The Severn Has Been Pretty Frustrating Lately

[WHBD]

I've been trying to get out most evenings, no matter what the tide is doing. I launch from the ramp across the street from us in Herald Harbor. I've definitely been finding it challenging to find consistent action even though my Lowrance is showing fish stacked all over, from bait, smaller fish all the way to the biggest icon my FF has. Jigging hasn't done it. Topwater hasn't done it(I would say that I've getting fouled with grass at least half of the time) even though I see fish hitting the surface and trolling has been frustrating due to CONSTANT grass fouling my lures. The only real excitement has been taking my kids out with flat head minnows we've caught. That has produced a handful of perch and a surprise 4lb channel cat which towed my daughter around on her little kayak for couple minutes(it was pretty awesome; the kids had told me when I got home that that evening that we were only going to eat dinner if we could catch it).
I'm hoping it will come alive here soon.

[mchottie]

If you need a fishing partner in the evenings let me know. As a visitor I cannot launch from your ramp/beaches unless parked with/next-to a resident w/parking pass. I typically fish from my PA14 with Steve on his SUP pretty early in the mornings, but the dusk bite is my personal favorite.

To your original message, i'm hoping everything heats up here mid-June, seems like everything is about a month behind regular schedule. This rain is also a hamper, as flushing the sediment into any body of water makes fishing tough for about a week afterwards.

Best of Luck - Looking forward to good reports!!!

[WHBD]

If you need a fishing partner in the evenings let me know. As a visitor I cannot launch from your ramp/beaches unless parked with/next-to a resident w/parking pass. I typically fish from my PA14 with Steve on his SUP pretty early in the mornings, but the dusk bite is my personal favorite.

To your original message, i'm hoping everything heats up here mid-June, seems like everything is about a month behind regular schedule. This rain is also a hamper, as flushing the sediment into any body of water makes fishing tough for about a week afterwards.

Best of Luck - Looking forward to good reports!!!

I'll shoot you a PM, TY!

[Mark]

It hasn't been frustrating just lately but all year.

Some annual variation in catching is to be expected. But the extent of this downturn is surprising. Other than sporadic reports of big fish being caught far upriver, I believe the mainstem of the Severn from the bridges to Greenbury Point has been a disappointment for most kayak anglers in 2018. A cold April and a rainy May which has continued into June have not helped. I'm with many others in hoping for long overdue good Severn news.

[YakCapn]

It’s not just me!!!! I had the same experience as you when I went out on the Severn a couple of weeks ago. I found spots where the fish looked stacked all over the fish finder, but I couldn’t get any interest in bites. Finding the fish didn’t seem to be the problem, getting them to bite was the issue. I tried several lures and techniques, but nothing worked. I’ll try again maybe this weekend or next.

[WHBD]

I had another skunk yesterday evening. Full FF screen, balls of bait EVERYWHERE, running tide, every lure as well as live flathead minnows...nada

At least there was less cut grass.

[YakMan1731]

What was the clarity like? I have been wanting to head down there but all of these reports are troubling for sure!

[WHBD]

not great. maybe a bit over a foot

[Mark]

Those of us who enjoy the Severn would probably do better to head across the Bay Bridge until the western shore's water clarity improves.

John Rentch and I launched from Kent Island this morning.

The water was noticeably cleaner:

P1030646.jpg

And the stripers were considerably more active. I had fun with topwater catching some little guys like this:

P1030639.jpg

And a nice one on top like this:

P1030644.jpg

I missed a few too. But it was fun to aggravate them enough to strike.

I believe John caught more stripers than me and also got a 21 incher.

But here's the odd thing -- no perch for either of us. We each made concerted efforts to catch them too.

Anyway, the Bay's waters are much cleaner a short hop from the Severn for the price of a toll.

[DanMarino]

Nice going Mark! I've never caught a topwater striper before.

[Mark]

Tom,

It's fun. If you think a LM bass hits and pulls hard, wait until you link up with a striper on top.

When they're breaking, it's darned near impossible to not catch them on top or underneath. Just cast whatever lure you want into the fray. Today they were not breaking. I found them holding near structure, down current of course on a flooding tide. It was target casting, which is my favorite way to fish.

[tarponguy]

Hey Mark,

Sounds like you guys had a nice time - sorry I missed the fun! Glad you had a nice time - guess I need to get some top water plugs for my arsenal !!

[Mark]

Hey Mark,

Sounds like you guys had a nice time - sorry I missed the fun! Glad you had a nice time - guess I need to get some top water plugs for my arsenal !!

Next time for sure.

[tarponguy]

In Florida I normally use a walk-the-dog top water but looks like you use poppers here in MD?

[Mark]

tarponguy,

It's funny you mention walk-the-dog style poppers.

Yesterday, I was having good success with this style popper:

E.jpg

I assembled them by buying bodies from an on-line supplier, adding a split ring on the front, a hook on the back dressed with bucktail. They probably cost less than $3 each. I've caught a lot of stripers with them.

But I wanted to see how a walk-the-dog topwater lure would do. I opened my Plano box to look for this one:

Spook Complete.jpg

It wasn't there. Then I remembered I had put it in another Plano box for another trip. It was resting at home in my garage not doing me any good yesterday whatsoever! Notice I also modified that lure with single in-line hooks and I dressed the back hook. The interesting thing about the dressing is that it is pelican feathers from FL. I bet there aren't many lures dressed with pelican feathers here in MD or maybe even in FL.

In any case, when I opened my box, I found this old Rapala Skitter Pop sitting there begging to get wet:

Popper After.jpg

I tied it on and caught my largest striper of the day with it.

There are different theories about this but I only place one hook on poppers and I put it on the back. I do that because a good popper floats with the back end submerged. The back hook is therefore dangling below the surface and waiting to go to work. I find a single hook on the back works well. Of course, I miss some. But I also missed some with similarly styled poppers when I used two trebles.

Walk-the-dog topwater baits float horizontally on the water. That's what causes their zig-zag motion on the retrieve. I also believe the horizontal floating profile allows both hooks equal access to the fish. Therefore I keep the middle hook on them because I think it aids in hookups.