottom fishing in the morning. We launched from Clark's Landing around 7:30am, or so. Max ebb was at 8:30. I forgot my temperature and salinity meter, but the temp at the CBL pier was around 82*, and the salinity was around 12.
Lots of fish were jumping around the piers and pilings around the launch. I need to keep this place in mind for some topwater action because some of the splashes sounded like they were made by keepers. We started working the piers for perch before the tide got too low. I used my white twin tailed grub on a silver spinner arm. I was having some little hits, but nothing from anything big enough to take it. I also chucked some small poppers around to see if I could catch whatever was jumping. No luck. I finally picked up a little perch on a 3/4oz needlefish jig, which is an awesome lure, actually.
Mike was having more luck on the other side of the creek. I joined him but still couldn't buy a fish. Then Mike really started catching them:
Again on the next cast:
The last one was a monster perch. It was the biggest, fattest perch that I'd ever seen that wasn't a citation. The picture doesn't to it justice:
I wish I'd gotten a picture of it back at the launch.
I switched to a chartreuse grub, which is what Mike was using, and immediately caught a dinky 5" perch. I picked up a few more that were close to 9", but they were few and far between. I did catch a cool surprise, though:
A buddy of mine caught some small specks in the area last year, but it was still a surprise to see one up close. I haven't caught a speck since I moved to Maryland.
Around 9:30, or so, we headed out to the mouth of Cuckold Creek in the area known as Hawk's Nest, which is usually a dependable bottom fishing spot. The current never picked up despite the prediction, and it was super slow. Mike picked up a croaker and spot while I was looking for some good marks on the bottom. The marks were unusually scattered, and whatever the fish were, they weren't interested in shrimp or Fishbites. I finally managed a 12" croaker on the shrimp.
It started getting hot around 11, the fishing was even slower, so we called it quits. It was good to fish with Mike again, especially since our schedules haven't been synching up. The last time we fished together, he took me to yellow perch school at Allen's Fresh. This time it was white perch school.
I'm always impressed when someone can pick up nice fish their first time fishing a new place.
I was going to try to hit the mouth of the Patuxent after work to look for breakers, try some new jigging tricks, and maybe find some Spanish. However, the wind, waves, and boat traffic convinced me otherwise. Once again, the wind forecast was off by 90* and about 15mph.
I ended up launching at Breton Bay near Leonardtown around 5:30pm to do some more perch-jerking and maybe scare up a little puppy drum. I went back to the white grub and also rigged up a rod with a 4" chartreuse Gulp grub. Last year around this time, I hooked up with something decent in the same area, so I was hoping to do a replay and land whatever it was. As it turns out, I could barely coax a bite on the white grub. The only way I could get them to hit it was to put a small piece of Fishbites on the hook. That was pretty weird. Usually, Breton Bay perch aren't very discriminating. The other weird thing was that I kept losing fish, which also happened a lot when I was fishing with Mike earlier. My hooks were crazy sharp and not bent. The only thing I can figure is that I was casting too far, and my 6ft ultralight (which has a pretty slow action) didn't have enough muscle to set the hook properly. However, it's the same rod I use for shad fishing, and I've never had that problem. Anyway, I ended up with a baker's dozen of perch, all of which were exactly 9" long. I lost at least that many during the course of the evening. I didn't find anything big enough to hit the Gulp grub.
I called it a night a bit before 8pm when the mosquitoes set in. I got some cool shots of the evening sky, but I left my camera at home. I fished from the beginning of the ebb to almost max ebb, but the current really wasn't moving at all. Water temperature was around 83.5* according to my sonar at the end of the night. In all, it was a good day of fishing, and I was exceptionally productive at work. I need to convince my boss that I need to fish for 8hrs a day and only work 4 in order to achieve maximum productivity...
Lots of fish were jumping around the piers and pilings around the launch. I need to keep this place in mind for some topwater action because some of the splashes sounded like they were made by keepers. We started working the piers for perch before the tide got too low. I used my white twin tailed grub on a silver spinner arm. I was having some little hits, but nothing from anything big enough to take it. I also chucked some small poppers around to see if I could catch whatever was jumping. No luck. I finally picked up a little perch on a 3/4oz needlefish jig, which is an awesome lure, actually.
Mike was having more luck on the other side of the creek. I joined him but still couldn't buy a fish. Then Mike really started catching them:
Again on the next cast:
The last one was a monster perch. It was the biggest, fattest perch that I'd ever seen that wasn't a citation. The picture doesn't to it justice:
I wish I'd gotten a picture of it back at the launch.
I switched to a chartreuse grub, which is what Mike was using, and immediately caught a dinky 5" perch. I picked up a few more that were close to 9", but they were few and far between. I did catch a cool surprise, though:
A buddy of mine caught some small specks in the area last year, but it was still a surprise to see one up close. I haven't caught a speck since I moved to Maryland.
Around 9:30, or so, we headed out to the mouth of Cuckold Creek in the area known as Hawk's Nest, which is usually a dependable bottom fishing spot. The current never picked up despite the prediction, and it was super slow. Mike picked up a croaker and spot while I was looking for some good marks on the bottom. The marks were unusually scattered, and whatever the fish were, they weren't interested in shrimp or Fishbites. I finally managed a 12" croaker on the shrimp.
It started getting hot around 11, the fishing was even slower, so we called it quits. It was good to fish with Mike again, especially since our schedules haven't been synching up. The last time we fished together, he took me to yellow perch school at Allen's Fresh. This time it was white perch school.
I'm always impressed when someone can pick up nice fish their first time fishing a new place. I was going to try to hit the mouth of the Patuxent after work to look for breakers, try some new jigging tricks, and maybe find some Spanish. However, the wind, waves, and boat traffic convinced me otherwise. Once again, the wind forecast was off by 90* and about 15mph.
I ended up launching at Breton Bay near Leonardtown around 5:30pm to do some more perch-jerking and maybe scare up a little puppy drum. I went back to the white grub and also rigged up a rod with a 4" chartreuse Gulp grub. Last year around this time, I hooked up with something decent in the same area, so I was hoping to do a replay and land whatever it was. As it turns out, I could barely coax a bite on the white grub. The only way I could get them to hit it was to put a small piece of Fishbites on the hook. That was pretty weird. Usually, Breton Bay perch aren't very discriminating. The other weird thing was that I kept losing fish, which also happened a lot when I was fishing with Mike earlier. My hooks were crazy sharp and not bent. The only thing I can figure is that I was casting too far, and my 6ft ultralight (which has a pretty slow action) didn't have enough muscle to set the hook properly. However, it's the same rod I use for shad fishing, and I've never had that problem. Anyway, I ended up with a baker's dozen of perch, all of which were exactly 9" long. I lost at least that many during the course of the evening. I didn't find anything big enough to hit the Gulp grub.
I called it a night a bit before 8pm when the mosquitoes set in. I got some cool shots of the evening sky, but I left my camera at home. I fished from the beginning of the ebb to almost max ebb, but the current really wasn't moving at all. Water temperature was around 83.5* according to my sonar at the end of the night. In all, it was a good day of fishing, and I was exceptionally productive at work. I need to convince my boss that I need to fish for 8hrs a day and only work 4 in order to achieve maximum productivity...
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