Tweet
I have kept records for the past few years on fish I caught and when and where I caught them. In most recent years, the white perch move into the shallow shoreline spots at about the second week of May. Today is May 8, the start of the second week of May. Yesterday, Mark, John Rentch, and I did some scouting in three different Severn tributaries. We had no perch bites among us.
This morning I visited a fourth Severn tributary. In the first 15 mins, I had no bites and expected to keep the skunk going. Then to my surprise, I felt a tap and some tugging. I reeled in my first Severn perch of the year. This poor fish had serious puncture wounds on both sides.
2003-08-01 00-00-04.jpg
I wondered if it had been injured by a predator and had been too weak to move out of that spot last fall. But I soon caught a second perch from the same area - this one was healthy. I continued moving around the shoreline and found another pocket from which I pulled out five more perch.
Here are my observations and tips from the trip.
1) I am happy to have found a few perch in the shallows -- these fish are the first of millions that will soon venture into the shoreline shallow areas along most of the Severn creeks and tidal ponds. However, they are far from abundant at this point. I suspect that by the end of May they will be easy to find.
2) All fish today came from shaded areas. This is one of my important perch rules for summer time, when the water is warm and the air is hot. But even today on a pleasant cool morning, the perch bit only in the shade.
3) Not all stretches of shoreline produce equally. Although many shorelines look the same to my eyes, there are definite factors that cause fish to congregate in certain areas and not in others. There is little substitute for putting in some time and learning which stretches of shoreline are most productive in each tributary. If you try some areas and do not catch well, keep moving. As noted in #2 - concentrate your efforts in shaded area.
4) Summer perch fishing in the Severn is a shallow fishery. I rarely catch perch in more than 3 or 4 ft depth, and often find them in 1 to 2 ft depth.
5) Perch have a small mouth. Use lures that are in the same size range as the food source. My go-to perch lure for the Severn tributaries is a Bignose spinner in 1/8-oz size. They catch well for me, but other small spinners, either safety-pin style or inline style, work too. I threw a 2" twistertail on 1/8-oz jighead too, but today the fish had no interest in that lure. The spinner blade on the Bignose spinner made enough noise and vibration that helped the perch find that lure in the murky water.
6) Spring has sprung, and many plants are undergoing their reproductive activities. The place I fished today had large oak trees nearby leading to lots of the catkins dropping onto the water surface. Other areas were fully covered in pollen. This fouled the lure on many casts. I also encountered some slender green SAV that got hung up on the lure intermittently.
2003-08-01 00-05-53.jpg 2003-08-01 00-22-46.jpg
This morning I visited a fourth Severn tributary. In the first 15 mins, I had no bites and expected to keep the skunk going. Then to my surprise, I felt a tap and some tugging. I reeled in my first Severn perch of the year. This poor fish had serious puncture wounds on both sides.
2003-08-01 00-00-04.jpg
I wondered if it had been injured by a predator and had been too weak to move out of that spot last fall. But I soon caught a second perch from the same area - this one was healthy. I continued moving around the shoreline and found another pocket from which I pulled out five more perch.
Here are my observations and tips from the trip.
1) I am happy to have found a few perch in the shallows -- these fish are the first of millions that will soon venture into the shoreline shallow areas along most of the Severn creeks and tidal ponds. However, they are far from abundant at this point. I suspect that by the end of May they will be easy to find.
2) All fish today came from shaded areas. This is one of my important perch rules for summer time, when the water is warm and the air is hot. But even today on a pleasant cool morning, the perch bit only in the shade.
3) Not all stretches of shoreline produce equally. Although many shorelines look the same to my eyes, there are definite factors that cause fish to congregate in certain areas and not in others. There is little substitute for putting in some time and learning which stretches of shoreline are most productive in each tributary. If you try some areas and do not catch well, keep moving. As noted in #2 - concentrate your efforts in shaded area.
4) Summer perch fishing in the Severn is a shallow fishery. I rarely catch perch in more than 3 or 4 ft depth, and often find them in 1 to 2 ft depth.
5) Perch have a small mouth. Use lures that are in the same size range as the food source. My go-to perch lure for the Severn tributaries is a Bignose spinner in 1/8-oz size. They catch well for me, but other small spinners, either safety-pin style or inline style, work too. I threw a 2" twistertail on 1/8-oz jighead too, but today the fish had no interest in that lure. The spinner blade on the Bignose spinner made enough noise and vibration that helped the perch find that lure in the murky water.
6) Spring has sprung, and many plants are undergoing their reproductive activities. The place I fished today had large oak trees nearby leading to lots of the catkins dropping onto the water surface. Other areas were fully covered in pollen. This fouled the lure on many casts. I also encountered some slender green SAV that got hung up on the lure intermittently.
2003-08-01 00-05-53.jpg 2003-08-01 00-22-46.jpg
Comment