Magothy River tomorrow.

[CHOC]

Friends want to kayak fish tomorrow and catch dinner (perch, catfish). Was thinking of hitting the Upper Magothy tomorrow. I'm more of a striper angler so I'm out of my element a bit. Any advice for this trip would be more than welcome.

1) Any regulations I should know about?
2) Any tips for catching fish?

Thanks in advance!

[yakscientist]

I caught a few yellows in the upper magothy last year, but if I'm fishing the Magothy, I prefer to launch from Spriggs Farm. I can't comment on this time of year, but during late spring through the end of fall, I caught a lot of striper around dobbins island, and if you slow your trolling down to 1.5-2mph using paddletails or gulp, you can hammer the big white perch that seem to hug the shoreline all around that island. I also caught a nice 24" channel catfish at the mouth of deep creek, which is about a mile downriver from spriggs, along with a ton of croaker, white perch, and spot. This was in the summer though, but I don't see why white perch wouldn't be there now. See if Angler's has razor clams, they're my go-to bait if I'm bottom fishing in the magothy or severn. Fake (and real) bloodworms, and nightcrawlers work well too, but razor clams can't be beat IMO.

I'm trying my luck for (C&R) striper tomorrow on the Severn, and hoping this wind dies down.

[mchottie]

magothy is easily accessible from Beechwood (free) or Downs Park (fee) - both are shallow tributaries. Spriggs farm (free - need to request lockbox code from AA Co) looks to put you directly into big water of the magothy, i've never launched there but Lisa has sent pictures they've recently reveloped this launch site and it looks fantastic.

[Mark]

magothy is easily accessible from Beechwood (free) or Downs Park (fee) - both are shallow tributaries. Spriggs farm (free - need to request lockbox code from AA Co) looks to put you directly into big water of the magothy, i've never launched there but Lisa has sent pictures they've recently reveloped this launch site and it looks fantastic.

Michael,

The new Downs Park launch enters into Bodkin Creek, a tributary of the Patapsco.

You could reach the mouth of the Magothy which is south from the bayside launch at Downs, but that would be quite a paddle in the open Chesapeake.

All -- Regarding the upper Magothy at Beachwood, that's a yellow perch site in season. And that season should be here very soon if it has not started already. Anglers line the shoreline of the park almost shoulder to shoulder. Many docks along the way to the bridge on Magothy Bridge Road have folks sitting on them with fishing rods in hand. Most fish with minnows under bobbers seeking yellow perch. I drive past the park and over the bridge frequently. I've seen more than the usual number of cars parked along Beachwood Park Road in the past week but I do not know if the perch run has really begun.

If you go to Beachwood and the see the scenes I described above, that's a good indicator that yellow perch are present.